Coaching in the AFL is a chalice that can be poisoned or make you immortal.
That's the deal made when someone agrees to become a head coach of an AFL club 99.9 per cent of the time: If you win a premiership, you are a success; anything less and you have failed. It's as ruthless a business as any.
The pressure internally and externally, the media scrutiny, would become all-encompassing. Just look at what Carlton coach Michael Voss is experiencing right now as people list the best person to become the Blues coach while he is still at the helm.
But for all its flaws, it is so heavily desired by the competitive few who seek eternal glory and have a deep burning desire to become a premiership-winning coach.
Having been born in the first year of the 21st century, that is where this ranking list shall begin. The work of coaches from 2000 to the present will be the main source of argument, but the ability to look further back in time at their exploits can be used as a form of tie-breaker.
To enter the top 10, a coach must have won a premiership, so St Kilda's Ross Lyon, despite leading two of the league's "smaller teams" to a total of three (four if you count the draw) grand finals, is omitted from the pool.
10. Mark Williams - Port Adelaide, 2004
A number of candidates were vying for this 10th spot. With Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy was incredibly unlucky to miss out, given he led the Bombers to a near-perfect season in 2000 when they lost only one game.
But Williams took the Power past being the "chokers" of the league and to a maiden flag. Against a three-time reigning premier juggernaut in Brisbane, if you don't mind as well. The fact that interstate premierships are arguably harder to win also plays into the calculations here.
Williams and his captain Warren Tredrea took Port Adelaide to three consecutive minor premierships and found it was third time's a charm as they beat the Lions by 40 points.
The man nicknamed "Chocco" had his moment in the sun as he famously motioned his tie as a chokehold as he walked down to the ground late in the final term, gesturing to the crowd that he and his players had slayed the Brisbane giant and shed the chokers label.
After finishing in 14th place in 2000, Williams' Power made it four consecutive top-four finishes and was one of the most dominant teams of the early 2000s.
