Ahead of Round 6, we're taking a look at the coaching styles of the teams on top of the ladder and how they came to find themselves in the hot seat.
Three of the competition's most newly appointed mentors, Craig McRae, Ross Lyon and Brad Scott, have all exceeded expectations with their individual and unique coaching approaches and strategies, which have pushed their teams to the top of the ladder.
Collingwood and Craig McRae
McRae was appointed as Collingwood coach ahead of the 2022 season after taking over from Nathan Buckley, who left the Pies at 17th on the ladder in 2021. He began his career in 1993, playing in the senior league for Glenelg in the South Australian Football League. At the end of 1994, McRae joined the Brisbane Lions through the 1993 pre-season draft and stayed with the club until 2004, winning three premierships.
In his first year at Collingwood, McRae was crowned Coach of the Year, by the AFL Coaches Association for his tremendous effort to steer the Magpies from 17th on the ladder in 2021 to a preliminary final last year.
McRae's successful and unique coaching strategy is based challenging his players and driving a winning mentality within his group.
At this time last year, ahead of Round 6 in the 2022 season, the club was sitting at ninth on the ladder before their ascension to contention, while they have continued that form this year to be sitting third with only one loss to their name from five rounds.
McRae's former Brisbane teammate Jason Akermanis commented on his coaching approach and credited McRae's personality when speaking to Sporting Newsย last year.
"Because he's such a relationship (based) coach, the players will always play for him ... he can coach there for 20 years he's that good," the champion ex-Lion said.
"Craig is super empathetic but he's very humorous, mixing a good blend of humour into feedback and that's the art of a coach," he said.
"He gets players to play to their level if not, above."
St Kilda and Ross Lyon
Much like Collingwood and McRae, St Kilda has thrived under the new leadership, or in this case old, with Ross Lyon recently returning to Moorabbin.
Lyon started his career at Fitzroy in 1985 and continued until 1994, where he played over 120 games with the club, before playing two games for Brisbane in 1995. Lyon accumulated a total of 112 goals and had a combined total of games of 129 for both Fitzroy and Brisbane.
Lyon started his coaching career in 2007 and joined the Saints, leading them until 2011 before walking out with a year left on his contract despite a successful run with the Saints.
After he walked away from Moorabbin, Lyon was offered and accepted a lucrative four-year deal with Fremantle, for an astonishing $3.2 million, which he accepted. He remained at Freemantle until 2019, a run that included the club's first ever grad final appearance.
After several years away from the coaching landscape, Lyon returned to St Kilda in the wake of Brett Ratten's shock sacking. The move back to the Saints came after interest from Carlton and Collingwood the year prior.
So far, Lyon has led the club to four victories and one recent loss against the Magpies, with everyone left shocked at his success amid massive injury setbacks, leaving the club to implement a new and inexperienced forward line. The makeshift attacking line is inclusive of Anthony Caminiti, Mitch Owens and Mattaes Phillipou, as well as experienced small forwards Dan Butler andย Jack Higgins.
Former Pies coach and current On the Couch panellist Nathan Buckley commented on the show last month about St Kilda's young forward line and their key sidelined players.
"None of those players have really played much in the forward line before โ you can add (Zaine) Cordy to that as well," he said.
"Those three together โ (Tim) Membrey, (Max) King and Higgins, early in the season last year St Kilda were one of the most effective sides going inside 50 when they got to 8-3 halfway through the year,
"They are doing it with no names now.
"Ross has always been a coach who's loved to see pressure on the opposition."
Throughout the 2022 AFL season, St Kilda finished 10th on the ladder, as they started off strong and quickly fell as the season progressed. Many are hoping with Lyon's guidance, and the help from the assistant coaching panel, the club will finish strong.
While Lyon's defensive coaching nous has returned to Moorabbin, his side are playing a new daring game to quickly turn ignite an exciting attacking brand of football thanks to their strengths on the last line.
Essendon and Brad Scott
Essendon has returned to contention thanks to new coach Brad Scott, whose ability to turn the side around has shocked many around the country following their 15th-placed finish on the ladder last year.
Currently, they sit second on the ladder, with a total loss of just one game so far, which came against St Kilda in Round 3.
Scott coached at North Melbourne for nine years before making the transition to Essendon at the end of last year for the start of the 2023 season. Scott supported North and took them to preliminary finals twice, in 2014 and in 2015, before the club won two wooden spoons, more recently throughout 2021 and 2022 after his departure.
In 2019, after nine years, a mutual decision was created between Scott and the club, with him offering to step down from coaching duties.
Scott made his AFL debut in 1997 for Hawthorn and joined the Brisbane Lions in 1998, playing with his twin brother Chris before he sustained a broken leg injury in 2002 and later retired in 2006.
The Bombers have adopted a new approach to their game under the two-time premiership Lion, attempting to play more of a 'turnover game'.
Scott has sought to keep the ball in Essendon's attacking territory and for his players to force more turnovers through midfield.
He told AFL Mediaย during the pre-season that he was optimistic with the playing group and the list he had.
"Some players have surprised me on the upside," the Bombers coach said.
"I've seen a hungry group. We stepped straight into football work from day one - and by that, I mean high intensity, competitive, full ground drills that, traditionally, you haven't been able to do because the players are not ready for that.
"I've been really impressed with the attitude and the work ethic.
"That being said, we've got a lot of work to do in just about every facet of the game, and it is a young group and we've talked about that, but it's a young, hungry group, full of capabilities, so I'm excited about it."
All three teams have impressed throughout the season, all sitting on 16 points and only losing a single game.
Throughout Round 6, St Kilda will face off against Carlton on Sunday afternoon at 3:20pm (AEST) at Marvel Stadium, while Essendon and Collingwood will go head to head at the MCG at 3:20pm (AEDT) on Tuesday afternoon.
