The biggest learning of Leon Cameron's two-decade stint in coaching

The retirement of ruckman Shane Mumford, delisting of defenders Sam Reid and Matt Buntine and departure of forward Jeremy Finlayson have taken a chunk of experience from the Giants' coffers.

But Cameron, who began his ninth pre-season as an AFL coach on Monday, told The Standard the loss of experience hadn't tempered expectations internally.

"Clearly Melbourne and the Bulldogs, who played in the grand final, are probably the first and second-best teams but we think Geelong and others are up there. You finish where you finish," the Warrnambool-raised leader said.

"You don't fluke where you finish. We ended up sixth in 2021 and we won a final, a nailbiter against the Swans, and we're under no illusion that getting back to sixth is massive.

"We're going to be a younger side. We've lost a bit of experience but we've added some kids and we've added (Jarrod) Brander. We'll probably be the fourth or fifth youngest squad.

"I think when we played off in the (2019) grand final, we were probably the fourth or fifth oldest. We've had a significant turnover in two years.

"We go in with a huge amount of expectation and we aim to make finals every season."

Cameron, who rose through the ranks at Caramut, East Warrnambool and South Warrnambool before he was drafted to Footscray in 1988, was philosophical when quizzed on his learnings ahead of his ninth season.

"I did a long apprenticeship. I did a 10-year apprenticeship. I was in a hurry, but then I wasn't," Cameron said.

"You're thinking 'I'm ready', then you go back to 'I need to know a bit more'. You fluctuate in and out. I can do this, but I can't do that.

"As soon as you jump into the driver's seat, it's very hard to explain but you've prepared as much as you can and that's probably 80 per cent but for the last 20 per cent, you can't.

The 49-year-old said the external pressure heaped on a senior coach was impossible to imagine before stepping into the role.

"That is the enormous amount of scrutiny on a senior coach. There is an enormous amount of it, win, lose or draw. When you've won the game, the coach is great. When you've lost the coach is at fault. You can't prepare for that," he said.

"From then until now the biggest thing I've learned is to keep a really level playing field. You're not going to win every game, you're not going to lose every game. Don't let your emotions run as high as they can when you win. Clearly there are some significant moments so there'll be heightened moments, and there'll be down moments, like when you have a bad loss.

"But at the end of the day you always wake up the next day and it's history. You can draw on it, but you can't waltz in and sit in the corner moping around because we've been beaten for two or three days. That's not a great look.

"I can't bounce in because we've won the game and be high as a kite. It's real level playing field. You enjoy it. Because if you don't enjoy it, you shouldn't be doing it. Being as balanced as I possibly can be is my job and balancing the squad and team around me to make sure we're on to the next week."

Cameron, an ambassador for the Tackle Your Feelings foundation, said it was integral for coaches to understand mental health in the modern era.

He said the program educated those in leadership positions to broaden their skill set and help players and staff around them.

The program is available to community clubs in the South West region in 2022. Contact South West Sport (sws@southwestsport.com.au or (03) 5561 1689) to register your interest.