Eddie McGuire stirs the Blues' pot by naming Mick Malthouse as a potential coach

RIVERS of gold flow through Carlton thanks to the hundreds of gaming machines gifted to the club by pokies king Bruce Mathieson.

Money isn't an issue at Visy Park.

So someone should pick up the phone today and call Peter Sidwell, the long-time manager of "resting'' coach Mick Malthouse.

Whoever makes that call will discover that Malthouse, 58, is free to coach next year and continues to pine for the cut and thrust of footy.

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None of his lucrative contracts with Channel 7, 3AW and La Trobe University are binding, meaning he can walk away and return to coaching anytime he likes.

His severance agreement with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire precluded him from coaching elsewhere this year, but not in 2013.
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Malthouse has been outstanding in his brief sojourn to the "dark side'' as a media commentator, but is not yet lost to coaching.

In betting markets, the Blues have drifted from $4.75 at the start of May to $21 at the beginning of winter to win the flag. Enter McGuire. On his morning radio show, McGuire said he sympathised with Ratten's plight but that "you're always under pressure at Carlton if you're not winning".
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That McGuire is president of Carlton's most hated rival adds an element to his suggestion that Malthouse, a man with whom he had a public stoush earlier this season, would be an ideal fit at the Blues should the role become available.

"Carlton would be a club that would have all the infrastructure, the player list, the whole thing that would I'm sure at least make him lift his eye," McGuire said.

"Greg Swann is the CEO down there (and) he's still very close with Mick. A team of that ilk would be something that maybe would get Mick's attention."

McGuire is no stranger to stirring the pot in regards to Carlton. He once likened Swann's defection from Collingwood back in 2007 to become the chief executive at Carlton as akin to him joining al-Qa'ida.

It is the type of talk that Carlton ruckman Rob Warnock, who fronted a press conference yesterday, said would "do your head in" if paid any attention.

There is no doubting Carlton's injury woes have had an impact in recent weeks, with the loss of veteran Heath Scotland to a calf injury the latest blow. It exacerbates the absence of star midfielder Marc Murphy and run-with Blue Andrew Carrazzo.

Following the shock loss to Port Adelaide, Ratten said he hoped ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, who was a late withdrawal against the Power, Lachie Henderson, Nick Duigan and Jarrad Waite would return for the Geelong match. Waite, though, was deemed just days earlier to be only a chance due to a persistent back problem.

The Cats also received a boost yesterday when dual-premiership forward Tom Hawkins signed with the club for another three years.