Pagan, who coached Longmire for seven seasons at North Melbourne in the 1990s, once observed that "manufactured footballers" - those who have had to "scrap" for everything - have proved to be better coaches.
Pagan was a "manufactured footballer" himself, as was Malthouse - and as Longmire became. Of course, Longmire was a star before injuries curtailed his career and forced him to "scrap".
Reigning premiership coach Malthouse was of a similar view, once explaining: "If you had a playing career that was successful from start to finish, it would be a fantastic achievement as a player, but it wouldn't necessarily be a good preparation for coaching (because) if everything goes wrong for you when you coach, what experiences do you draw on? If you've sampled (negative) things, it makes you a better coach."
On that front, Longmire is better credentialled than most who have pursued coaching. Although he enjoyed a raft of individual and team triumphs as a player, his career was littered with setbacks that tested his resolve, and compelled him to evolve.
Along the way, he learned lessons that have shaped his philosophies on the game; indeed, lessons that will equip him for many of the challenges he will confront as an AFL coach.
The AFL Record caught up with Longmire briefly in Melbourne, just hours before the Sydney Swans took on Collingwood in round two of the NAB Cup. The new coach was polite but business-like - understandably so, given he was preparing for a clash with the reigning premier.
He simply wanted his team to match the Pies' work rate and ferocity in what loomed as a great early test under the new coach.
The Swans were hammered early but ultimately passed the test, and were disappointed to lose by 14 points.
Our next conversation was a far more relaxed affair, albeit via telephone, on a comparatively lazy Wednesday afternoon.
Longmire had just arrived home after taking three-year-old daughter Sahara with him to pick up her two older brothers - Thomas, seven, and Billy, five - from school, which the proud father regards as a rare treat.
Longmire has fond memories of his own childhood on a 1200ha grain farm just out of Corowa, in the Riverina district of New South Wales. He feels lucky to have experienced an active country lifestyle in which he learned the value of hard work and resourcefulness.
Longmire has good football pedigree. His maternal grandfather, Keith Williams, won Fitzroy's best first-year player award in 1948, his only season at the highest level. An uncle, Robert Longmire, played two games for Collingwood in 1964.
Leadership is also in the blood. Last September, Longmire's father Fred was elected mayor of Corowa.
In 1987, Longmire played just a handful of senior games for Corowa before he attracted the interest of AFL clubs. A 16-year-old man-child (193cm and 89kg), he bagged 8.5 in a senior representative match, won the league goalkicking award and was signed by North Melbourne.
Longmire's first coach was John Kennedy, a man of "enormous presence" and powerful oratory. Of the many Kennedy-isms, Longmire singles out one - "Just because you're in a city with a couple of million people doesn't mean you don't get lonely." It's a saying that is still applicable to Longmire, with the vast majority of the Swans' playing list hailing from outside New South Wales.
"I'm always very conscious of how difficult it can be for players initially when they come to live in Sydney," he says. "It's very important to welcome them into the fold and surround them with a support network to help them along."
Longmire didn't take long to acclimatise to the big smoke and League football.
He made his debut at 17 in 1988 and, in his first two seasons, kicked 30 goals in 27 games, before making a meteoric rise to stardom in 1990. That year, he won North's best and fairest, became the youngest Coleman medallist, the youngest player to kick 10 goals in a match, broke the club goalkicking record twice with hauls of 12.5 and then 14.3 (the equal most goals in a match at the MCG), and represented both New South Wales and Victoria. All at just 19.
Somehow he managed to keep his feet on ground.
"That was pretty easy," he says. "In a footy club environment, particularly at North Melbourne, if they thought you were getting ahead of yourself, they'd bring you crashing back to earth quick-smart."
Longmire crashed back to earth in the final round of 1990. Needing just four goals for a century, he kicked 2.8 against Collingwood at Waverley.
"I'd love to be able to say there was a howling wind and I did well to kick two," he says.
"But the reality is, I was 19 and I just didn't handle it as well as I would have if I had more experience. That's what can happen with young players."
From 1990-95, Longmire amassed 464 goals in 128 games, while playing second fiddle to Wayne Carey. ("My role was just to stay out of Wayne's way," he says.) Then, as Longmire describes, "things started going haywire".
A second knee reconstruction cost him the 1996 season. Pagan invited him into the coach's box and gave him the job of looking after zone set-ups from opposition kick-ins. Former teammate John Blakey recalls Longmire being "like another coach", but Longmire plays down his role. He hadn't previously considered coaching, but suddenly he was.
Longmire missed the premiership side that year, but you won't hear him express any disappointment. "I was just so rapt for my mates," he says.
Then Longmire wasn't selected for the 1998 Grand Final, which North lost to Adelaide. Time was running out.
In 1999, he tore a hamstring and then an elbow tendon. As he limped around in the reserves in the last round, he thought he might be finished. "North wasn't a wealthy club but here I was costing them a fortune in tape," he says. "That was the only thing holding me together."
But his luck finally changed. Pagan says Longmire showed "enormous courage and resilience", but Longmire admits he was "extremely lucky" to make it back for the preliminary final and then keep his spot to win a treasured premiership.
"I had three possessions, two of which were ineffective, but I carried on as though I'd won the Norm Smith Medal," he says of his 200th and final game.
His experiences have given him great empathy for players who encounter hardship.
"If you've experienced some of that stuff yourself, it makes it easier to see things through players' eyes," he says.
Longmire played competently in virtually all key positions, and says he learned more about football in his last two years while "trying to be a ruckman" than he had before.
"At centre bounces, I was a ruck-bag because I couldn't jump," he says. "But it forced me to think more deeply about the game and employ different tactics just to compete."
Building club spirit came more naturally, with Longmire regarded as one of North's great "bonders" who helped develop the close-knit environment which was crucial to North's success.
Longmire believes bonding is an important part of a football club.
"You need players who are keen to come to work and enjoy each other's company," he says.
"It can't be created artificially, though. You need to create an environment where that happens naturally."
Pagan regards Longmire as a special individual.
"John is a person of such quality and substance and integrity that you can trust him with your life," he says. "How many people can you say that about?"
While he was still playing, Longmire was gaining a broader perspective on the football industry.
Vice-president of the AFL Players' Association for three years, from 1999-2001, he also headed up IMG's AFL division, a role in which he identified, recruited and nurtured young talent (including Joel Corey, Darren Glass, Justin Koschitzke and Chance Bateman), negotiated contracts and sponsorships, and fostered contacts.
At the end of 2001, Longmire joined the Swans as an assistant coach. One of the attractions was to work under Rodney Eade, whose instinctive, left-field approach contrasted with Pagan's highly structured regime. "I wanted to get a breadth of experience," Longmire says.
It was a tumultuous first season. Midway through 2002, Eade was sacked and Paul Roos took over as interim coach. Rumours abounded that Western Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace would take over, and Longmire was uncertain about his future.
Of course, Roos kept the top job, and it was to be the start of a long and successful relationship between coach and club, and coach and assistant.
Longmire and Roos barely knew each other before their paths crossed in Sydney. They first met in 1987 when Roos and a few Fitzroy teammates watched Corowa play a game at Wangaratta. Given their respective status at the time, it's easy to imagine the meeting being vividly recalled by Longmire yet forgotten by Roos.
"Roosy remembers it," he says, "but that's only because he was being worshipped by the locals as he walked around the ground with his big flowing mullet."
Longmire and Roos shared a close mutual friend in John Blakey, who joined his two mates in Sydney as an assistant coach at the end of 2006. Blakey describes both as "very switched-on, focused and driven, but also very down-to-earth."
The pair's personalities and football philosophies meshed perfectly.
"Roosy was such a fantastic person to work for and with, and a great mentor," Longmire says.
"He's unique. With his thoughts on football, his man-management, his outlook on life, and everything he stands for, it was a real privilege to spend so long with him."
Longmire says Roos' model for success included imperatives such as contested ball, defence, competitiveness and continual improvement. He was most impressed by Roos' insistence on giving players a say, and some responsibility, rather than simply imposing disciplines upon them.
New Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh says the players have "absolute faith" in Longmire's coaching ability.
"He has had something to do with every player that has come through the club in his time here," McVeigh says.
"He's had a hugely positive impact on a lot of guys' careers."
McVeigh included.
"A few years ago when he was our midfield coach, he really put it to me to really step up my game and my leadership," McVeigh says. "Like a lot of guys, I just want to repay him for the faith he had in me, and for teaching me so much about the game.
"He has lunch with the boys and talks with us about a lot of things, not just football," McVeigh says. "He's a confidant, and he's great to bounce ideas off.
"Since he's become coach, he's spent even more time with the boys, which is the thing we wanted him to continue most.
"Win or lose, coaches and players need to build strong relationships, and we've got that."
FACT FILE
John Longmire
Born: December 31, 1970
Recruited from: Corowa-Rutherglen (NSW)
Debut: Round 4, 1988 v Footscray
Height: 194cm
Weight: 102kg
Games: 200
Goals: 511
Player honours: North Melbourne best and fairest 1990; All Australian 1990; Coleman Medal 1990;
North Melbourne leading goalkicker 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994; North Melbourne pre-season premierships 1995, 1998; North Melbourne premiership 1999
Brownlow Medal: career votes 33
