MEMO to AFL coaches: despite constant speculation to the contrary, I'm not interested at the current time in coaching an AFL club. Thank you and I wish all of you all success for 2007 and beyond.

I'm enjoying a part-time coaching role with the AFL-AIS Academy and my new role with Channel Ten, where I'm contracted for two years. That's as far ahead as I'm looking. That's the last I'm going to say on the issue this season.

It's has been staggering over recent weeks to read the mountain of inane speculation about the future of five current AFL coaches.

I can't recall a time when the speculation has been so strong and widespread so early in the season as it has been concerning Carlton's Denis Pagan, Geelong's Mark Thompson, the Kangaroos' Dean Laidley, Melbourne's Neale Daniher and Essendon's Kevin Sheedy.

Before a ball had been bounced, the coaching merry-go-round was a hot topic — almost like we are just waiting for someone to fall on their sword.

I really feel for coaches who have been put under the pump and admire their apparent ability to remove themselves from this sort of thing and get on with the job.

It was disappointing to see criticism recently levelled at Thompson after he described the coaching position at Geelong as "just a job".

I'm sure he's working just as hard as ever and is as focused as ever, but if trying to make that separation between his life and his work is his way of dealing with the constant pressure, I've got no issues with it.

Perhaps in the past, the job was so all-consuming for him that he needed to draw a line, even if it is just an imaginary escape hatch that allows him to say "that's work, this is not work", so he can actually enjoy life.

Outsiders could be excused for asking why on earth anybody would want to be an AFL coach.

When you look at Laidley, at times he doesn't appear to be having a lot of fun at the "office". The ill-timed comments of former premiership teammate and club legend Wayne Carey haven't helped.

Carlton won the NAB Cup and opened the season with an excellent win and yet there was speculation that even Pagan was for the chop — and that despite him being under contract for next year!

So why does anyone do it?

First, it's because you cannot play forever. If you could still play, you would — playing is the best way to be involved in footy. So you coach instead.

It's that competitive urge. That knot in the guts you get before a game, not knowing what's going to happen, except that you will either feel agony or ecstasy depending on the result.

As Apollo Creed said to Rocky Balboa: "Once a boxer, always a boxer." We don't change, Rock — once a competitor, always a competitor. That's why we keep coming back for more, irrespective of the often hurtful and personal speculation that has reached a new level this year.

You would understand if a coach decided not to read a paper, watch television, listen to the radio or surf the internet. But they can't, because keeping up to date with what's going on is part of their job.

Leigh Matthews uses a bubble analogy to deflect the incessant external pressures and intrusions.

He says read it all, listen to it all, take it all in, use what is useful, discard the rest. But don't let any of it penetrate the bubble. It's a pretty good system.

West Coast showed last weekend its bubble was like a steel shield when it put the most destabilising pre-season of all time behind it to grab a sensational win over Sydney.

How the playing group deflected anything that wasn't totally related to the grand final replay showed a fantastic inner strength. The question now is whether the Eagles can do it for the entire year.

Each coach will have his own way of dealing with the pressures, and different people that they lean on when times are tough. You need that.

As an outsider looking in, I've always admired Paul Roos and his ability to switch off. He rarely looks flustered, but I'm sure inside he's churning up as much as anyone.

The biggest mistake any coach can make is trying to be different to who he is. The resolve to ignore outside influences and make the decisions you know need to be made, ahead of public pressure, will test anyone. To go with what you believe in and back yourself is important.

I admire those coaches who can do this and continue to perform. To get on with the job, even when their tenure is in question.

What choice do they have? Probably none. So they get scrutinised, pulled apart and probed. Why do they do it? Because they love footy.