Mick Malthouse says he would be open to a coaching role at AFL level in 2020

The man who has coached more games than any person in AFL history says he would be happy to talk to one of the three clubs trying to find senior coaches about a role in their departments.

Mick Malthouse is open to a return to coaching. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Mick Malthouse says he would be happy to talk to one of the three clubs trying to find senior coaches about a role in their coaching department.

But the man who has coached more games than any man in AFL history says he won’t wait by the phone expecting a call.

Malthouse turns 66 in August, the age when many international sports coaches are reaching their prime.

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He told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast this month too many AFL clubs were ageist and only wanted the next bright young thing.

On ABC Radio on Sunday he said coaching was “in his DNA” and would be more than happy to consider overtures from an AFL club.

“I think I would (take a call) after what I know I am missing. It’s in your DNA,” he said.

“I am a realist and I am only saying yes because I know it won’t happen.

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“That is on the back of 18 months of saying no and now 18 months of realising it’s in your DNA. I am the worst in the world at sitting watching the game. I feel like I am coaching (anyway). You could do a lot worse than sit there and take that pressure again.

“Mine was once you get sacked from a side and you see the effect, but then the family start to say gear up. We sit here in the commentary box and think, can you add value to a club and it’s all I ask (myself)”

Mick Malthouse is open to a return to coaching. Picture: Mark Stewart

AFL clubs continue to push for first-time coaches despite the vast experience of coaches who have spent decades in the system before being moved on.

Malthouse has coached 718 AFL games at four clubs — the Western Bulldogs, West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton — the most recent in 2015.

He would be perfect in a mentoring or coaching director capacity, with clubs increasingly looking at different ways of structuring their coaching set-ups.

In the EPL, West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is 65, while Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is 71.