THE 2024 Toyota AFL Premiership Season is in full swing, and Damian Barrett's Sliding Doors is back!

So put your seatbelt on and enjoy the ride as Damo takes off the gloves and takes aim at your team.

So what is he saying about your club? What's he saying about the AFL? You can't say that, Damo, can you? Check it out below.

>> Check out the latest from Damian Barrett 

IF ...

 IF Reilly O'Brien was axed for round 13 and kept out for round 14 for Kieran Strachan ...

THEN ...

I had no idea why then, and less idea now, given he's been brought back for Saturday's match against GWS. It proved nothing.

IF ..

Will Ashcroft is back into a team which has weathered injury and form crises to win five of its past six matches ...

THEN ...

look out. Would've won the Rising Star last year had he not damaged an ACL in round 19. The Lions lost a Grand Final by four points in his absence. A game-changing return.

IF ...

Crippa won a Brownlow in 2022 ...

THEN ...

he could win another one in 2024. He's actually playing even better footy this year.

IF ...

Pendles, Jordy and Brody are back ...

THEN ...

happy days for the Pies. Injury list getting smaller. But Elliott, Mitchell, Cox and McStay remain on it. And they will need them back at some stage if the premiership is to be defended.

IF ...

Jye Caldwell arrived at the Bombers after the 2020 Trade Period and Sam Durham via the 2021 mid-season draft ...

THEN ...

what impact they're having in 2024. Toughness, footy smarts, killer instincts. Love watching them play.

IF ...

Alex Pearce hadn't fractured his forearm late in last week's solid win against Gold Coast ...

THEN ...

the Dockers would've been a sneaky chance against the all-conquering Swans on Saturday. They may be anyway, but the captain is a massive out.

IF ...

it was Sam v Tom last week in an old-fashioned brother v brother contest ...

THEN ...

it's Chris v Brad on Saturday night. Hope there is even half as much drama in the Scott match-up as there was in the De Koning one. 

IF ...

Ben King was equal leader in the Coleman Medal race before missing last weekend with a knee injury ...

THEN ...

he's now five goals behind the man going for three consecutive Colemans, Charlie Curnow. Back for round 16 for a big match-up against Darcy Moore.

IF ...

Coniglio, Cumming and Perryman are back ...

THEN ...

here's the moment to hit "go" on this spluttering season. Giants have two more wins to this point of 2024 than they did at the corresponding stage of 2023, a season on which they lost a prelim final by a point. So it's not panic stations, yet.

IF ...

the Hawks are going very, very nicely ...

THEN ...

they will be going even better when they finally get Mitch Lewis back into the mix. Not selected for Sunday's match against the Eagles, still getting fitness after a knee injury.

IF ...

Steven May deserved to be fined for staging last weekend ...

THEN ...

that's where it should start and finish. He stuffed up, in a split-second action in the heat of battle. But that's all he did. He didn't deserve the attention-seeking, fake moralistic outrage of being called a "cheat". Spare me.

IF ...

George assumed favouritism for the 2024 Rising Star award after Harley and Sam were ruled ineligible ...

THEN ...

I hope the concussion he suffered at training on Thursday doesn't cost him, too. Will miss Saturday's match against the Dogs and also round 17 versus the Suns.

IF ...

as a Port Adelaide fan you are going to passionately sing Never Tear Us Apart before a home game but then also viciously boo your coach ...

THEN ...

don't sing the song ever again. Pathetic behaviour, the booing of Kenny.

IF ...

Tom Lynch has won three best-and-fairests at two clubs, been a leading goalkicker in six seasons at two clubs, been an All-Australian and won two flags ...

THEN ...

he's had an outstanding career. But his body is now a major problem. Just four matches in 2023. Just four to this point of 2024.

IF ...

Saints v Port may not normally jump off the page as must-watch ...

THEN ...

in round 16 it is. Ross The Boss v Kenny. Both under pressure, maybe siege. It's intriguing, this one. Must watch, Sunday 1.10pm, Marvel Stadium. 

IF ...

there are at least a dozen teammates with a bigger profile than Logan McDonald ...

THEN ...

he's just about as important as any other Swan, and he wouldn't care about the lack of focus. Compiling a very nice season. For a key position player in his fourth season, tracking excellently. 

IF ...

Harley is back on an AFL venue ...

THEN ...

the footy world is a better place. Finn Maginness among the Thursday night Hawks' ins for Sunday's match. I sense a Nick Daicos-style of Maginness tag. Bring it on.

IF ...

there are many, many doubters of the sheer height in the Naughton-Darcy-Ugle-Hagan-Lobb forward line combo ...

THEN ...

I'm really keen to see how it could work. They've all got footy brains, they may just work it out.

AND THIS ONE'S FOR THE AFL

IF ...

you've read and heard me before on the AFL judiciary system ...

THEN ...

here I go again. Dangerfield tackles Walsh on a Friday night. The Match Review Office suspends him for a week on Saturday. We all debate it Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Lawyers debate it for two hours at a Tribunal hearing on Tuesday night. There's a 45-minute deliberation of the Tribunal panel. Voila! Danger is free. And if he wasn't free on Tuesday, he would've had access to … wait for it … another Tribunal with another set of lawyers who would've argued his split-second action for another two or three hours on Wednesday or Thursday night. Bottom line, yet again: the AFL football department, the one whose charter is to determine all football policy, was rolled. It's 2024. There has to be a better way.