I know I can coach: Mick Malthouse

MICK Malthouse says he won't make a decision about coaching next year until the season is "comprehensively over".

Brett Ratten

MICK Malthouse says he won't make a decision about coaching next year until the season is "comprehensively over".

But Malthouse said the question of whether he had the ability to take on a senior job was not an issue.

Any decision was likely to come down to the impact on his family.

And Malthouse indicated if he didn't make a comeback to coaching next year he probably never will.

The West Coast and Collingwood premiership coach said he had asked his manager Peter Sidwell to not pass on any coaching inquiries - but had not told him to reject them.

"I’ve always said never say never," Malthouse said on 3AW today.

"But it doesn’t mean I’m close to it, it doesn’t mean I’ve been in a position where I’ve said, 'Oh, I can’t wait for it'.

"Because I know I can coach. I know I can coach. But I’m not a first-year coach so therefore a first-year coach says I can coach and don’t worry about anything else, I say I can coach but I do worry about everything else because I can afford to worry about everything else because I’ve been through everything else."

Malthouse's future is a hot topic again after Carlton crashed to a 12-point loss to Gold Coast on Saturday night, ending the Blues' finals hopes and possibly Brett Ratten's coaching career.

"I’ve spoken to (Peter Sidwell) months and months ago (and told him) 'Don’t involve me in anything because I do not want to be compromised in my job, which I’m loving at the moment'. He will (tell me), but not now," Malthouse said.

Asked if it would be fair to say it's now or never for a coaching comeback, Malthouse said: "Yep."

"There are so many things to take into consideration. First and foremost I have no desire to make any decision until the season’s finished. I am so totally absorbed in the things that I have taken on this year and I enjoy them all.

"And that’s a different lifestyle and it’s been pressure-free in many respects, it’s been good but it’s taken some time to get used to. So would I?

"Just because I want to be a coach doesn’t mean I’ll be one.

"When you’ve been a coach for as long as I have you understand all the things that go with it.

"If I was to ever get back into coaching I understand the ramifications of boards and administrators and supporters and the media, and there’s a lot of things that are good and there’s a lot of things that aren’t so good.

"And when you’ve had a family for so long involved in football and you can see them enjoy, and you can see the heartache and the breaking points, you’ve got to keep asking yourself really do you intend to go right through that again?"