Consider Damien Hardwick's AFL pedigree.
He played under Kevin Sheedy and Mark Williams, before starting his coaching career under Alastair Clarkson, who remains a good friend.
Is it any wonder the Gold Coast coach is a maverick, never afraid to speak his mind?
Is it also any wonder the Suns, finally, have made their first finals series on his watch?
Hardwick the maverick has had a busy year -- calling out Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan for her comments on suspended Richmond player Noah Balta, fined $1000 for flipping the bird, and being unafraid to offer a considered, but definitely contrarian, opinion at the height of the Izak Rankine homophobic slur controversy.
Imagine the media reaction if a Victorian coach -- say, Collingwood's Craig McRae -- had done all that in one season.
For all Hardwick's success as a two-time premiership player and three-time premiership coach, going to Gold Coast has meant being "off Broadway".
The area is a well-established cemetery for teams in top-level Australian sporting leagues.
So Suns chief executive Mark Evans is not displeased by his coach's ability to stir up a headline.
"We would plan and debrief all the time on so many different things," Evans told AAP.
"But the one thing we'd sit there and say -- we're delighted that Damien's perspective on football and life brings an attention to the Suns that has been overwhelmingly positive for us."
Of course, the headlines age quickly -- and badly -- if the players aren't getting a kick.
This year, after so many dramas and false dawns, the Suns have clicked. But it's also only one step along the way -- the AFL's two newest clubs, GWS and Gold Coast, are yet to win a flag.
"He has this ability to work with a group and continually challenge them to what the next milestone, or the next mission, is," Evans said.
"We wanted to bring in someone who had the experience to guide an entire club through that process -- and we don't want it to stop there.
"Finals is an important milestone, but we need someone like Damien at the helm, to continually push this group so they can get themselves into premiership contention."
This recalls a stark memory of Evans, then Hawthorn's football boss, in their rooms immediately after losing the epic 2012 grand final to Sydney.
His head is in his hands. He is swearing in frustration, livid that so many players have just had ordinary games.
"Everybody's got to remember -- it's zero-zero at Round 1 next season. No guarantees," Evans fumed -- or words to that effect.
Hawthorn won the next three premierships.
Likewise, success has been far from linear for Hardwick. He was well on the way to being sacked as Richmond coach after the 2016 season, when they finished outside the top eight.
Richmond won the next three premierships.
They are acutely aware this a numbers game. Give yourself the best chance of success consistently enough, and eventually circumstances and luck fall your way.
But giving yourself that chance, repeatedly, is the trick. It takes a certain person to engineer this.
Evans first met Hardwick in 2005. Hardwick had joined Hawthorn, half as an assicant coach and half in player development.
Hardwick was unclear, the year after retiring as a premiership player at Port Adelaide, about his career path in football.
"About two months in, he was so good, so clever with the coaching that we took the other part of the job away from him," Evans recalled.
"Even as a first-year assistant coach, he had such an astute understanding of the game and could see the game really quickly, as it was unfolding in real time."
Asked about the person he deals with daily, compared to how Hardwick handles himself publicly, Evans replied "what you see is what you get".
And as someone who has worked closely with Melbourne coach Neale Daniher -- nicknamed The Reverend -- and Clarkson, he says certain traits are recurring.
"We all have a strong focus on the prize and we understand that means you have to be efficient with decision-making and discussions," said Evans, the diplomatic club CEO.
"We're all quite happy to have pointed conversations directing us towards what we need to do.
"I've managed to work with a decent number of people, who are very good at their jobs, who are very efficient with their pointed communications - it's the way to go in elite sport."
Jack Riewoldt, a three-time Richmond premiership player under Hardwick, puts it another way.
"The word 'aura' ... he gives them belief," Riewoldt said this week.
"They're probably not going to win this year's premiership -- they're a one-in-eight chance, but where their journey is, they're going to be pushing for a long period.
"Maybe they are the team that could ride the coat tails of Damien Hardwick's aura and play a brand of football that is destined for September."