The role of an AFL senior coach is one of the most coveted in Australian sport. With only 18 available jobs at any one time and hundreds of eligible coaches available, pressure is high to perform if given a chance.

After spending much of his career in football administration roles, David Noble was finally handed the reins of a North Melbourne at the start of this season, and neither party has looked back.

The ladder position in 2021 doesn’t reflect the high levels of passion, knowledge and execution Noble has brought to the role, but things are only looking up at Arden Street.

“It’s too big a role to necessarily do on your own … I think what’s integral is you’ve got really good support around you … I’ve loved the challenge,” Noble told 6PR.

“You constantly review if we’re on the right direction, if the game plan is on the right direction, I think you check across the competition as to where you sit going forward.

“There’s no doubt it challenges your thinking … I think our players have responded really well as to where we’re at [and] we’ve got a new record membership, so our fans understand.

“I’ve really embraced it and the club’s been great.”

One man currently facing challenges of his own in the coaching community is West Coast’s Adam Simpson - Noble’s opponent in the upcoming Round 17 clash.

The Eagles have been left reeling after back-to-back heavy defeats leave them clinging to their finals spot, with last week’s 92-point loss to against Sydney a hugely disappointing result.

Whenever a team hits a slump in form, the rhetoric turns to whether their game plan has been figured out, but Noble says that isn’t the case with West Coast.

“The Eagles have got a really strong brand that over a long period of time has been successful … we’re all trying to get the games on our terms and you’re trying to manoeuvre things around to allow you to play the way you want to play,” he said.

“A lot of changes to your team can tend to just upset or not quite get the right mix, and if you’re off three, four, five per cent and the others are ready to go, that swing can have a massive impact on you.

“I can certainly understand what people might be interpreting but we’re expecting them (the Eagles) to come out with all guns blazing on Monday.

“We’ve got great respect for what the Eagles are able to do, don’t make any mistake … we’re certainly really conscious of their capacity and we’ll try to play our style but again it’ll be a difficult battle.”