Two cut-throat AFL semifinals. Two of four teams facing the end of the road. That's the equation. And that means a host of individuals, players, and coaches are ... under pressure (yep, that Queen/David Bowie classic's going through my head now, too).
Go on, put it on and click your fingers to that bassline while you read about those most under the pump on Friday and Saturday evening.
Justin Longmuir
You won't find too many better recent examples of one result so starkly changing the narrative surrounding an AFL coach than Fremantle's loss to Hawthorn last Thursday night. Longmuir and his team had done everything right this season until then. Yet the bottom line remains they now teeter on the edge of a straight sets exit at home with Longmuir copping plenty of critical flak. The Dockers' ball movement was stymied, they were inefficient, with 57 forward entries producing only five goals, and Hawthorn created space far too easily. The "lack of flexibility" accusation has also popped up again, along with more talk about costly poor starts. Fremantle lost a home final last year to Gold Coast. A third home finals defeat in a row could damage Longmuir's reputational stocks irreparably.
Jeremy Cameron
There may not be another player under as much pressure to perform on Friday night as the dual Coleman medallist, who has been goalless for a month, and five times in his last seven outings. Cameron took just one mark and had only nine disposals against Carlton last week, lacked any sort of physical presence, and was drifting up around the wing to pick up what few touches he could manage. Cameron managed two goals in Geelong's narrow Round 15 loss to Fremantle in Perth, but even then the Cats were held to the second-lowest score of their last 10 outings. Anything less this week, and there will be an awful lot of responsibility upon the likes of Shannon Neale and Patrick Dangerfield to find Cameron's missing goals.
Josh Treacy
What's that expression, one day a rooster the next a feather duster? On August 25, Fremantle's Josh Treacy was being feted as the All-Australian centre half-forward for 2026. Just over a week later, he was getting towelled up by the critics for being "destroyed" by Hawthorn key defender Josh Battle. Treacy had just four disposals, no marks and kicked just one late consolation goal. He hadn't had a kick until late in the last quarter and was accused of not attacking the contest with his usual physical presence. It doesn't get any easier this week for him, either, given that last time Fremantle met Geelong, Connor O'Sullivan held him to 2.2 from only nine disposals, picking up 16 himself, six intercept marks and a coaches' vote. Treacy needs to improve on that effort and last week's significantly.
Patrick Dangerfield
Hang on. How can the best player on the ground in last week's elimination final be under pressure the very next game he plays? Well, being the long-time acknowledged champion he is, the Brownlow medallist is always under the microscope to an extent. If "Danger" plays a blinder, Geelong will generally win. That's pressure of its own. But then there's the memory of last year. Prior to last Friday night, it was in the 2025 preliminary final against Hawthorn that Dangerfield delivered his best September performance with 31 disposals and three goals. And the following week? Unfortunately, his banged-up 35-year-old frame couldn't repeat the dose, delivering a strangely muted 10-disposal effort in the grand final loss to Brisbane. Now, 12 months older, can he back up one superlative September effort with another?
Murphy Reid
Last year's Rising Star and this year's All-Australian might be a bit of a soft target given what he's done in two seasons, that he's only recently turned 20 and last week played only his second AFL final, but Reid was one of the biggest disappointments in Fremantle's soft qualifying final performance. Whether missing the two games prior with a groin niggle has thrown him out of his stride is an interesting question, but his usually precise kicking was unusually off-target against the Hawks, and his off night was a major factor in Fremantle lacking so much of the spark the headbanded youngster has brought to the team and which had typified their season to date.
Lachie Neale
The dual Brownlow medallist was hardly the only Lion to have a poor one last week, but there's several reasons he's probably under more pressure than nearly all his teammates this week. Most obviously, given the widespread expectation that he's headed elsewhere in 2027, this could well be his final game for the club. Plus he and the other midfielders are coming off a pantsing by the Swans and, in Neale's case, Jai Serong. Even if the Lions are to get through this, Neale remains under pressure; Brisbane would face the all-conquering Hawks, before potentially the Swans again or an old September foe in Geelong, with tagger Oisin Mullin looming as another handbrake on the two-time Brownlow winner. Neale's record in finals overall is stellar, but Brisbane has seldom needed one of his best September performances more.
Matthew Nicks
OK, let's be clear, Nicks isn't going to lose his job if Adelaide can't pull an upset against Brisbane at the Gabba, even though he might have had the Crows not beaten the Bulldogs last week. But pressure? That hasn't suddenly evaporated just because a rested Adelaide beat a lesser-ranked opponent at home and gave Nicks his first finals win. The stigma of last year's straight sets elimination remains strong, the Crows won three fewer games this season and finished five spots lower on the ladder, and their record against the very best in 2026 is hardly inspiring, 2-5 against the top five, including a 52-point thumping at the hands of Saturday's opponent at the same venue. Victory this time would absolutely shore up Nicks' credentials. Another bad loss? The question marks will intensify.
Brisbane's key defenders
Saturday was a horror show for the whole Brisbane line-up, but no-one more than its defenders, and its talls in Harris Andrews, Darcy Gardiner and Ryan Lester specifically, with Sydney pair Charlie Curnow and Logan McDonald booting 11 goals between them. McDonald successfully curbed Andrews' intercepting ability and cashed in with half-a-dozen goals, and Curnow smashed Gardiner. And the equation doesn't get any easier this week with Adelaide's three-pronged tall forward set-up featuring Riley Thilthorpe, Taylor Walker and Darcy Fogarty, who StatMate tells us has kicked at least two goals in his last eight games. Ty Gallop surely is a good chance of returning at Gardiner's expense, or even second ruck Darcy Fort. But whatever selection strings coach Chris Fagan pulls, the Lions can't afford their key backs to be anywhere near that bad again.
You can read more of Rohan Connolly's work at FOOTYOLOGY.
