If | you look at the Crows team to play the Suns on Saturday ... | then | ... you'll notice Jenkins still isn't part of it. That'll be three missed matches after the club initially said he wasn't badly damaged. |
If | there's a 100-point margin among the nine games this round ... | then | ... this is where it will come. Anything less than 50 points would be an OK outcome. |
If | there's going to be two 100-point margin games among round five ... | then | ... this will be one of them. A pre-emptive ouch for what lies ahead at Adelaide Oval. |
If | you go back four weeks ... | then | ... Darcy Moore was one of the brightest young prospects in the entire AFL. He still is. |
If | you've got a wildcard coaching play, Woosha, ... | then | ... this is the game to apply it. The Pies are vulnerable, there for the taking. But do you have one? |
If | you think about it carefully ... | then | ... you need to be in pretty ordinary condition to be asked to leave an about-to-take-off Australian airplane. |
If | Luke Hodge wasn't as tough as we've known him to be in his extraordinary 289-game career ... | then | ... James Parsons is missing three, maybe four, matches. There's no spin on this. It was an ordinary act. |
If | you're already without Rory Thompson ... | then | ... the absolute last player you want to lose coming into a match against the forward-line potent Crows is Steven May. |
If | you look at the past two matches between the Giants and Swans ... | then | ... you'll see the Swans have struggled scoring. Can't see that changing here, given what we've seen to this point of 2017. |
If | you've missed two years with wonky knees ... | then | ... missing two matches just three games in to your comeback year with knee soreness is something which worries us right now. |
If | we have to wait until Monday night for the game of the round ... | then | ... so be it. It will be worth it. Hogan versus Rance will be something else, and Jesse goes more than OK against Alex. |
If | you've won just two of your past 16 matches ... | then | ... you can't afford to throw away the type of sizeable leads gained last week against the Dogs and in round two versus Geelong. |
If | you look at the ins and outs for this Power v Blues game ... | then | ... Ryder in and Kreuzer out will make things even more ugly than they already would have been for the Blues. |
If | your glass is half full, you're headed for a finals double chance. But If your glass is half empty ... | then | ... you've beaten teams placed 13, 14 and 15, as well as a dud traveller. And no matter what happens Monday night, the liquid in the glass doesn't move. But it will the following Sunday. |
If | the Saints are to have any hope against the Cats ... | then | ... Nathan Brown will need to restrict Hawkins to three goals. |
If | you want to hold us to this ... | then | ... please do. The Swans will lose this weekend to go 0-5, but then win their next five and be back in the flag race. |
If | there was one thing we were really looking forward to in round five ... | then | ... it was Mitchell versus Hawks. He may never play against his old club. |
If | our gut feel is right ... | then | ... Tom Boyd will kick eight. |
And by popular request ...
If | you knew back in October that the free-to-air host broadcaster would put a cooking show on its main channel ahead of this round's best game, Tiges v Dees on Monday night ... | then | ... you would have said: that won’t be happening. |
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Follow Damian Barrett on Twitter: @barrettdamian