PITY the selectors who have to pick the coach of the year.

As Adelaide put West Coast to the sword in the first quarter at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, with his team leading 8.3 to 0.1, you couldn’t help but consider the incredible journey of the Crows and interim coach Scott Camporeale.

Camporeale took over a group confused by the death of Phil Walsh. The players questioned life, let alone football and faced unprecedented hurdles.

Camporeale was the same. A long-time assistant coach, he became a leader not only in terms of coaching but in parenting.

His Crows walloped the Eagles by 57 points.

In his first game in charge, Round 15, Camporeale took a broken group to Subiaco and lost to the Eagles by 56 points.

He will have coached eight games before Saturday’s clash with Geelong, perhaps too small a sample to have him a contender for coach of the year. But perhaps not.

If coach of the year was judged on wins and losses then hand it to Ross Lyon today.

He has 17 wins after 22 rounds and no-one, not even Lyon, would have predicted such a dominant win-loss record.

Lyon still has a strong case. An ageing list and injuries have challenged him and the team.

So, too, Adam Simpson. The Eagles lost, but should finish the season with 16 wins and a draw.

In just two seasons in charge, Simpson’s team are premiership contenders.

He went 11-11 last year and the Eagles were basically flat-track bullies. This year he has transformed West Coast into an offensive juggernaut.

The pre-season expectations of the Eagles are unknown.

They are in second spot, a home final looms and Simpson has implemented a system that, hitherto, has withstood the rigours of a 23-round season.

media_camera Scott Camporeale has coached eight games for six wins with the Crows. Picture: Tom Huntley

If he won coach of the year there would be few dissenters.

And then there’s Luke Beveridge.

If expectation was the sole criteria for the award then Beveridge wins hands down.

He took over from Brendan McCartney in a time of deep troubles.

The off-field dramas in the post-season would test not only the coach but the club and now the Western Bulldogs should host a home final.

It has been more than admirable. At the same time, they have provided salvation for a season under siege.

The commentariat has gang tackled the style of football being played, so much so that zones and starting positions at stoppages are on the agenda.

But the Dogs have slowly quietened the critics.

They play exciting, brave, contested footy and when they win the ball, they go zip, zip, zip by hand and zip, zip, zip by foot and the ground opens up before them. Beveridge, in that sense, is Moses.

The reality is that the Bulldogs play football of substance — ferocious and free-wheeling.

Beveridge has put his faith in the kids and they have responded. All in all, it’s amounted to gutsy coaching.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs were challenged several times by North Melbourne and not once did they succumb to self-doubt.

To instil an aggressive, attacking mindset on the back of ferocious attitude towards winning the contest is superb coaching.

There’s also Alastair Clarkson. Strangely, he hasn’t won a coach of the year award from the coaches association.

Since 2008, it’s been Mark Thompson (Geelong), Lyon (St Kilda), Mick Malthouse (Collingwood), John Worsfold (West Coast), John Longmire (Sydney), Ken Hinkley (Port Adelaide) and last year Longmire again.

Clarkson has won three premierships in those years and one day, surely, he will be rewarded for keeping a team at the top end for so long, let alone for being in a position to win three consecutive flags.

But back to Camporeale. He has succeeded when everyone else wondered if he could keep the team together.

They’ve won six of their past seven and have charged into finals and quite possibly could be the in-form team in the competition.

From a horror night in June to dreaming in September, it’s been an astonishing performance.

* Apologies but Robbo is unavailable to chat today. Thanks for reading!