| If | you take the view that you've got nothing to lose ... |
| then | throw a Hail Mary at Chad Wingard. |
| If | the Lachie Neale project is as good as done ... |
| then | speaking of Hail Marys, may as well lob another one Cyril Rioli's way. |
| If | your headquarters are on the fringes of the Melbourne CBD ... |
| then | we have no idea why you'd feel the need to fly Shiel to Noosa for your pitch. Old-fashioned Carlton arrogance. (Which we like and have recently missed, by the way!). Wonder if Bruce Mathieson even tried the old-fashioned brown paper bag. |
| If | you had massive, unsuccessful cracks at Lynch and May ... |
| then | nothing ventured, nothing gained. Maybe have one more go at May. He'll take the highest bid. |
| If | you think we don't know what you're trying to do ... |
| then | bad luck, we do. You're obsessed with Jack Martin. Adrian Dodoro trying everything. |
| If | the Dockers secure Hogan ... |
| then | Ross is going to have to change his coaching style dramatically. |
| If | you've fallen short in the prelim finals of 2016 and 2017 and been eliminated in week one of the 2018 finals and you ... |
| then | face the loss of Tim Kelly, well, we see a trend, and it's not a positive one when we look into 2019. |
NAB AFL TRADE HUB Latest news, videos and live blog
| If | we've been saying it for four months ... |
| then | we'll shout it louder now: let Steven May go. He doesn't want to be there. You're better off without a captain whose mind is elsewhere. |
| If | you've fallen short in the prelim finals of 2016 and 2017 and been eliminated in week two of the 2018 finals and you ... |
| then | face the loss of Shiel and Lobb, well, we see another trend, and it's also a bad one when we look into 2019. |
| If | we're the Hawks and we're pitching for Shiel against Carlton, St Kilda and Essendon ... |
| then | we don't need to charter a flight to Noosa. All we're selling is this: we've got Clarko and Sam Mitchell. And our medical and fitness staff is proven to be world's best practice, and with your shoulders, you need us. And no brown paper bags. |
| If | Lever and May are among the back six come round one next year ... |
| then | we'd have you favourites for the 2019 flag.
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INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER Your club's picks
| If | Gaff doesn't come ... |
| then | there's more money to throw at Kelly next year. But if Gaff does come, you'll be better placed to convince Kelly to come on less money. |
| If | Wingard wants to talk in riddles on social media ... |
| then | fine, that's his right. As readers of this column know, he's one of our favourites. But, Chad, work your stuff out, mate. Get on with life. You're clearly not happy, you wouldn't be talking to clubs if you were. So get outta there. |
| If | there's one thing we can't work out right now ... |
| then | it is this: was Richmond's bad loss in the prelim final A) reflective of their 2018 standing? or B) simply a really bad night at the office? Leaning slightly towards 'A'. But Lynch coming in fixes that for 2019. |
| If | the Saints aren't aware of what Jack Steven is saying to some people ... |
| then | they need to be. Yes, we know. He's contracted. But on so many fronts, he's: Not. Happy. Jaaaann. |
| If | the Trade Period isn't used to get Bud some proper help ... |
| then | 2019 will be as ordinary as 2018. |
| If | everyone thinks about it for a moment ... |
| then | the Eagles' 2018 premiership was one of the all-time great, unpredictable successes. And they did it with real class. Arguably the best of this club's four flags since joining the AFL in 1987. |
| If | we've always liked Lachie Hunter ... |
| then | that doesn't change one bit. But Macrae would've been our choice as best and fairest this year. |
WHO'S LEAVING YOUR CLUB? All the latest retirements and delistings
| If | you said you were going to go public with all the official rule changes for season 2019 before the 2018 Trade Period ... |
| then | you've got 48 hours. |
