The verbal war of words between Brad Scott and Rodney Eade joins a long list of spats between rival coaches. Here's a few of the others through the years:

Kevin Sheedy and Robert Walls

The four-decade feud between the pair erupted again in 2007 when Walls publicly questioned whether the Bombers had a game plan under Sheedy.

Two of the game's more opinionated figures, Walls and Sheedy had been at loggerheads since their playing days for traditional rivals Carlton and Richmond, respectively, began in the late 1960s. They also started as senior coaches in the same year, 1981, and their on-field battles spilt over into their coaching careers and later when Walls joined the media.

In a 2007 column in the Sunday Herald Sun, Sheedy took aim: "Clearly, in the end, two of his clubs (Fitzroy and Brisbane Bears) have gone broke and are out of existence," Sheedy wrote.

"Possibly one of his weaknesses was that he only wanted to coach the team, not build the organisation. I don't think he sees that when he writes about other organisations.

"It's amazing that you can win a premiership and get into another Grand Final like he did at Carlton, and still be sacked two years after winning the flag. What does that say about him? What happened there?

"Robert's two years at Richmond were just a waste. I don't know whether he left Richmond with a future. So he has to be very careful when he starts telling coaches what and how and when they are going to coach."

Kevin Sheedy and Allan Jeans

The rivalry started after the 1980 season when the pair vied for the vacant Bombers' coaching role. Neville Gay, a long-time Bombers' board member, later revealed his club had plumped for Sheedy, a younger man, because he would better promote the club. Sheedy took this to a new level when, on the eve of the 1984 grand final, he questioned what Jeans' Hawthorn team was sniffing at quarter breaks. The police were called in but the substance turned out to be nothing more than eucalyptus oil. The incident embarrassed Jeans, a former policeman.

Kevin Sheedy and Mick Malthouse

This rivalry was sparked in 1991 when Sheedy had the windsock at Windy Hill tied to the flagpole to ensure the visiting West Coast Eagles, then coached by Malthouse, could not fully adjust to the conditions at the Bombers' home-ground. Tensions escalated in 1993 when Sheedy emerged from the coaches' box after a two-point win against the defending champions at the MCG waving his jacket like a helicopter as he passed Malthouse and the stunned Eagles' coaching box. The animosity between the pair notably cooled off once Malthouse joined Collingwood.

Tony Jewell and Peter "Percy" Jones

The pair came to blows at the end of the quarter-time break in the 1980 qualifying final at Waverley. Jones rushed at Jewell and Tigers' psychologist Rudi Webster, who had previously worked at Carlton. The pair took a couple of swipes at each other but the Tigers had the last laugh, posting a 42-point win.

Denis Pagan and Barry Mitchell

Mired in its darkest era, the tale of woe at Carlton in September 2006 was so bad that Pagan, the senior coach, and his assistant, Mitchell, turned on each other. That came after the embattled Blues' board could not decide whether to sack Pagan and promote Mitchell to the top role.

When Pagan survived and discovered Mitchell, encouraged by several board members, had interviewed for the top job, the latter was stripped of his assistant's role and banished to an office at the opposite end of the Blues' home ground.

Terry Wallace and Alan Joyce

Again, this was a tale between a head coach (Joyce) and an aspiring assistant (Wallace). After several heavy losses in 1996, Joyce resigned, with suggestions the deposed coach hadn't received the full support of everyone at the club after two failed finals campaigns. The fissure within the club was captured vividly in the documentary "Year of the Dog". Wallace would leave the Bulldogs in even messier circumstances in 2002 when, having announced before round 22 he was quitting, the players revolted and denied him the chance of a farewell game.

Mark Williams and Mick Malthouse

The rivalry was kickstarted in 2002 when the Magpies shocked the football world by knocking off the Port, having finished on top of the ladder, were knocked off by the Magpies in the first qualifying final, at AAMI Stadium. A year later the Magpies ended Port's season with a preliminary-final belting. There was further friction when Williams refused to trade midfielder Nick Stevens to the Magpies, forcing him to go through the pre-season draft and eventually land with bottom-placed Carlton. That Williams has always wanted to coach the Magpies, a club he once captained, has added to the rivalry.

John Kennedy and Robert Walls

Carlton and North Melbourne met at The Oval in London in 1987 for what was supposed to be an end-of-season exhibition game. But after a humiliating exit from the finals that year, North coach Kennedy exhorted his players to fly the flag and the North boys heeded his words, sparking violent clashes all over the ground, most notably Alastair Clarkson's hit on Ian Aitken, which broke the Carlton player's jaw. Outraged by what was taking place on the ground, Walls complained bitterly to Kennedy about North's tactics and reportedly threw his walkie-talkie in the legendary coach's direction.