Pressure Mounts on AFL Coaches as Season Heats Up in Round 2
In the high-stakes world of the AFL, intense pressure can build to explosive levels with alarming speed, and for some coaches and clubs, it arrives like a roaring freight train. This is certainly the case for Carlton and Michael Voss, but he is far from alone as the 2026 season sets up for Round 2. The wolves are out early, already at the door, and ladder position offers little protection when this drooling pack roams down your street. Here’s a look at the top five coaches feeling the heat.
5. Dean Cox
It might seem odd to see Dean Cox’s name here, given his Sydney Swans are off to a flyer and sitting on top of the ladder. However, a massive curveball has been thrown his way, and Cox cannot let it derail another season. Sydney struggled to win games without their No.1 playmaker, Errol Gulden, last year, and the 2024 grand finalist missed out on finals in 2025. Cox simply cannot allow that to happen again.
After handing over a massive bounty for Charlie Curnow at the end of last year, the Swans are all-in on 2026. "This is all about Errol Gulden," Dale Thomas said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters following Gulden’s shoulder injury. "You hate to see it ... Surgery has been the option. They need to learn the lessons that they didn’t at the start of last year, because once he’s out of that side, the numbers aren’t good for the Sydney Swans. They need to find a way to continue their red-hot start to the season."
So, what do we make of the Swans’ start to 2026? A glass-half-empty perspective might suggest they only managed two goals in a half against Carlton, their two wins so far should be expected on their home deck, and they got lucky against Brisbane with the reigning premiers missing key stars due to injury and suspension. The real test for Cox starts now, as he prepares to take on Hawthorn without Gulden and also Isaac Heeney (hamstring). His days of fanciful experiments are over; he has inherited a grand final team and needs to find a way to win without his 23-year-old gun, who has become a standards-setter for his teammates.
4. Alastair Clarkson
A Round 1 win for Alastair Clarkson was just what the doctor ordered, but Clarkson knows questions about his future will not go away unless his team keeps banking the four points when expected. This means they must win this weekend in Perth against West Coast, and then they have another winnable match against Essendon to potentially start the year with three consecutive victories. Who knows, if they beat Carlton in the Good Friday clash, they could be 4-0 and humming.
North Melbourne finished second bottom in 2020, bottom in 2021, bottom in 2022, second bottom in 2023, second bottom in 2024, and third bottom last year. Clarkson is entering his fourth year as North Melbourne coach, and even he is aware it’s time to rise. While a return to finals action might be a stretch (their last finals appearance was way back in 2016), he might need 8-10 wins to continue next year.
3. Brad Scott
2025 was disastrous in so many ways for Brad Scott, and Essendon’s first match of 2026 has not done anything to safeguard the coach’s position. Yes, it’s a long year, but the powerbrokers behind this fading powerhouse are reportedly restless. Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters on Tuesday that she already feared for Scott’s tenure.
"(Club legend) Kevin Sheedy, we know he’s a big fan of Dean Solomon," Wilson said. "(Sheedy) coached him to premierships. The conversation around the Essendonians, etcetera, the old boys, is that maybe Dean Solomon would make a great coach of the Essendon Football Club and he and James Hird would work well together. You just look at Brad Scott and you have to say at the moment the cards are stacked against him."
Essendon have the joint most premierships in the AFL/VFL, but they last won an AFL final in 2004, and their last flag came in 2000. It’s been a rocky road since then, on and off the field, with many club heavyweights lamenting the drastic fall of their once mighty club.
2. Ross Lyon
A huge off-season of recruiting, an Opening Round date with Collingwood, 80,000-plus at the MCG, loads of tough talk, and sparkly stuff on the shorts—this was supposed to be the year for the Saints. But then reality, Nick Daicos, and Max Gawn all stepped in, and St Kilda are two losses from two and are staring down the barrel of a third straight defeat when they head to Engie Stadium to take on the Giants on Saturday.
Ross Lyon is feeling it, and adding to the heat are some questionable moves in the coaching box during the losses against Collingwood and Melbourne. A 0-3 start to the new dawn of St Kilda is not how this script was written over the summer. In the game against Melbourne, Lyon was also slammed when his superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera headed to the bench in the fourth quarter when the game was in the balance.
"It’s going to be hard to beat as the dumbest coaching move this year. What are they doing with Nasiah?" AFL expert Kane Cornes said. "I think you need strong coaching. If you are a team that needs to win now—and there’s debate about the Saints—I would have thought the build up to this year means they’re in it to win a final this year ... finals, top eight or top six is the pass mark ... I think you have to win a final. But you drop the first two against sides you think will be around you and it hurts. It’s going to be hard to beat as the most mismanaged pieces this year when the game was on the line and not the first time. Last week (against Collingwood) was not a great coaching role."
Cornes added that if Wanganeen-Milera had stayed out on the ground against Melbourne, St Kilda would have "probably" won. Simply, Lyon needs to dip into his bag of tricks and produce something special ... quickly.
1. Michael Voss
Knock, knock, knock ... It’s been years of torment and coach bloodletting at Carlton, with many suggesting the job is a poisoned chalice. As for Michael Voss, he was on shaky ground last season but somehow survived; this year, there’s no solid ground in sight.
While Carlton’s loss in the Opening Round to Sydney at the SCG was probably expected, the third-quarter capitulation was alarming ... to say the least. As for the narrow win against Richmond, the one-goal second-half has done little to stop the jungle drums that will undoubtedly beat for most of the year. Voss’s contract runs out at the end of the season, and he needs to show the critics something, otherwise the axe will come quickly.
The Blues have a bye this week, but then they face Melbourne and North Melbourne. Pressure goes with the territory at Carlton, who, as is the case at Essendon, have several behind-the-scenes figures desperate for a return to the top and don’t mind rattling the cage. Carlton fans are also extremely vocal and quick to hit 11 on the Princes Park pressure-cooker when the wins dry up. To think, it was only a few years ago Voss steered the Blues to a preliminary final.
Note: Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is certainly around the mark and will definitely slip into this top five if the Dockers don’t find themselves in finals contention. The Western Bulldogs have started this season looking every bit a premiership favourite, but the screws will quickly turn on Luke Beveridge if they start to slide.
