I don't envy coaches at this time of year. Drawing the curtain on an older player's career or ending a young man's dream would no doubt be the worst part of the job.

Justin Leppitsch has his battles as the coach of the 18th-placed Brisbane Lions, but it must have been a hard conversation telling his former captain Jed Adcock that he was no longer required. The reality is that conversations like that are going on right across all the clubs at this time of year and there is never an easy way to tell a player that his time is up.

Leaving the AFL system is quite a daunting prospect for many players. AFL clubs are like a security blanket where every resource is there for you to tap into while you are a required player but the moment you are not, you soon realise that you were living a privileged life. Footy can be quite monotonous with weeks that are really structured where you know exactly what will be asked of you depending on what day of the week it is. There will be some players  in the next few weeks who will struggle with suddenly have so much surplus time. No longer being held accountable to strict guidelines or standards may sound good but when football is all you have known since you were 17, post career can be a real battle for players who haven't prepared themselves for the "real world".

Nothing will ever replace the adrenaline that playing football gives you so it can be quite a trap for players exiting the game with no other skills. Players can look in the wrong places to regain that feeling such as gambling or nightclubs, activities that can destroy lives, as we have seen many times in recent years.

Chris Scott never shirked a hard ball as player and he doesn't look the type to shirk a hard decision as a coach either. Scott let go premiership players Paul Chapman and James Podsiadly two years ago to create opportunities for younger players and he is a fair way down the track in making similar decisions this year.

Jared Rivers and Hamish McIntosh have already retired but the hardest decisions are yet to come when he has to make a call on club greats who still believe they are capable of influencing games.

Scott will ensure that he shows the likes of Steve Johnson, James Kelly, Jimmy Bartel, Matthew Stokes, Andrew Mackie and Corey Enright the utmost respect when deciding on their futures. But it will not be at the detriment of the team and its chances of getting back to the top four again.

As Scott said a number of weeks ago, no one player is more important than the club, so there will be no room for sentiment.

When I retired, I had some inquiries from a couple of clubs as to whether I'd consider playing elsewhere. It wasn't a consideration for me as I was mentally and physically burnt out but it's always a conundrum when, after spending your career at one club, you have the opportunity to play a year or two elsewhere.

Footscray great Doug Hawkins is one player who is often spoken about as to whether he did the right or wrong thing by playing one extra year at Fitzroy. Club loyalty isn't what it once was with free agency so if you still have the passion to play and the opportunity is there; I can fully understand why players are taking lifelines elsewhere as you are a long time retired.

Hawkins is still remembered as a Bulldogs champion and if Johnson is let go by Geelong at season's end, he will be wrestling with the same decision as to whether he walks away as a Geelong great with a little bit left in the tank or he moves on to another club that is a premiership chance next year. I don't believe there is a right or wrong decision although my advice for Johnson would be to walk away when he was still a man content that he was making an impact on the field.

Shane Crawford and Cameron Ling are two former players that ended their careers on the ultimate high by winning a premiership in their last games. But for every Crawford or Ling, there would be 100 players who leave the game without the fairytale ending. That is professional sport and as you get older you learn to enjoy the highs a little bit more as they can become less common in what is a very demanding and challenging profession.

Spare a thought for the coaches as well over the next few weeks as there is no easy way to end a player's career.