The Allan Jeans coaching tree shed another branch on Wednesday when Rodney Eade was let go by the Western Bulldogs.

And when Mick Malthouse finishes up at Collingwood at the end of the season, the Jeans coaching school, which just about every club in the AFL has dipped into at some stage in the past quarter of a century, might be closed for good.

Of the 17 clubs, only North Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast have never been guided by a coach who learned the ropes under Jeans at either St Kilda, Hawthorn and even Richmond, where he coached one season but still left an indelible mark.

Leigh Matthews, with one premiership at Collingwood and three with the Brisbane Lions, was the most successful of the Jeans disciples to have followed in his footsteps.

Jeans was proud of his former players who went into coaching. "Lord let me live long enough to see you blokes go coaching," he used to say to his players in times of great stress.

Malthouse's 2010 success with the Pies obviously left Jeans with mixed feelings. He would have been pleased to see Malthouse land his third premiership, particularly 16 years after the previous one. But it no doubt pained him that it came against his beloved Saints. Jeans wanted nothing more to no longer be the sole St Kilda premiership coach.

Eade took Sydney to the 1996 Grand Final and the Bulldogs to three straight preliminary finals from 2008 to 2010 and of the former Hawks under Jeans to have gone into coaching, he would run second to Matthews in terms of success.

Gary Ayres got Geelong to a Grand Final in 1995 and Adelaide to a preliminary final in 2003, while Terry Wallace coached the Western Bulldogs to a pair of preliminary final defeats in 1997 and 1998.

Three of Jeans's protégés coached Hawthorn, but only with moderate success. Peter Knights, Ken Judge and Peter Schwab all got the Hawks into the finals, with Schwab's narrow preliminary final to Essendon in 2001 the deepest run any of them made into September.

Gary Buckenara had a year and bit coaching Sydney, which didn't go all that well, while Ben Allan had half a year in charge of Fremantle in 2001 to round out the Hawthorn branch of the coaching tree.

Malthouse is obviously the standout of his St Kilda players from a coaching standpoint. Ian Stewart coached the Swans to a rare finals appearance in 1977, while Ross Smith and Darrel Baldock could not steer the Saints into the finals in their times in charge. Nor could Carl Ditterich during his two year stint with Melbourne.

Jeans's one year with the Tigers in 1992 spawned Matthew Knights, whose difficult three years in charge of Essendon, produced an elimination finals appearance in 2009.

With seven premierships won by his former coaches, Jeans sits two ahead of John Kennedy senior, who coached David Parkin (three flags at Carlton and one at the Hawks) and Alastair Clarkson (Hawthorn's coach in 2008).

And he is tied with Ron Barassi oversaw John Nicholls and Alex Jesaulenko, who both coached the Blues to a flag each, Denis Pagan, who coached North Melbourne to two flags and Malcolm Blight, a dual premiership coach with Adelaide. He also coached Paul Roos for a season in Sydney, and Roos coached the Swans to the breakthrough flag in 2005.

Tom Hafey coached Kevin Sheedy, who masterminded four flags at Essendon, and Tony Jewell, who coached the Tigers to one. Sheedy, in turn, tutored Mark Thompson, who led Geelong to the 2007 and 2009 flags.

With Malthouse gone from Collingwood at the end of the season, the Jeans school will be closed for business and perhaps unlikely to reopen again. It will be the end of an era.