MICK Malthouse pretty much showed his true colours during the engrossing media conference he gave on Saturday evening, less than an hour after Collingwood lost the 2011 Grand Final to Geelong.

But not in a bad way. There was none of the drama turns, no cold stares or short, sharp answers designed to put the media squarely back in their place. Instead, Malthouse was engaging, expansive and refreshingly honest, very much enjoying the spotlight in his last few minutes as the elder statesman of the AFL coaching caper.

But where the true colours came out was when asked which club he might one day call home. Malthouse started his playing career at St Kilda in 1972, but was a premiership player at Richmond in 1980 before making significant contributions as a coach at the Western Bulldogs (then known as Footscray), West Coast and then at Collingwood.

He is a dual premiership coach of the Eagles, but what became apparent on Saturday evening is that if you scratch the surface just that little bit, Malthouse would say he is a Richmond man.

"I guess where you play and you win a premiership makes you feel so important. Where you sweat, where you bleed, where you break your bones and ligaments and God knows whatever else, that is (home)," he said.

"When you wake up in the morning and you have a crook knee, your back aches and your fingers are out of joint, you know where you got it.

"I look in the mirror and the biggest cut across my eye, I know where I got that. You feel a lot of sweat here (at Collingwood), but the other place was sweat and blood."

It was a remarkably candid admission. Some would say too candid given he was still there in the black and white garb of the Collingwood Football Club, but it is not the first time he has alluded to his over riding affection for the Tigers.

He did let slip earlier this year how much he enjoyed going back to Punt Road on the odd occasion he is asked to sign some premiership memorabilia or take part in some sort of reunion.

Leigh Matthews expressed similar sentiments when interviewed by Mike Sheahan for the Open Mike TV series earlier this year.

As a Collingwood premiership coach and a three-time Brisbane Lions premiership coach, he will forever be revered at both those clubs, but according to Matthews, the club he 'barracks for' is Hawthorn, where he played 332 games and played in four premierships.

And there will be a homecoming of sorts for Matthews with the Hawks next year, where he has agreed to play a role in the club's membership campaign for 2012.

Interestingly, Chris Scott has chosen a different tack. When asked to compare playing in two Lions premiership teams to coaching one at Geelong, he stated on Saturday night that there was "no better feeling" than that he was enjoying in the moments after the final siren.

Once the euphoria subsides, you wonder whether Scott, like Malthouse and Matthews before him, might think a little differently.

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Of course, the euphoria might have already died down. Scott said he would allow himself a day and a bit to enjoy the premiership win, but that the work starts on Monday. Malthouse expressed similar sentiments, which is why he has already finished up with the Magpies. Nathan Buckley is now the Collingwood coach and is already putting a fresh stamp on the club.

Ben Hart crosses from Adelaide to Collingwood to be the defensive coach. It is a wise move from Hart to further his credentials in the coaching profession and to experience a different environment after a lifetime at the Crows. You have to ask why Peter Sumich, after more than 20 years as a player and coach with West Coast, hasn't done the same.

Rodney Eade is also poised to join the Magpies as director of coaching, the role initially slated for Malthouse. It is significant in that Eade almost took a similar role with Collingwood at the end of 2004 before being snapped up by the Western Bulldogs as senior coach and also because it almost certainly brings to a close a 314-game coaching career with the Bulldogs and before that the Sydney Swans that was marked by many years of excellence, but no flag.

'Rocket' will be good for Collingwood and will make a great sounding board for Buckley as he takes off the training wheels and navigates the coaching world all on his own.

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Because Grand Final week is over-arching and the focus, quite rightly, is on the competing clubs, some of the other breaking footy news, while reported, largely passed without comment.

Neil Craig is off to Melbourne as director of sports performance. It is a good get for the Demons, who reportedly faced stiff opposition to win his services and means that the club now boasts a formidable football department when you add former interim Richmond senior coach Jade Rawlings and new fitness advisor David Misson to the mix. With an emerging playing list, more top draft picks on the way and a well-resourced coaching group, there are no more excuses for the Demons.

Richmond has done well to bring Ross Smith across from Hawthorn to run the club's defensive structures and strategies. The former North Melbourne defender was a key assistant to Alastair Clarkson at the Hawks for the last seven years and earned his pay in 2011 as the Hawks surged to a top four finish despite an undersized and under-strength backline for most of the season.

Smith's departure from Waverley Park, could pave the way for a prodigal son to return to the Hawks. Clarkson has deliberately shied away from having former Hawks on his coaching staff until now, but perhaps Gary Ayres will come into the mix as the new defensive coach.

Ayres is fresh off a dream year with Port Melbourne - undefeated all season, topped off by the VFL premiership. That the Borough is a standalone team makes the feat all the more remarkable. He craves a return to the AFL system in some shape or form and would seem an ideal candidate to join Clarkson.

Yes, he is a former champion Hawk, albeit one who hasn't had a direct involvement at the club for nearly 20 years, but as was clear when he spoke at the launch in August of The Golden Years: Stories from Hawthorn's Greatest Era, his affection for the club hasn't dimmed one bit.

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This week is the NAB AFL Draft Combine and for the first time in a long time it will take place in Melbourne (the first few were held at Waverley Park). Etihad Stadium will be converted from a footy ground to a testing facility and the move to bring the massive event to Melbourne makes sense in every respect.

Then comes trade week. The informal discussions take place this week in the corridors and terraces around Etihad Stadium and takes centre stage next week. The early focus is on Mitch Clark who has already packed up from Brisbane and is back home in Western Australia seeking a trade to Fremantle.

Adelaide needs to make a call on Kurt Tippett. Make a deal and trade him now to Gold Coast, or risk losing him to the Suns at the end of next season for potentially nothing once his contract expires.

And Richmond needs a ruckman. Ivan Maric would appear to be surplus to requirements at Adelaide, the same with Hamish McIntosh at North Melbourne and Mark Blake at Geelong.

The wheeling and dealing will shortly begin in earnest and the 2012 season will start to take shape. It will be upon us all too soon.

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AFL or the clubs.

You can follow Ashley Browne on Twitter @twitter.com/hashbrowne