WALYALUP coach Justin Longmuir has called on the AFL to remove coaching contract clauses and increase the soft cap to pre-COVID levels to support football departments that have become under-resourced. 

Burnout was this week cited among the reasons that triple-premiership Richmond coach Damien Hardwick had decided to leave the industry halfway through the season, despite being contracted through to the end of 2024. 

Longmuir said it was a reminder of how tough the job could be, particularly under a football department soft cap that sits at $6.95m and will be increased to $7.2m in 2024. 

That is still well down on the pre-COVID level of $9.2m, with Longmuir calling on the League to provide more relief to football staff and lift the $250,000 increase proposed next year. 

"We're not asking for it to be any easier. What we are asking is for the AFL to step up and support us more," Longmuir said on Wednesday. 

"That's not just senior coaches, it's all football department staff, and return the soft cap to the levels pre-COVID. 

"All we're asking is for it to go back three years … we just want it to go back to what it was in the past. That's a starting point."

Now in his thirteenth season in the job, Sydney coach John Longmire's frustrations over the soft cap restrictions are obvious.

"We've asked them to (lift it). Nothing changes, we've tried. We'll get on with coaching the footy team," Longmire said on Wednesday.

"We're $2.5 million dollars short of the soft cap from where it was pre-Covid and I guarantee the workloads haven't lessened, list sizes haven't shrunk, and the player demands are growing.

"You lean so heavily on your assistant coaches and staff. Often they're pseudo-parents and they look after our players deeply. They do a great job as well and they should be rewarded for it.

"And the expectations on the senior coach to be not only the leader of the football team but also lead the community on a number of issues is only growing as well.

"It's not the only job in the country that has pressure. AFL coaching though has some unique pressures.

"You don't know it until you've sat in the chair and dealt with it 24/7. There are some unique challenges in the job that are unlike any other. You've also got to acknowledge that goes with the role so if you're not prepared to do it, don’t do it."

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan spoke last year about the unsustainable toll soft cap cuts were taking on football department staff, while Western Bulldogs premiership coach Luke Beveridge said the loss of good people from the industry was a huge issue. 

The AFL Coaches Association this week said Hardwick's decision was a wake-up call for the broader AFL community. 

"The AFLCA will continue working with the AFL and the clubs to create a better environment for all coaches," chief executive Alistair Nicholson said. 

Longmuir said the emergence of contract clauses in the past three years that prevented large payouts had also hurt the industry, with coaches losing the security that their contract terms used to provide.  

"A lot of coaches and senior coaches, really we've only got six-month contracts, and that's lucky. Some of our assistant coaches have one-month or three-month contracts," he said. 

"I think contracts are contracts and should be honoured and that clause should be taken out, but that's up to the AFL to act. 

"That helps your wellbeing a lot if you don't have one- or three-month clauses in contracts." 

Asked about the impact that changes to the soft cap had had on football departments, Longmuir said Fremantle's coaches had enjoyed one day off in the past three weeks. 

He said he felt fortunate that the Dockers place a high emphasis on the group's wellbeing and provided extra opportunities to take time away in the off-season, but more needed to be done.

On Tuesday, Hardwick said "tried to cook the sausages 1000 different ways and I couldn't find 1001", with Longmire empathising with the need to find new ways to keep himself and his players motivated.

"You've got to keep on re-assessing how to get the most out of your playing group. Every coach does that and the longer you coach the more you do that," he said.

"Everyone's situations are different. There are personal circumstances, family circumstances you can't put everyone in the same basket. From face value, (Hardwick) needed a rest. You coach one of the biggest clubs in the country for as long as he has, you can understand that.

"He's one of the most successful of all-time and you tip your hat to him. He nearly got the boot, stuck at it and turned that football club into a powerhouse."