IF | THEN | |
Adelaide | we look at the Crows’ fixture ... | ... we notice a bye looms after two more matches. An ideal time to announce the re-signing of a certain long-haired midfielder. |
Brisbane Lions | Mark Blicavs is deservedly receiving acclaim for emerging, with a bullet, into elite big-man category ... | ... so too should Stef Martin. Great story unfolding. |
Carlton | the Swans play to the intensity levels of last week ... | ... on Friday night we will see the VFL/AFL’s first 200-point margin. |
Collingwood | you’re wanting the name of the man who’s been saying, “I told you so,” to every single person he has come across this week ... | ... it is Eddie McGuire. |
Essendon | you’re thinking Fletch will willingly call it quits after 23 seasons ... | ... realise he actually sees himself playing a 25th year. |
Fremantle | you think Fyfe is over the line in the Brownlow ... | ... factor in that Mundy, Hill, Pearce and Neale are also compiling career-best seasons. |
Geelong | there’s one team we just can’t properly read to this point of 2015 ... | ... it is the Cats. Could win a flag if absolutely everything goes right from here. Could miss the eight. |
Gold Coast | people doubted us when we said Malceski was going to be dropped even before he was injured ... | ... stop. He’s fit again, and in a team which can barely field a senior 22, he’s playing reserves this weekend. |
Greater Western Sydney | Adam Treloar keeps telling us he’s going to sign ... | ... one day he will. Otherwise Collingwood’s offer will get to $800,000 a year, times five. Which would make things interesting. |
Hawthorn | Hodge hadn’t belted Swallow in round five ... | ... the Hawks’ scoreline would be 6-2, not 4-4. Wouldn’t have lost to GWS and the Swans had he been there in rounds six and eight. |
Melbourne | Howe maintains form up forward and Pedersen keeps playing the role of recent weeks ... | ... there’s probably not a place for Dawes. |
North Melbourne | Malthouse hadn’t blown things up at Carlton this week ... | ... the media blowtorch would have been deservedly directed at Arden St. These are crucial times, and yet there seems only meandering, not urgency. |
Port Adelaide | Paddy Ryder doesn’t regain fitness and form, soon ... | ... it won’t just be salary cap problems than can be attributed to him. |
Richmond | Hardwick wants to raise an issue but then storm off when asked for clarity ... | ... he’s kidding himself. Bat. Ball. Went home. |
St Kilda | Josh Bruce maintains his work ethic and effectiveness against the Lions this week ... | ... he’s capable of an eight or nine-goal haul. |
Sydney Swans | after eight games you’ve won six last quarters, and the two you’ve lost came only after you were six-plus goals up at the last break ... | ... it suggests you have elite will-power and will be up to your eyeballs, again, in the premiership race. |
West Coast | you’d never heard of Fraser McInnes before this year ... | ... we hadn’t either. But we get the feeling we might remember him from here. |
Western Bulldogs | Peter Gordon had expressed as much moral outrage about a Bulldogs player being sent back onto the ground by his own medical staff after a third ruptured ACL as he did this week about a Bulldog he felt had been wronged in being reported for making contact with an umpire ... | ... he’d at least have been consistent in his moral outrage levels. And, Minson should not be playing this week or next. |
Click here for more Sliding Doors
Follow Damian Barrett on Twitter: @barrettdamian