Essendon and North Melbourne were both on the wrong side of the scoresheet in Round 2 and face off Saturday night as pressure mounts.
Speaking on the Six Points AFL Podcast, co-host Mark Stevens believes both coaches Brad Scott (Essendon) and Alastair Clarkson (North Melbourne) should be under pressure, with the upcoming affair between the two set to compound the external noise for the losing party.
"It's an interesting scenario. Clarkson vs Scott, two long-term coaches under the pump," Stevens said.
"There's no doubt that they're under pressure.
"Clarko was under pressure after that insipid effort down in Ballarat, and Brad Scott has to be under serious heat."
The Kangaroos headed into Sunday's clash as favourites after their promising win over the Power in Round 1, and Daniel Harford believes they let the win slip away.
"Horrible loss, that's the one they just have to win," Harford said.
"They've got a really good draw for the first month. Carlton and Essendon coming their way in the next couple of weeks. They should have been four and zip, now they're one and one, win the next two."
Stevens questioned if the Kangaroos were too accepting of losses.
"Are they too accepting of it? I mean, we watched it sort of unfold, and was anyone too angry over there?" Stevens said.
"I know the supporters would be, there just seems to be an acceptance, even Clarko wasn't getting too angry, he normally fires up a little bit more."
After the Bombers' disappointing start to the season, Stevens believes Essendon could be entering Fitzroy territory.
"Where's the next win coming from?" Stevens said
"They've lost their last 15 games, 58.4 per cent. I'm going to call it now... at the moment they're Fitzroy, and that is a terrible thing to say."
Harford, who didn't agree with the Fitzroy comparison, was just as disappointed in Essendon's performance.
"I'm not going the Fitzroy comparison just yet, but I tell you what, it looks yuck, just the way they're playing looks yuck, and we heard Brad Scott in the press conference after it, talking about it's not a system issue, we can't teach fumbles," Harford said.
"He talked about them being demoralised, how can you be demoralised two games in? On the weekend, that was a game they needed to stand up."
The Kangaroos and Bombers will face off against each other this Saturday night at Marvel Stadium.
