AFL coaches, like most top-level coaching professionals, seem to live in a world where you are only a moment away from being in the pressure cooker, with your coaching career on the line. AFL clubs that hesitate to fire a coach who has lost the playing group or give the legendary ex-player an extra season to prove their worth as a coach can suffer as the group fails to meet the hopes of the board and the fans.
Every coach, no matter how successful, will always feel the brunt of the pressure, usually coming from outside of the club. However, sometimes a coach can feel the wrath of their playing group, and it just becomes a matter of time before they have lost their job because they “lost the dressing room” so to speak.
In this article, we’ll assess the coaches from Adelaide through to Greater Western Sydney, giving each coach a pressure rating out of five, with five being under massive pressure, and zero meaning the coach is safe in their job.
Matthew Nicks
Nicks is heading into his fifth season as coach of the Crows and is yet to take theminto September action, even though many picked them to finish in the top eight last season after just missing out in 2023.
Nicks is contracted until the end of the 2026 season after signing a two-year contract extension before the 2024 season. However, another poor season from the Crows and that extension may come into question, especially after the team slid backward in progression in 2024, finishing the season 15th, just ahead of cellar-dwellers West Coast, North Melbourne, and Richmond.
Nicks probably has another poor season before the heat intensifies, though.
Pressure Rating – 2.5/5
Chris Fagan
What a wild year it has been for Chris Fagan and the Lions. Losing the 2023 Grand Final to Collingwood,starting the 2024 season 0-4, and dealing with rumours of a pre-season scandal, before turning their season around, finishing fifth, and winning four consecutive games to beat the top-ranked Sydney in the Grand Final, completely outclassing the Swans.
Like Nicks, Fagan is contracted to the end of the 2026 season, but unlike his Adelaide counterpart, there is unlikely to be any pressure on Fagan coming off the premiership-winning season. Even bottoming out and missing finals, as the Pies did in 2024, would not add much pressure for the Lions coach.
Pressure Rating – 0/5
Michael Voss
Michael Voss is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Carlton Football Club, having returned the team to finals for the past two seasons. While Carlton under Voss has looked the strongest they have been for some time, it hasn’t always been smooth saying for the triple premiership player at Ikon Park.
Carlton has an admittedly rabid fanbase, and expectations are again high for Blues fans. This has led to disastrous times of late for former coaches like Brett Ratten, who was axed after Carlton failed to make finals in 2012.
If Voss can’t build on the past two seasons, expect the pressure gauge to crank up, but at the moment it is probably stuck at the lower end of the scale.
Pressure Rating – 1.5/5
Craig McRae
Like former Lions teammate, Michael Voss, Craig McRae is also entering his fourth season as Collingwood’s coach. In his first two seasons as coach, McRae took Collingwood to a Preliminary Final and a Grand Final, helping Collingwood win its record-equalling 16th premiership in 2023.
However, McRae’s side fell off the pace a little in the 2024 season, losing the first three games of the year before rallying back to finish 9th, despite winning 12 games.
While last season wasn’t ideal for the Pies and McRae, Collingwood fans are still happy to cling to the memories of their 2023 Premiership. However, another bad season may see Collingwood fans and the club looking elsewhere.
Pressure Rating – 0.5/5
Brad Scott
Brad Scott is now in his third season as Essendon coach of a contract rumoured to be at least four years long. Scott is the first coach to likely be under fire this season, as Essendon has not made an appearance in the finals since 2021, and has not won a final since 2004.
Until now, much of the pressure has been off of Scott, as fans have largely blamed poor recruitment by list manager Adrian Dodoro, as the main reason for the club’s poor run of late. However, with Dodoro leaving the Bombers at the end of the 2024 season, more pressure is likely to pile on Scott if the team cannot find a way to make it into the top eight.
Scott’s team has taken a blow after mercurial forward Jake Stringer left the club to play for GWS, but they have drafted a promising youngster in Isaac Kako.
Pressure Rating – 3.5/5
Justin Longmuir
Justin Longmuir is coming into his sixth season at the helm of the Fremantle Football Club, with whom he played 139 games. Longmuir currently has a perfect 50% coaching record heading into 2025, with 53 wins, 53 losses and 2 draws.
However, Freo has missed the finals in the last two seasons and has only made it to finals once during Longmuir’s time at the top, meaning expectations at the club are surely building for them to move up the ladder or look elsewhere for a coach.
Longmuir is currently contracted until the end of 2025, but will once again come under pressure if the coach cannot lead his team back into finals contention.
Pressure Rating – 3/5
Chris Scott
Outside of Chris Fagan, there is no coach more comfortable in their position than Chris Scott. The Cats coach is entering his 15th season at the club, taking the team to finals in 12 of 14 seasons, and has won two premierships along the way, including a premiership in his first year as coach back in 2011.
After a dismal 2023, when Scott posted his only under .500 season as coach, Scott and the Cats rebounded to finish third in 2024, completing a stunning turnaround before losing to eventual premiers Brisbane in a home Preliminary Final.
Cats fans will expect more of the same from Scott and his team, but even if they don’t they haven’t exactly been starved of success in recent years.
Pressure Rating – 0/5
Damien Hardwick
In his 13 years as coach of the Richmond Football Club, Damien Hardwick led the club to three premiership victories, including back-to-back premierships in 2019 and 2020. This was exactly the sort of finals-winning experience that Gold Coast Suns wanted when they hired Hardwick to lead the team to make their first finals campaign and hopefully their maiden premiership.
Dimma made a bold call not long after arriving at the club, stating that 80 percent of a premiership-winning list was already there, and that they only needed to find the extra 20% to make it to glory.
Despite the bold claim, Gold Coast missed out on finals again in 2024 finishing 13th in a highly competitive season where they briefly turned their home ground into a fortress, losing only two games at People First Stadium.
Pressure Rating – 2/5
Adam Kingsley
Adam Kingsley arrived at the position at Greater Western Sydney after serving as Damien Hardwick’s assistant coach at Richmond from 2019 to 2022. Kingsley signed a three-year contract in the middle of 2024, contracting him until the end of the 2028 season.
Kingsley has taken the Giants deep into September action both years at the helm, leading the team to the Preliminary Finals in 2023, and the Semi-Final in 2024, losing to the eventual premiers both times.
Expect Kingsley to face very little pressure given recent success, but the expectations are already on continued finals appearances, so missing the top eight would see him falling in hot water, but that seems unlikely.
Pressure Rating – 1/5
