PRESSURE comes in different forms for AFL coaches and with every new season comes a new equation. Take Damien Hardwick. The numbers for the Tigers' coach as he enters his fourth season add up to unprecedented expectation.
Hardwick has urged the Richmond faithful to enjoy the journey but should finals elude the club yet again the popular young coach will find himself entering the last year of his contract shrouded in disappointment.
His former Essendon teammate, James Hird, is under massive pressure thanks to an unprecedented set of off-field circumstances while for Nathan Buckley the honeymoon period will continue so long as the Magpies seem headed for the top four.
Scott Watters deserves another season without pressure given where St Kilda's list stands and Mark Neeld surely could hope for a year further away from the demanding spotlight that for several months became a blowtorch.
Only a top four finish would seem acceptable for West Coast's long-serving John Worsfold, ditto Ross Lyon at Fremantle while debutant Ken Hinkley needs only marginal improvement from Port Adelaide to retain his popular status.
More questions will be asked of Brendan McCartney's teaching philosophy and patience this year while the expectations raised by Brenton Sanderson in season Number One should be tempered by the Crows' disastrous off-season.
Brad Scott delivered a game plan and some performances that will see welcome pressure placed back on both him and the Kangaroos in 2013 and Geelong fans will cut Chris Scott some slack whether or not the Cats turn out to be challenging or rebuilding.
John Longmire will continue to revel in his status as Sydney's unsung hero and the only pressure on the Swans will come from within, despite the fact that their list looks even better equipped than last year to take the premiership.
Only a premiership in fact would seem acceptable for Alastair Clarkson who has been smart enough to already hose down expectations while up north both Michael Voss and Guy McKenna desperately need to improve – certainly the torch is directed particularly harshly at McKenna this year.
Which brings us to the AFL's coaching elder statesmen. There is pretty much no pressure at all on the 65-year-old Kevin Sheedy who is entering his final season as senior coach and, with a hot young apprentice working alongside him, must surely be looking forward to a year of celebratory farewells along with some wacky publicity stunts.
Sheeds' "open letters" should surely set the tone on a slow and wintry news week.
But if Sheedy sits apart from the AFL coaching pressure valve, Mick Malthouse who turns 60 in August, would seem to be under the pump more than any other AFL coach.
Malthouse returns to AFL coaching after one controversial year in the media where his words delivered more copy than any other commentator's. With the scars still raw from his acrimonious departure from Collingwood he has done something no Magpies coach has ever done before and that is coach Carlton.
The nature of his appointment and the dialogue that accompanied it put at risk his credibility given that everything Malthouse said appeared at odds with what was seen for some months as a fait accompli.
Famous for forging stronger bonds of trust with his playing group than virtually any other coach, Malthouse is also well known for trusting few outside that group and for falling out with a number of them.
One premiership behind Sheedy in coaching terms, Malthouse to his credit has embraced the pressure he has brought upon himself. He told Carlton fans in February that his team, which failed to play finals in 2012, could win the premiership this year – often a fatal move for a coach. "I want a healthy side, a good game plan and an attitude of, 'We are hungry enough'," Malthouse wrote on the Carlton website.
"Take those ingredients, along with the stars and planets aligning, (and) we may very well have the makings of a premiership side."
In vintage Malthouse fashion he went on to fuse his optimism with social commentary at the Blues' pre-season family day. "You've got to come to the football club full of hope so that your playing group, support staff, board and members jump on board and say, 'Right, we've got a chance'," the new coach said.
"We want to make sure that our mantra is, 'There's no limit'. Why should we be restricted? That's the thing, too often in our country, our schools and our society, we are suppressed because of what people tell us."
Nor has Malthouse shied away from talking down his predecessor Brett Ratten's game plan. He pronounced one poor pre-season performance the result of confusion as he weaned his players from a playing style he wants removed from the club as he works to introduce his own.
On one early occasion back in the coaches' box he admitted jokingly he had forgotten to put on his headset but there is a true vulnerability to the man.
If Malthouse would seem to be re-entering senior coaching without the dream team of assistants who worked underneath him at Collingwood he does have the familiarity of a club chief executive who is backing him unequivocally knowing just how high maintenance the fragile ageing coach can be.
The Age columnist Matthew Lloyd has controversially predicted Carlton will miss the eight completely but the prevailing view is that the Blues without serious injuries are capable of at least a preliminary final in 2013.
For Mick Malthouse, given his reputation, his pay packet and the nature of his appointment mixed with a relatively healthy Carlton list – he saw no reason to tinker with it – and a club demanding and starved for success, the stakes have never been higher.
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