It generally spells bad news.

As former Walla footballer Sam Rowe made his way up the stairs for an appointment with the Carlton coach at Visy Park last week, the 27-year-old wasn’t sure what was in store.

Malthouse soon put the backman out of his misery by breaking the news that he would be joining Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Michael Jamison and Lachie Henderson in the club’s leadership group.

Rowe was blown away.

“Mick just called me into this office and told me I was in,” Rowe said yesterday.

“He just said to keep doing what I was doing by working hard. I was pretty surprised.

“It’s not something I have been aiming for or was striving towards.

“I was just doing my thing and they must have liked how I was going about it.”

Rowe, who signed a two-year contract extension this year, has made a stunning climb up the pecking order at Carlton since Malthouse backed him to play in defence at the start of this year.

He missed only one match and finished fifth in the club’s best and fairest award.

“I had a change in position and worked really hard with Johnny Barker and Michael Jamison,” he said.

“I think Jamison is one of the best defenders going around.

“I just flogged myself on the track over the pre-season as I thought if I didn’t make it last season that would be it for my career.

“I wanted to give it my best shot and I have no regrets.”

Malthouse’s faith never wavered as he put Rowe up against some of the biggest names in the game including Travis Cloke, Tom Hawkins, Drew Petrie, Jonathon Patton and Jake Carlisle.

While a couple got hold of him this year, it has only made the laid-back Rowe hungrier.

“Mick’s thrown some big jobs at me,” he said.

“You learn quicker that way.

“If you make a mistake against one of the big dogs in the competition you get goals kicked fairly quickly on you.”