GREAT mates John Longmire and Alastair Clarkson have come through plenty together since they started out together as teenagers at North Melbourne.

And within 24 hours of each other late last week, they demonstrated why they are the two best coaches in the AFL.

Clarkson is No.1 by virtue of his four flags as coach of Hawthorn and we'll get to his masterful work on Thursday night shortly.

But let's start with Longmire, who made some big calls at selection.

For the Sydney Swans' daunting trip to Geelong he rested Isaac Heeney and dropped the battle-tested veterans, Ben McGlynn and Jeremy Laidler.

He loaded up with even more kids, Aliir Aliir, Tom Papley and Sam Naismith.

It marked almost a complete changing of the guard at the Swans, with just eight players from the 2012 premiership side entrusted for a game that was critically important to the club's hopes for a top-four finish.

And they delivered in smashing style, repaying Longmire's faith in spades. The hardheads in the midfield dominated, while the surprise positional move, Ted Richards to the forward line, also came up trumps.

It was brave, brilliant coaching and Longmire deserves all the praise coming his way.

Clarkson's genius has so often been reflected through his tactical nous and his incredible grasp of how the game is being played in the present and the future.

But Hawthorn's 22-point win over Port Adelaide on Thursday had its origins not on Clarkson's whiteboard, but with his "game on" remarks at Melbourne airport the day before.

Clarkson wanted to rile the Power, but in the hope it would spark his team to start games better than they have been, not just this year, but also the previous four times Hawthorn has played Port Adelaide.

And indeed the Power – and their fans – were into it from the start.

But this time so was Hawthorn and after a tight opening quarter and a half, depth of talent took over and the Hawks ground their way to a win that keeps them a game clear on top of the ladder.

It was great coaching by Clarkson.

This might be his 12th season as coach and a fair sprinkling of the Hawks have been with him through all that time, but he still knows when to pull the right levers and get them going.

It won't be this week against the Swans.

A look at the ladder will be all Clarkson needs to prod his team into action.