| If | all hell broke loose in 2018 with injury, morale and internal distrust, and you could still conjure a 12-win season ... |
| then | now that that is all behind you, we've got you back into a Grand Final this year. |
| If | every new coach rightly gets a 12-month media honeymoon period and the good-bloke coaches get 24-plus ... |
| then | Chris Fagan's got a little bit of time left. But gallant losses won't cut it in 2019. |
| If | the Can You Smell What We're Cooking and the They Know We're Coming slogans of recent years delivered nothing but false, cringeworthy and corny hope ... |
| then | the recently revealed Carlton Way document presents as real evidence of a turnaround. Round one against the Tigers was a pass, just, though. |
| If | you fast forward to mid-September when the 2019 Virgin Australia AFL All Australian team is named ... |
| then | we're making an early call: Darcy Moore at centre-half back. |
| If | the heat was on the Bombers' fitness staff last year when big Joe was given the all-clear to play three matches in 11 days before missing the rest of the season with OP ... |
| then | the blowtorch is being fired up right now after another breakdown. |
| If | you, as a club, have ruled Jesse unavailable to play this weekend ... |
| then | yes, Ross, it is a suspension. You've got more than enough to worry about this year without trying to be a dictionary for the media. |
| If | everyone else seems to be writing off Gazza ... |
| then | we're certainly not. And we've got him down for four goals against the Pies. |
| If | Jarrod Witts was given a five-year contract ... |
| then | Izak Rankine should be offered a 12-year deal. |
| If | there's one thing we love ... |
| then | it is a player being playfully provocative in the media which ex-Giant Devon Smith was when he described Spotless Stadium as a "graveyard". Guaranteed retribution coming his way from his former teammates on Sunday. |
| If | the new rules are open to exploitation ... |
| then | Clarko's the man. No doubt, he'll have devised something that no one else has even thought of. |
| If | you add Hogan's off-field problems to Watts' ... |
| then | that's a lot of nasty headlines the Demons no longer need to worry about. |
| If | the match against the Dockers seemed a really tough assignment a week ago ... |
| then | it's not so tough now. Tarrant available, and no Hogan. Forget the bookies, in our eyes, Roos are favourites. |
| If | Ryder isn't troubled by his obviously sore jaw ... |
| then | this game against the Dees will be closer than people think. By a very long distance, the Power’s most important player. |
| If | the preliminary final loss last year was a shock ... |
| then | it had nothing on the Rance situation of Thursday night. As it stands and appears to be, a genuinely sad football matter for one of the all-time extraordinarily gifted players and genuinely good person. |
| If | a proper process – one where you make a lot of phone calls, ask a heap of questions and are prepared to listen to views counter to your own pre-set agenda – had been applied by Lethers ... |
| then | Hannebery might still be at St Kilda. But not on ridiculously massive money and term. And certainly not in the leadership group. |
| If | we made a big call on Darcy Moore earlier ... |
| then | we'll double down here: Callum Mills to be All-Oz this year. |
| If | he's now been in the system for eight years ... |
| then | we reckon season No.9 is the one where Jack Darling is primed to be an undisputable, reliable A-grader. |
| If | Bevo's spending a lot of time working himself into a frenzy over his use of his runner ... |
| then | we hope he's got everything else in order. |
| If | we have to endure another year of public debate over the start time of the Grand Final ... |
| then | as Terry Wallace famously said back in '96, we’ll spew up! You're empowered to run the game, just make the decision privately and announce it. |
