IF you look up the word 'shambles' in the dictionary ... THEN - AFL - Dictionary

WITH the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership season up and running, naturally, Damian Barrett's Sliding Doors is also up and about.

So what's Damo saying about your club? Who is in the firing line? And what's he saying about the AFL? You can't say that, Damo, can you?

Oh, and be sure you tune in to AFL Daily as Nat and Damo put the spotlight on all the big issues. Check it out.

IF ...

big Texan is back to his best  ...

THEN ...

it's a perfect time for him to take on Jake Lever, his former teammate in sparkling form with the unbeaten Demons, the one to whom he gave an almighty verbal send-off in late 2017.

IF ..

there are bigger profiles at Brisbane than Lester and Gardiner ...

THEN ...

in the eyes of coach Fagan there is no one more valued and loved. Massive losses through injury for Friday night lights against Tigers. 

IF ...

Jack Silvagni hasn't walked under a ladder, spotted a black cat or broken a mirror this week ...

THEN ...

he might actually get to finish a match of football without injury.

IF ...

you look up the word "shambles" in the dictionary ...

THEN ...

there's an image of the Collingwood Football Club board room. And some reckon Buckley is the problem. Please.

IF ...

Darcy Parish is to emerge from Sunday's match against North Melbourne with another three-voter ...

THEN ...

surely he enters All-Australian conversations.

IF ...

this team was an ice cream flavour ...

THEN ...

it'd be vanilla.

IF ...

the Cats have been the benchmark for recruiting and list management for the past 20 years ...

THEN ...

with their main man (Wells) considering his future and another (Troy Selwood) moving to another club, fair to say there is more than a bit going on in that space. At least they've still got Andrew Mackie analysing future talent. Was a gun in three premiership campaigns, well poised to be head planner for the next one.

IF ...

the Suns couldn't fire a shot at home last weekend in a QClash ...

THEN ...

there is no reason to think they will against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium in round 10. As big a concern as at any stage of their troubled 11-year AFL life.

IF ...

Toby's unavailability is a massive problem ...

THEN ...

Haynes' return for Sunday's match against the Eagles goes a significant way to making up for it. A genuine star.

IF ...

Hawthorn doesn't soon officially lock away a future with Sam Mitchell ...

THEN ...

Collingwood simply has to ask the question. Realise there are no guarantees in footy or life, but in my eyes the closest thing to one is this: Mitchell will one day be an outstanding AFL coach.

IF ...

the focus, albeit understandably, is subconsciously on what could be the match of the year on Friday week against Western Bulldogs ...

THEN ...

that might pose a small problem on Saturday at Adelaide Oval, against the Crows.

IF ...

the season's first win was well deserved after a reasonable stretch of competitive losses ...

THEN ...

there's no reason the Roos can't push Essendon all the way on Sunday at Marvel Stadium.

IF ...

the flat-track bully tag is to be shed ...

THEN ...

unfortunately an away game win against Collingwood won't mean a thing. It's gonna stick for a while.

IF ...

you look at the top eight ...

THEN ...

the team which looks most vulnerable, even after last week's retrieval of a 28-point deficit against GWS, when it comes to premiership credentials is the team sitting eighth. But that team is Richmond. And because it is Richmond it is probably still favourite.

IF ...

at nearly 33 and after 14 seasons at the top level Jarryn Geary is no longer at the top of his game ...

THEN ...

he's still very, very important to this club. Returns for his first game of 2021. And he won't be thinking his team is no chance against the Dogs.

IF ...

Tom Hickey's first 102 AFL matches at three clubs were largely OK ...

THEN ...

in the context of what they have done for the premiership chances of his fourth team, the eight he has played in 2021 have been outstanding and have him, in my eyes at this stage of the season, the recruit of the year.

IF ...

Jack Darling has already compiled an outstanding career since a 2011 debut ...

THEN ...

season 2021 is looming as his standout year. Can now lay claim to being THE key to the Eagles' premiership hopes.

IF ...

depth may have once been an issue ...

THEN ...

it's not now. Dunkley, Wood, English, Martin, McLean, Gardner, Jong, Richards all unavailable. Yet not one dent on the push for a flag.

AND THIS ONE'S FOR THE AFL

IF ...

everyone else has this week expressed a view on the holding-the-ball rule ...

THEN ...

here's mine: stop allowing players do 360s - and sometimes 450s and even 540s - looking for a free teammate before making fake attempts to dispose of the ball. And stop falling for players "pretending" they can’t dispose of the ball.