you've got a now-AFL-proven Reilly O'Brien on your books ...

it'd be silly to offer Brodie Grundy a million-plus bucks a year.

Lachie Neale doesn't get some proper cover in the midfield when the heat is on ...

this season might slip away. Ed Curnow quelled Neale in the second half of the Lions' last game, and no one adequately stood up.

Charlie Curnow had managed eight goals from eight matches before the Bolton-for-Teague switch and 10 from two since ...

bring on the remaining nine games. 

I was a betting man ...

I'd take the odds on Jaidyn Stephenson playing in Collingwood's first final, the moment his ban expires. And multi it into him kicking three goals and a Pies win under 39 points.

you looked at the final scores having not seen a moment of the game itself ...

you might think the loss to the Eagles was OK. It wasn't. The 35-point margin could, and should, have been 80.

Jesse Hogan is already happy after getting out of his former club and observing its 2019 plight ...

he will be high-fiving and heel-clicking his way onto the plane back to Perth on Saturday night if he kicks four in a Dockers win against the Dees at the MCG. 

the Cats haven't won after a bye since 2011 ...

the omens for 2019 would be even better than they already are, if they beat the Power on Saturday night. 

the wheels aren't already off after nine losses in a row ...

they're wobbling disturbingly at the bye. 

de Boer hadn't suffered a broken shoulder last weekend ...

we would have been keen to see if All Australian selectors had the courage to provide him, as a tagger, what he was surely in the process of earning – a 2019 green-with-yellow-trim blazer.  

you ever start a sentence with, "I am not being racist when I say this" ...

just stop talking. And if as a supporter you feel the need to get worked up over your players wearing No.37 on their warm-up guernseys – repeat, WARM-UP guernseys – then please take a breath and get worked up about something else.   

you're aware of the media term "taking out the trash" ...

that’s what the Dees did, post 8pm Tuesday. With the AFL world near-exploding with a pincher, a gambler, behavioural awareness officers and a racial-stereotyping club president, the Demons distributed a general media release outlining massive football department changes which, on most other days, would have created massive headlines. 

the Roos had to use a high pick – No.8 overall - to secure Tarryn Thomas ... 

given the way he is tracking, pick eight will be seen as a steal.   

Paddy Ryder is at Port in 2020 ...

I'll be very surprised.    

at least two of Cotchin, Astbury and Edwards aren't fit to return immediately after this weekend's bye, after three consecutive losses ...

the Tigers' season is done. 

the season has reached the round 14 stage and Richo has managed an unexpected and impressive 6-6 scoreline ... 

with Carlisle and Hannebery about to play their first games, and with immediate matches against a vulnerable Brisbane, a banged-up Richmond and a caretaker-coach-led North, he will know by the end of the month if he's any chance to coach into 2020.  

McVeigh being an out for Friday night's game against Hawthorn is a major problem ...

Kennedy being an in balances it out very nicely.    

some results this season have been disturbingly big and unexpected and some of the wins very lacklustre and underwhelming, including Thursday night's snooze-fest against Essendon ...

we're still holding firm – the Eagles are better placed in 2019 to win a flag than they were at this stage of 2018 when they actually did. And Nic Nat is to return.  

the Dogs liked their chances against the Pies on Tuesday ... 

by Wednesday, when Stephenson had been banned, they would have really liked their chances. 

the week started disastrously for the AFL system ...

it ended very impressively. Strong messages delivered on the key issues – racial stereotyping by a senior club official, gambling, harassment of opponents, and behaviour of both crowds and the security paid to control them.