A fear of undoing his good work by overstaying his time at Collingwood has coach Mick Malthouse determined to immediately step aside at the AFL club if there is a drop in his competitive instincts.

Malthouse will this Sunday move into third place on the all-time list of most games coached in VFL/AFL history with his 576th senior game, which will surpass Allan Jeans and rank him third behind Jock McHale and Kevin Sheedy.

The match against Carlton at the MCG will also be his 750th as a player and coach, a milestone only three others - McHale, Sheedy and Leigh Matthews - have achieved.

Malthouse, who was given the boot as a player by St Kilda before playing in Richmond's 1980 premiership side and then coaching West Coast to flags in 1992 and 1994, felt humbled to have lasted so long. He said he was indebted to those who gave him an opportunity and enriched with the experiences and people he had met throughout the journey.

Although contracted at Collingwood until the end of next season - which would make it his 10th season at the Magpies - Malthouse promised he would move on should his hunger for competition start to wane.

"I don't want to see good work go down the gurgler because of someone who stayed too long and I won't be that person who stays too long," he said.

"There's a lot of things in football I don't like - and I'm talking about my job not the actual game (but) as long as I enjoy the competition ... then I know I won't let Collingwood down.

"The moment that diminishes I'll be saying to (president) Ed (McGuire), regardless what stage of the year it is or what year it is, `Ed, you need someone else'.

"Contract or no contract, if I don't believe for one moment that I can give what I know you need to give to be a senior coach then I'm not going to be a senior coach because I don't get any joy out of make-believe. It's full-on."

Malthouse, who is about to become a grandfather for the first time, said there was no age limit for people in leadership positions, but said at 54, he was not burned out.

He admitted, however, the road to 750 had not been an easy one.

"If I knew the time, the pain and anguish and time that you put into it, I don't know whether I would do it again because it has been full-on for my family and friends," he said.

"What it has done is it galvanises strengths within your own groupings, it has bonded my family tighter.

"Like an old injury, you know you've had it, you forget the pain.

"Football's about the great times, not the bad times, and I can only remember the great times and great people."

The Magpies would be hoping to add to Malthouse's memories by turning the tables on their old rival Carlton after the Blues won by 23 points in round four.

But Malthouse said the team had learnt from their mistakes and were mentally better-prepared heading into the return bout.

"There's an awareness of what went wrong last time and it's so important to recognise failure and why it took place, not to just wipe it off and dismiss it because you learn nothing," he said.

"The group is buoyed by the last month but more importantly I think there's an anticipation about this week as opposed to when we come off the Richmond win (in round three), where there was a general lull in the organisation from the football side of things, we just didn't seem to be sparking.

"Right now I feel we're well in front of that."

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