Sam Mitchell and Ken Hinkley enter Friday night at opposite ends of the coaching life cycle

The contrast of Friday night.

Sam Mitchell is the darling of the football world, while Ken Hinkley stands at the end of the plank.

Hawthorn is brimming with excitement and belief. Port Adelaide is carrying the burden of a shameful performance.

The Hawks community is united and inspired and will travel en masse. The Power fan base is in a state of revolt and it will be interesting to see how many turn up.

Mitchell’s biggest worry is whether to give Jack Ginnivan a clip for his social media habits. Hinkley is trying to play amateur psychologist with a damaged team and avoid being run out of town.

For the coaches running exit meetings the sense of lament will be deep.

Michael Voss and Luke Beveridge would’ve harbored ambitions to be alive deeper into September than this. They’ll be second guessing what transpired in those Elimination Finals.

And an old game we used to play on AFL 360 – Who would you rather be?

The trajectory of both Carlton and Bulldogs is a little blurred right now. Which team would you feel more certain about rising next season?

Which of the Dogs or the Blues is guaranteed to improve… to finally crack the Top 4?

For the coaches themselves – despite the hot-blooded reactions of a portion of the Blues faithful – Voss is appropriately ensconced with two years to run on a contract.

Beveridge is more delicately placed with 2025 the final year of his contract. That is proving the most awkward scenario in footy and warrants plenty of thought over the coming weeks.

The last year of a contract can be incredibly destabilising and clubs tend to avoid it at all costs.

Justin Longmuir and Matthew Nicks have survived in their jobs because of the decisions to extend their contracts by one and two years respectively.

Neither would’ve won new deals had they been left on trial.

So, what to do at the Dogs. It’s hard to justify meaningfully extending Beveridge given the lack of a top four finish and another Elimination Final loss.

Club and coach could have the mature conversation of a benchmark that needs to be met to trigger a fresh deal and tie their fates to each other against the raging wind.

Or a short-term play would defuse the overwhelming scrutiny that could engulf Whitten Oval if the season started as the past few have.

But there’s at least one club searching for a coach with a long-term lucrative deal. These are interesting times when the disappointment is real and the frustration fresh.