North Melbourne’s decision to part ways with Brad Scott mid-season is staggering.

His winning percentage is better than 50 per cent, which is only marginally below Richmond’s Damien Hardwick.

The pair were appointed nine days apart in August 2009. The Tigers stuck with their man and now they have an 11th flag.

It was only two-and-a-half seasons ago the Roos made the tough decision to cut greats Brent Harvey, Michael Firrito, Drew Petrie and Nick Dal Santo.

North’s out with the old and in with the new policy produced better results than even their most optimistic supporters would have hoped for. If they had converted some close results they could even have been playing finals.

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Friday night’s win over Richmond was a nice kick-start into the second half of the season after a stuttering start.

They are well ahead of Carlton who persist with coach Brendon Bolton with a winning percentage of 26 per cent heading into today’s game against Essendon.

He is into his fourth season as coach and has taken them nowhere, despite all the early draft picks.

I don’t like the way he speaks in the media and if that’s what the players have to put up with, good luck. Brett Ratten should never have been sacked in the first place.

Speculation about John Worsfold’s future at Essendon is premature.

Camera Icon Brad Scott grazes past David King. Credit: Fox Sports

Essendon great Matthew Lloyd has had it in for Worsfold from the start, much the same as North Melbourne great David King had it in for Brad Scott. I dislike it when club greats, who have never coached themselves or played under those they criticise, make bold statements. They should know better than anyone. It’s a hard caper.

Whether Scott came off his line in his final game as coach to brush past King, who was on the field for a TV cross, is up for debate. But I’ll say this: Scott had every right to be aggrieved at having his coaching credentials questioned just because he isn’t a Shinboner.

Perhaps it’s the same at Essendon. Maybe Lloyd doesn’t like the fact that Worsfold is not from Essendon stock. If you look at the bigger picture, Worsfold took the reins at Essendon in 2016 a year where most of the good players were suspended for 12 months.

That affected 2017, a season where the Bombers still won 12 games, the same number as last year when they came home with a burst after a poor start.

Right now they sit in the bottom eight but play only four of the current top eight in the run home so still have a sniff.

However, injuries to key personnel are taking a toll. Devon Smith and Joe Daniher are out for the season, Orazio Fantasia is sidelined, along with Jake Stringer. A couple of seasons ago Fantasia and Daniher booted more than 100 goals between them. As a result, I can’t see the Bombers playing finals which will keep the heat on Worsfold.

Adelaide’s Don Pyke is another coach who is always under the microscope.

Again, maybe he is also seen as an outsider in Adelaide, a two-team town where like Perth it doesn’t take much to have a coach sweating under the griller of public perception.

The Crows have been hot and cold this season.

Adelaide’s biggest problem right now is their worst player is captain Taylor Walker. Big Tex’s form has become a dilemma for the coach.

Walker must be popular among the players, otherwise he would not have been voted into the captaincy role.

But there comes a tipping point where performance on the field must be the key criteria and like Bryce Gibbs and Josh Jenkins he cannot he exempt from being dropped.