Malthouse, set to finish the season with 710 matches to his credit, has been given unprecedented power by AFL chiefs to pick which team Carlton will face at the MCG when he coaches his 715th - and record-breaking - match.

It's believed he will choose a club he has a strong affiliation with, although Richmond, where he was a 1980 premiership player, has been ruled out because the Tigers will open the season against the Blues.

This leaves St Kilda, where he began his playing career, but more pertinently the three clubs he coached before the Blues - the Western Bulldogs, West Coast and the Magpies.

If it was to be the Magpies, it could be seen as a way for Malthouse, who spent 12 seasons there as coach and guided the club to the 2010 premiership, to pay tribute to McHale, who led the Magpies from 1912 to 1949. McHale has legend status in the AFL Hall of Fame, having played in the Magpies' 1910 premiership and then coached the club to eight flags, including four in succession from 1927-1930.

By playing the Magpies, it could also be a way for Malthouse and the club to help mend their fractured relationship.

A Bulldogs fixture would offer Malthouse the chance to recognise the club that gave him his first opportunity to coach, while he later led the Eagles to premierships in 1992 and 1994.

Simon Lethlean, the AFL general manager broadcasting and scheduling, said, whoever the opponent, it was likely to be a Blues home game, although a timeslot had yet to be determined.

"It is going to be a significant game in the calendar, one of the biggest games of the year I think, and rightly so. It's a massive achievement," Lethlean said on Monday.

"I have spoken with him [Malthouse] and we are catching up shortly as well. That will then flesh out a few things about what will be special and important to him and we will accommodate it the best we can. It's not easy to accommodate everyone's desires but we want to have a talk to him about that."

What is almost certain is that the match will not be held on a Sunday evening, as was the case in round 15 when only 40,936 braved a cold night in the experimental timeslot.

The two clubs could even push to have the match held at the traditional 2.10pm on a Saturday.

Lethlean admitted there was strong merit in scheduling the Magpies but did not rule out other options.

"Collingwood would be big. It might be appropriate but is it any more appropriate than West Coast and the Dogs, where he started? Who knows?" he said.

The Magpies and Blues met for the first time this year in round seven and generally clash in the opening two months of the campaign. That the Blues will finish in the middle-tier of the ladder, and the Magpies likely to join them, means, under the league's new equalisation measures, they are guaranteed of playing each other twice next season, allowing for the first match to be staged earlier in the season.

The Blues generally face the Eagles and Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, another reason why the Magpies would be the best fit for the MCG, which could expect to be sold out for such a  historical game.

A once-strong bond between Malthouse and the Magpies collapsed in late 2011 when he opted to leave the club, having had the opportunity to shift into the role of director of coaching as part of the succession plan designed in 2009 in which Nathan Buckley became coach.

Malthouse last year said he had no reason to "break bread" with Magpies president Eddie McGuire. McGuire has said he was saddened by the breakdown in their relationship and eventually wants Malthouse to be recognised for his 12 years at the club when he is inducted into its Hall of Fame.

Coaching legends

Jock McHale, 714 games: Collingwood 1912-49

Mick Malthouse, 709: W. Bulldogs, W. Coast, Collingwood 1984-2011, Carlton 2013-current

Kevin Sheedy, 693: Essendon 1981-2007, GWS 2012-13

Allan Jeans, 576: St Kilda  1961-76, Hawthorn 1981-87, 1989-90,  Richmond 1992

Tom Hafey, 522: Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney, 1966-88