WITH the AFL season nearing its climax, Sliding Doors is in top form.

>> See more Sliding Doors here

So what's Damo saying about your club? What's he saying about the AFL? Check it out.

IF ...

Sholl shoulda been a shoo-in for the round 17 NAB Rising Star nomination after his 24-disposal, two-goal, 600m-plus gained performance against Carlton ...

THEN ...

I feel for him but at the same time get it that at this late stage of a season the judging panel opts for a body of work over a single performance. One way to do a Teddy Whitten and stick it up that panel would be for Sholl to back it up against the defending premier.

IF ...

you go to the evidence ...

THEN ...

Chris Fagan is right. The Brisbane Lions are not the Harris Andrews Football Club. Under Fagan's watch, they've now won eight of nine matches missed by Andrews, the only loss a narrow one. And yet I still can't see them reaching even a third week of finals without him.

IF ...

I've been surprised by some decisions of Carlton footballers in 2020 ... 

THEN ...

I was very surprised during the week when the playing group overlooked the competition's 2019 MVP for a spot among their three representatives for the 2020 award. He hasn't been at his best this year, Patty Cripps. But Jack Martin, Jacob Weitering and Sam Walsh ahead of him? Wasn't aware Cripps had slipped that far.

 

IF ...

Quaynor qualified for the 2020 Rising Star intake after a round 17 nomination ...

THEN ...

well done. It was a very sound match and followed other encouraging performances this year. Yet lined up against Sholl's performance in the same round, it seemed inferior. Winner if the body of work view, not necessarily the one-off game.

IF ...

"Essendon people" have indeed contributed to the Bombers' misery of the past 16 years ...

THEN ...

those same "Essendon people" have had enough of a non-Essendon person lecturing them about a need for patience. And no point sugar coating John Worsfold's five seasons at the club. It just didn't work, this final year a total waste of a season, especially after a 4-1 start (and the loss being by one point) before moving to 5-2.

IF ...

you're ever again tempted to adversely prosecute footballers in their first and second seasons ... 

THEN ...

Exhibit A in the defence case is Andrew Brayshaw and Exhibit B is Adam Cerra. The second and fifth picks in the 2017 NAB AFL Draft were always going to take a little time to have impact for a rebuilding club. That time is clearly up. Both becoming guns.

IF ...

you're in the camp that says the selection of an underdone Gary Ablett could upset the Cats' flow ...

THEN ...

you don't know Chris Scott. Or Gary Ablett. Nor have a sense of fairytale or nostalgia. This could be a story for the ages.

 

IF ...

it was initially his great mate and teammate Matt Rowell who was always going to beat him to this year's Rising Star before injury ...

THEN ...

now it's the Dockers' Caleb Serong. It doesn't matter, though. Noah Anderson goes very, very nicely, and will for a very, very long time.

IF ...

Aidan Corr was the first Giant to depart in 2020 ...

THEN ...

he won't be the last. And all focus now goes onto Jeremy Cameron. Cannot read this one.

IF ...

Clarko applied the formula he used on Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis and Roughead ... 

THEN ...

there's no way Burgoyne goes around again in 2021. Maybe Clarko, even in this 2020 season where has seemingly had a weekly sook, is softening afterall.

IF ...

your memory goes back to round three .. 

THEN ...

you'll recall the Dees were going to play the Bombers, until Conor McKenna had a problem with a COVID-19 test. That match was ultimately rescheduled to Saturday. Demons were 1-1 back then, still in no man's land now, a game outside the eight.

IF ...

anyone at the Roos dares to think there were a lot of positives out of Thursday's loss to West Coast ... 

THEN ...

please tell them to stop. The game was the deadest of dead rubbers, the last of a North Melbourne season which would rank somewhere among its all-time worst.

IF ...

anyone has contact details of the Ollie Wines Appreciation Society ...

THEN ...

can you please send them this way? Want to get on the subscription list. Putting together a ripping back half of 2020, Wines.

IF ...

the full-forward and ruckman broke down in the second last home and away round of any season at any other club ... 

THEN ...

it'd be a crisis. Just a small speed bump for the big-game, premiership-proven Tigers after round 17 of 2020.

IF ...

you're playing Hannebery for the first time since round five, and after he's just been restricted to training for two weeks on a patch of grass no bigger than 50m by 35m while in a jam-packed Gold Coast quarantine hub ...

THEN ...

it's the season's biggest selection dice roll. But I'd be rolling those dice the same way, too.

IF ...

the biggest Trade Period circus last year was the Joe Daniher event ...

THEN ...

coming in at No.2 was the Top Papley show. The Swans are very happy that one's been cancelled this year, and Papley already committed for 2021.

IF ...

the Eagles are to go deep in the finals ... 

THEN ...

Liam Ryan and Nic Naitanui need to have a huge four weeks. Have become – by some distance – the Eagles' two most important players.

IF ...

you've been a crucial member of a premiership team and have won a best-and-fairest ... 

THEN ...

is it still possible to be underrated? In Tom Liberatore's case, it may well be. Has put together a sizeable season, and is as crucial as anyone to what may lie ahead.

AND THIS ONE'S FOR THE AFL

IF ...

I sometimes use this space to have a crack at someone or something within the AFL system ...

THEN ...

not this time. Nothing but praise for how it somehow took everyone with it on its ridiculous 2020 journey and has managed to get everyone to the final round of a season which loomed as impossible when the state of Victoria broke under the COVID-19 pandemic. With extraordinarily minimal major setbacks.