If | Texan didn't get angry that a very good player walked out ... | then | no doubt he would've copped it for that, too. Some seriously embarrassing, pathetic, out-of-touch commentary about him this week, but we've come to expect that. We'd go to war with Tex. |
If | you actually stop to think about it and then analyse it ... | then | you just shake your head. The Lions, who have had way too many good players exit the past four years, are happy for the overall No.2 pick of the 2015 NAB AFL Draft, who is contracted to the end of 2019, to just walk out. |
If | we know one thing about a trade period where SOS is involved ... | then | it is that nothing major gets done at his club until the death. Say what you want about him, but he's the AFL's greatest non-blinking poker player. |
If | all these Pies players keep telling us how great it is that Bucks has been re-contracted ... | then | it's time for all these Pies players to actually prove they mean those words by winning a lot of matches next year. Sick of the words, time for action. |
If | you get the first major deal done with a full week of trade period remaining ... | then | you're odds-on to get the other two done as well. Might even be time for a fourth. |
No, thank you Adrian. Welcome to @EssendonFC Devon Smith. #DonTheSash pic.twitter.com/NZpWcOey5J
— Jeremy Arnold (@jeremyarnold_) October 12, 2017
If | the Dockers stop at Wilson and Matera being the trade period ins ... | then | it won't be enough for a rejuvenation in 2018. Need more. |
If | you're asking Jack Watts back for a second chat five days after your first significant chat only to say a day later that you're "unlikely" to recruit him ... | then | we wonder what happened in the second meeting. |
If | you acted quicker ... | then | you could've got pick 11 from the Bombers as a part of a Saad transaction. |
If | you keep telling us Tomlinson won't be traded ... | then | we take you at your word. But we also know he's interested in leaving. Hello Saints. |
If | you think Clarko is going to be quiet before 2pm next Thursday ... | then | you don't know Clarko. Stringer and Schache will probably get calls. And others. Look out. |
If | you get the best available player to commit to you and you then, relatively quickly by trade period standards, get the deal done ... | then | a big well done. People querying what was given up in order to get Lever don't understand how the system works. |
Looking right at home in the red and blue pic.twitter.com/OsmMWDy06f
— Melbourne FC (@melbournefc) October 12, 2017
If | you go back to the halfway point of the 2016 home and away season ... | then | you will recall that after beating Richmond by 70 points in round 11 that the Roos were 10-1. An unmitigated, unexplainable shambles since that moment. |
If | Rocky had a crack on Twitter at Polec when he chose to exit the Lions in 2013 and also led a player-group push against Voss as coach in the same year ... | then | some initial conversations at his new club will be awkward. |
If | the system is going to come down hard on the player who initially distributed the photo ... | then | the system must also come down hard on those who distributed it. Intrigued as to what the system will do. Respect. Responsibility. |
If | you keep talking about trade possibilities and down-the-line draft pick movement ... | then | you might want to start walking. You need to, because if you don't, 2018 will probably be as disappointing as 2017. As you know, Tomlinson would be a very good start. |
If | there's one thing we're expecting to gain traction late next week ... | then | it's Tippett exploring options. |
If | you don't do something significant in the next six days ... | then | it's going to be a looooong 2018. |
If | you haven't got it by now ... | then | you better get it soon. When you race to boot a player out the door, you destroy his, and your, trade currency. And spare us the public positive spin now – the last thing you want is for him to be on your list next year. |
And by popular request ...
If | you reduced the nine-working-day trade period to four ... | then | just as many deals would be done. Also, we're not stopping our six-year tirade – no compensation for loss of a free agent! |
Follow Damian Barrett on Twitter: @barrettdamian