In such a cut-throat profession, where careers can last a matter of weeks and contracts often mean nothing, those two luminaries managed to coach the same club for well over two decades.

Sheedy pulled the strings at Essendon for 27 long years, while Ferguson was at Manchester United for just a few months less.

Like any coach, the key to their longevity was success.

Sheedy won four premierships with the Bombers, while Ferguson took the Red Devils from the brink of relegation in 1986 and turned them into an international phenomenon.

In today's fast-paced, impatient world, it is unlikely we will ever see their types grace the AFL or the English Premier League again.

But they both had to start somewhere.

Sheedy was only 33 years old when he was given a chance at Essendon and Ferguson was just shy of his 45th birthday when took over at Old Trafford.

Which brings us to Greater Western Sydney head coach Leon Cameron.

Succeeding Sheedy at the end of 2013, 41-year-old Cameron has been at the controls for a grand total of three games.

But it is possible, just possible, that Cameron is in a position to forge a long, long career at the AFL's youngest club.

Having retired from playing at the end of 2003, he took up an assistant coaching role with the Western Bulldogs the following season, where he remained for seven years.

Two years at Hawthorn followed before he spent last season alongside Sheedy at the Giants, getting to know the club while putting the finishing touches on a decade-long apprenticeship.

It has been a carefully-managed, well-planned path towards becoming a head coach.

Luke Darcy, who played alongside Cameron for a decade at the Bulldogs and is one of his closest mates, never had any doubt what lay ahead.

"My early recollection of Leon, he was the guy that a lot of us thought was always going to make an unbelievable coach," Darcy told AFL.com.au.

"He was a leader and a coach out on the ground right from his early days.

"He understood the game better than anyone I played with and had a great way of being able to teach others to do the same.

"It's no surprise to me that he is where he is now. As good a player as he was, I always felt like he would make a better coach."

And Cameron could play. A best and fairest winner during his 10 years with the Dogs, he then spent four years at Richmond and ended his career with 256 games to his credit.

"The best kick of the ball that I've ever seen," Darcy says "and in terms of the way tall midfielders play now, he was that well ahead of his time."

But coaching is where many felt he was destined to end up, and GWS chief executive Dave Matthews will forever remember the presentation Cameron gave when he first interviewed for the Giants job.

In front of a panel consisting of Matthews, Sheedy, chairman Tony Shepherd, football manager Graeme Allen and list manager Stephen Silvagni, Cameron quickly made a lasting impression.

"Right at the outset he actually started by talking about his values, which was quite unique," Matthews recalls.

"Most coaches pull the magnets out straight away and talk to you about game plans and running patterns and zones.

"He started with his values, which was really important to us because we've got such a young, impressionable group.

"Character and the development of leadership was going to be a key part of what we wanted out of our next head coach.

"So it was a really fitting start and impressed us straight away."

That good impression is showing no sign of slowing down, with Cameron picking up two wins in his first three matches at the helm.

Darcy called the Giants’ opening-round victory over the Sydney Swans as "possibly the greatest upset of the last two or three years", although he expects Cameron’s side to tire late in the season and not really contend for another three or four years.

But he also believes Cameron's apprenticeship, which was similar to those travelled by Ross Lyon, Alastair Clarkson and Ken Hinkley, could be the blueprint all clubs will follow.

"You go and learn from different organisations and you learn on the job," Darcy said. 

"A bit more than perhaps a few others who have been thrust in after shorter apprenticeships.

"He couldn't have been any better prepared. It's been perfect timing.

"The thing that will become more evident is his great capacity to deal with every different type of personality.

"That's the art of coaching – how you deal with guys who are as intense as Tom Scully and then someone from country Victoria like Jeremy Cameron.

"Leon has this gift of doing that probably better than most.

"I get a feeling this new generation wouldn't respond too well to the coaches that we probably played under; the old fire and brimstone and a spray every other session.

"He's got that in him, I wouldn't underestimate how tough Leon is, but he'll do it in a balanced and fair way."

On Saturday, Cameron's Giants take on the Bulldogs in Canberra.

It is a match-up of two sides tipped to make great strides in the coming years and pits Cameron against another of the modern-day coaches in Brendan McCartney.

It is also Cameron's first game against his old club, but there will be no time for sentiment.

"I'm a life member at the footy club," Cameron said. "I played 11 years there, I have a soft spot for the footy club and there's some great people at that club.

"But things have changed. It's now us against them and we look forward to that."

Courtesy of their draft concessions and list management, GWS appears perfectly placed for a steady rise up the AFL ladder.

The players have also undoubtedly embraced Cameron since his arrival.

And the club expects his tenure to be a long one.

"You'd like to think so," Matthews said. "That was the basis of the appointment in the first place."

So what about the chances of Cameron developing into a modern-day Sheedy?

"I don't think anyone will ever do 27 years again," Matthews says with a smile.

"I don't know if anyone would be mad enough.

"He's got some similarities with 'Sheeds' and he's got some differences.

"He's his own man Leon, which is one of his real strengths. He's certainly doing everything right at the moment."