Several New Zealand coaches will feel like they've got the blues (Carlos Spencer), lost the Blues (Pat Lam), gained the Blues (John Kirwan and Graham Henry), or feeling more Bluey than usual (Brian "Bluey" McClennan).
I'm sure I've said it before, but I can't help but reiterate: who would want to be a coach?
If a team does well, the players get the kudos, but if a team gets on a losing streak as the Blues and Warriors did this season, the coaches are usually the first to get kicked out.
Sometimes, coaches are given a second chance even though their teams suffered devastating defeats (think Graham Henry and Ruth Aitken).
Otherwise, it's as if governing boards, executive management, sponsors and owners tend to tolerate a loss or two on the global stage at crucial events, but losing streaks that go on for weeks are more likely to be considered indicative of some systemic failure in coaching.
The Blues had a seven-game losing streak, while the Warriors had their sixth straight defeat after losing to the Panthers in the weekend.
The latest coaching casualty, McClennan, said he could feel the axe coming down after the Warriors' most recent loss, and he experienced the most humiliating kind of axing, with two games to go in the first year of his two-year contract.
Was the loss of income, mana and fan base so prolific that McClennan wasn't even given the option of seeing out one season with a team that had been struck by bad luck through injuries to senior players, too much travel and too many close games lost?
More importantly, is Tony Iro really going to be able to step up and turn things around with two games to go and stem the damage done?
Will Steve Kearney, the likely replacement for the 2013 season, be able to turn the fortunes of this team around in a season?
The change of guard in these circumstances is more symbolic than pragmatic. In times of crisis, leadership change is considered the only viable solution by governing bodies attempting to divert attention away from other problems they may have.
In some cases, I believe it is more a case of a lack of fit between the coach and the board, or the coach and the team.
In the case of Lam and McClennan, they seemed to have the support of their players, which suggests there may have been personality clashes higher up the food chain.
Who did they butt heads with on the board? What was the relationship like between the coach and the chief executive or chairman of the board? Whose ego did they trample on or ignore, and whose feathers did they ruffle?
Only those around the board table and submerged in the operational side of these franchises will know for sure, and they're keeping pretty tight-lipped about it all. Maybe we should encourage them to air their dirty laundry via Twitter as some Olympic athletes did during the London Games?
But back to the Blues and the Warriors - will cutting these wayward coaches loose really solve the problems they face?
Will it stop the rot, start the healing process, and change their fortunes?
Mark Hammett's approach to turning things around for the Hurricanes franchise was to get rid of players (rather than coaches) who were like malignant tumours in the team environment. Initially, he was the biggest villain to hit windy Wellington, but now he is considered a visionary leader who had the guts to do what no-one else was brave enough to do.
Unfortunately, McClennan won't have the luxury of learning from his mistakes or culling players and changing systems, despite demonstrating that in the past he has helped teams to victory.
Top executives in any other corporation are much more difficult to get rid of, expecting golden handshakes and second chances all the time. Not in the cut-throat world of New Zealand sport, and even less so in the macho worlds of rugby and rugby league.
Lam was more emotionally cut up about losing his job than McClennan, who despite "feeling it coming", still had the look of a possum stuck in the headlights. As he said in his no-nonsense media statement, depression will kick in in a couple of days and he'll deal with it then.
Perhaps Lam and McClennan could get some tips from Sir John Kirwan and Sir Graham Henry about how to deal with depression, as both newly appointed Blues coaches have dealt with this consuming state of mind in the past.
They'll be hoping their most recent post with the Blues doesn't bring on another bout of the blues as we all wonder whether they (along with Iro) will be able to perform miracles with these problematic Auckland-based franchises.
