The first public duty Mick Malthouse had in his new AFL guise as Carlton coach was to mourn John McCarthy.

Malthouse coached McCarthy at Collingwood for four years before they went their separate ways at the end of last season.

As Malthouse went into the media, McCarthy went to Port Adelaide.

The 22-year-old died earlier this week while on an end-of-season holiday with Power team-mates in Las Vegas.

Referring to McCarthy, Malthouse opened his Tuesday morning media conference by saying he had a heavy heart.

"It does put things in perspective," Malthouse said.

"It's one of those moments I guess, we come to realise that being an AFL footballer doesn't give you an immunity to tragedies.

"A lot of boys would like to think they wear a Superman suit around, but unfortunately that's not the case."

Malthouse remembered sitting in the stands while McCarthy toiled away in the VFL, trying to stake a claim for senior selection.

McCarthy had many friends at Collingwood and his death has hit the club hard ahead of Saturday night's semi-final against West Coast.

Magpies captain Nick Maxwell said he would remember McCarthy as someone who was always smiling and positive.

"He was someone who had the potential to be a leader of the future for us," Maxwell said.

"In the end, due to circumstances and not being able to break into the team, he looked for opportunity from elsewhere.

"But that had nothing to do with him as a person or the kind of guy he was around the football club."

Maxwell and coach Nathan Buckley said they had encouraged players who were close to McCarthy to talk about their grief.

"Anyone's who's a brother or a son or has a close mate, if you can imagine that they're not sitting beside you any longer, that's what some of our boys are feeling," Buckley said.

"We've got some guys who were really close to John.

"His time at the club is still fondly remembered and it's just a tragedy for his family and friends to be going through what they're going through.

The club's feeling it as well and it's just a tragic circumstance - we deal with it as best as we possibly can."