Those words certainly apply to the new coaching structure parties are attempting to finalise in the coming weeks.
Malthouse's appearance on Thursday night on The Footy Show inevitably re-ignited the will he/won't he discussion, but his spoken words revealed two key factors swirling about him and Collingwood.
The first one is that the detail of his new position needs to be commensurate with a man of his experience and capacity. He said this when interviewed in February and re-stated his position last night. He wants the role to "aid the club going forward."
The interesting point Malthouse made is that the club needs to have in place two positions (coach and director of coaching) that hold value regardless of the personalities. That is critical to him, as it should and would be to the club. This is not Malthouse spouting puff: it's a deeply held view.
His point, no doubt shared by the board and administration at the club, is that it is essential for this futuristic opportunity to be concluded in a way that uncompromisingly beneficial to the football club even if it requires compromise from the individuals.
That the negotiations will be difficult - reporting the obvious - is inevitable given the newness of the position and the fact the development of it is happening during a period of sustained success.
But Malthouse does not accept easy. He pushes to bring out the best result in all that he has attempted, and he won't be pushed into what he does not believe is 100 per cent right for all. It is what has made him such a great coach over such a long period of time.
Ditto Eddie McGuire. His persistence to do what he believes is right for the club means he will not let any humps push the club off what he sees as ideal, a succession plan that ensures the enormous intellectual property of Malthouse and the potential of Nathan Buckley is used to the club's benefit in the future. It's vision that separates McGuire from the pack, and visionary events often need fine tuning, even at the 11th hour.
Creating this position is a risk - another simple truth. But then anything that is designed to achieve change is a risk. It is a reflection on the trust that exists between McGuire and Malthouse's manager Peter Sidwell that they will be able to reach an acceptable conclusion — and the 'put the club first' values of Malthouse and Buckley — that it has been attempted at all.
Despite Malthouse's bullish appearance on Thursday's Footy Show, and similarly relaxed statements from McGuire on TripleM on Friday, the negotiations have been and will continue to be wearing on all parties involved, requiring time and imagination and honesty. That's why the practical and common sense-driven football manager, Geoff Walsh's, role will be critical in achieving a productive outcome. Walsh can, and will, also provide an unemotional perspective on what could certainly become 'interesting' in the final throes.
The fact Malthouse is a master at being able to focus on the task immediately in front of him and not allow such negotiations to impact on the team's preparation is lucky for everyone involved because, make no mistake, if the wrong people were involved and the culture at Collingwood not as strong as it is, then such a negotiation would be having an impact on his performance; and by extension his coaching staff and then the players.
That Collingwood has won a flag and sits top of the ladder after round 16 — while the coach is churning through all this, is a credit to all involved.
Malthouse admitted at Friday morning's press conference that the issue had been a distraction for two years. Not that you would know it when looking at his and the team's performance over that period.
"But we are a long way down the track. The distractions are minimal and diminishing," he said.
Many jumped on the fact he conceded the night before that there was a "minimal" chance he would not be at the Collingwood Football Club next season.
As noted, Malthouse deals in reality. The detail that would enable him to be absolutely certain that he will be there in 2012 is still being negotiated. He has never said anything at variance from that. So he would not, in his words, tell a fib, quite frankly.
Read his words carefully from the Footy Show discussion and there is a consistent position being put:
"Nathan Buckley will certainly be coach next year and I would like to be director of coaching at the football club. I will not be coaching another side next year if the two parties come together and we get it right. Will that mean I won't coach again? I cannot categorically, at all say, at all say, I will not coach again," he said.
That the words confounded some is no reflection on Malthouse. It reaffirms what the writer Christopher Hitchens once said: "There is, especially in the American media, a deep belief that insincerity is better than no sincerity at all."
Read the words spoken when I was part of a press group interviewing Malthouse in February and the same conclusion can be reached. He said at the time: "We have got some broad ideas as to where it is going. I don't want to be a nuisance. I don't want to be in the way. I certainly want to be treated with enough respect for the position I have held in the football community and also the job that is at the football club. I don’t want to be put into something just for the sake of filling up time."
Still, clubs don't necessarily enjoy such a distraction especially when entering the business end of the season. As McGuire said on Sport927 he would have "preferred Mick (Malthouse) had got on last night and said, 'look, we're nearly there, we're just about ready to close it. I can't wait to be at the club next year in the role.'"
But sometimes rough waters need to be crossed to reach the best bays.
The second point that is clear is that the contract needs to be finalised with some urgency. The football department's wheels are constantly in motion. As Malthouse said on Thursday night: once one game is done, the coach's focus is immediately on the next. And in this highly competitive era, there's so much more in his 'in basket'.
Recruiting decisions, list pruning, the tenure of coaching assistants are all dependant on the structure of a football department. For the practical mechanics of a football department to operate effectively certainty is required. Malthouse has prepared Buckley to take on his role. Now his own role needs to be confirmed; and that is his constant point.
