Facades, drama, and an infamous ruptured ACL, these are the tales of the men thrust into the hot seat -- the AFL caretaker coaches.
The unique club gained a new member this week when Troy Chaplin took the reins of Melbourne after it sacked premiership mentor Simon Goodwin.
A mid-season change in coach and the circuit breaker that comes with it can lead to a next-up win; since 1990, the interims have produced 17 wins, 23 losses, and 1 draw in their first game at 41.4%, compared to the 28.1% win rate of the same teams in the same season prior to the sacking.
But whether it's filling a cameo role or auditioning for the lead part -- the job is complex as Grant Thomas, John Barker and Neil Craig can attest.
As Barker says: "It's like jumping on a roller coaster without a seatbelt."
Before Thomas took the Saints to consecutive preliminary finals in his five-year tenure as senior coach, he replaced Malcolm Blight in sensational circumstances in mid-2001.
The theatrics didn't stop there. Internally, the Saints signed Thomas for three years, but externally they led media and members to believe they were going through a process to find a permanent coach.
"I had to sort of live that facade and then because they'd done that they then got forced into a corner to do an interview process for a senior coach," Thomas tells ESPN.
"I remember Jimmy Stynes was on the selection committee and the only other candidate was Chris Connolly and of course Jimmy voted for Chris because he was his best mate. I said to the board 'if this is all a facade why do I have to go through this?' and they said it was just for the media.
"I said 'you appointed Jim Stynes' and they said 'yeah, we thought he was a credible guy' and I said 'yes, but the only other applicant is his best mate!' And they said 'oh God'.
"They said don't worry about it. It was a complete facade."
Thomas took the reins in Round 16, and would lose to the Dogs by 34 points, and had a key decision to make.
"I remember thinking I just want them to enjoy it and then I thought the whole reason we're here is to drive through a standard of success so I sort of went the other way and went really hard and made them realise everyone's got seven weeks to prove how much they want to be here," he explains.
"I said I won't be deciding if you're here, you'll be telling me you want to be here through your performance.
"So, I managed attitude and effort really strongly in those last seven weeks and we beat a finalist, Hawthorn, in the last game of the year. Barry Hall kicked a goal after the siren and then he left for Sydney.
"I was reasonably happy with the way the guys approached and attacked it and I thought I just pulled the right rein there.
"Sometimes interim coaches go down the path of wanting to be liked so they try and make everyone enjoy it so players say 'oh it was fantastic being coached by him, he was great' and they forget about the basic fundamentals of coaching. You're there to be liked, you're there to be respected."
Barker's caretaker experience, for the most part, was the exception to the rule. Not only was he given the heads up about his promotion, his 14 games at the helm remains one of the longest interim stints.
Well before Carlton's mid-June bye, then-chief executive Steven Trigg sounded out the former Fitzroy, Brisbane, and Hawthorn forward about taking on the role should the club and veteran coach Mick Malthouse part. It happened not long after, and Barker was thrust into the roller coaster.
"A week or so later we had a match committee meeting early in the week and they said Chris Judd, Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs, our three best mids, were out, we were going up to Sydney, who were in the Grand Final the year before, which was always a hard task," Barker explains.
"I think Mick thought 'we're going to go up there and get smashed, then the week after I'm going to get sacked.' I think he brought it forward.
"He went on SEN and started taking pins out of grenades and throwing them pretty strongly towards the Carlton board, giving them a little clip so then they had no option but to sack him then."
Five quarters into the gig, Barker knew his fate.
"We kicked the first five goals against Adelaide at the MCG, started like a house on fire and in the second quarter Chris Judd did his ACL," Barker recalls.
"As the medical cart was taking him off the ground, he sort of sat up and waved to the crowd, basically waved goodbye. I was in the coaching box, think I might have stood up and while he waved to the fans, I waved goodbye to my coaching career.
"There goes the best midfielder of the last 10 years -- how am I meant to win games now?"
Under Barker, the Blues won three games, the wooden spoon, and then acquired Jacob Weitering, Harry McKay, and Charlie Curnow from the 2015 national draft. He remains pretty chuffed with the draft loot.
By the end of the season, Brendan Bolton was announced as the next senior coach, beating Barker to the job. Barker remained on the coaching panel until 2021.
Thomas believes a caretaker fits one of two categories.
"The ones that know there's no way known they're going to get the job or aren't interested, and there's those who are strongly advocating, vying and putting their hand up for the job," he says.
Neil Craig has had both experiences.
When in mid-2004 he replaced Gary Ayres at Adelaide he wanted to be appointed his permanent successor. Knowing candidates were being interviewed in the background, Craig used his stint as a real-time audition and invited all and sundry at the Crows to enter the inner sanctum and watch him in action.
Nearly a decade later when he stepped in for Mark Neeld for the last 11 games of the Demons' 2013 campaign, Craig wasn't so sure he wanted the top job permanently again.
Now, 12 years down the track, Chaplin is tasked with steadying Melbourne's ship.
And it won't be all smooth sailing.
"If you put yourself in Troy's shoes, he's trying to do the best he possibly can and keep the players' minds on the game when all the internal and external noise is around the candidates available for the job," Craig explains to ESPN.
"It can get even more complicated because there might be a prospective senior coach, Melbourne might be in touch with them and they might want to talk to some senior players.
"So, Troy is trying to steady the ship, get some degree of performance on the field and there's a possibility that a coach outside the club is talking to the players.
"This interim job is very complex, it's not as easy as people think."
The whole landscape can be complex.
From fellow coaches to support staff and players who might suddenly be contemplating their futures with an incoming change in regime.
One former caretaker told ESPN the feathers of a fellow assistant coach were ruffled when they were overlooked for the interim position he won. The coach believes his disgruntled peer then began leaking information to the media.
For players constantly quizzed about their coach's future, a change in leadership can lift a weight off their shoulders according to Craig.
Thomas believes the sugar hit that can come in improved performance is often more about the players than a new coaching voice.
"Generally, when coaches are not performing that well they tend to go more towards the liked than respected management side of things because they want players to continue to support them if they're under the pump," he says.
"I think unfortunately that doesn't always work and then the coach will get sacked, an interim will come in and players immediately say 'this is for real this, there's no mucking around here, they've just sacked the coach, I better make a statement'.
"I think mentally players change as well, there's always a degree of players who don't necessarily enjoy the coach they're currently with and it's expressed by their performances."
All eyes now turn to the Dees' clash with the Bulldogs on Sunday and whether Chaplin can bump up that 41.4% win rate of caretaker coaches in their first match in the hot seat.