Regrets are an inevitable part of life. They come with the territory of breathing and are a part of the unwritten deal we all sign for the right to exist.
Although some contrition can feel enormous โ such as the misery born when a relationship breaks down or after committing a far more criminal act โ others are forgotten in the blink of an eye.
In terms of the unpredictable game of football, there are a plethora of scenarios that have made or broken careers.
What if your side picked a different player from a certain draft?
What if your star spearhead had kicked straight when it mattered?
What if the cream of your crop rose somewhere else instead?
Well, for fans of every creed we have sought to answer the question that has rankled you for years and kept you up at night for far too long.
We can't promise that we won't open old wounds, as let's face it, that is the entire point of the exercise.
Fromย Adelaideย to the Bulldogs, Fitzroy to the Bears, here are every club's biggest 'what if' moments since the dawn of theย AFLย era in 1990.
OTHER WHAT IFS:ย Adelaide,ย Brisbane Bears,ย Brisbane Lions,ย Carlton,ย Collingwood,ย Essendon,ย Fitzroy,ย Fremantle,ย Geelong,ย Gold Coast,ย GWS,ย Hawthorn,ย Melbourne,ย North Melbourne, Port Adelaide
Grit your teeth, Tiger fans. We're altering the past with you today.
What if 'Dusty' traded Punt Road for Sydney at the end of 2013?
Despite lending a vast quantity of this series to recounting errors, mistakes and regrets, when it comes to running a fine-toothed comb through the Tigers' coat, their sliding door was one that did so to safety.
With a trio of premiership cups having been placed in the cabinet at Punt Road since 2017, this contemporary era has been Richmond's most lustrous since the mid-70s.
Although their list, coaching staff and board have worked wonders to rid the club of its previously mocked identity, it has been the work of one heavily inked and highly skilled man who has led the way in giving the Tigers back their roar.
However, had things panned out differently at the end of the 2013 season, and the kibosh not been put on a killer deal, there was a very real possibility that Richmond's 1980 flag may have been the most recent flying at Tigerland
Having been taken with the 3rd pick of the 2010 AFL Draft, Dustin Martin had long been rated highly by the brass at Punt Road.
After making his debut in the number 36 guernsey, the man with Maori heritage would go on to change his locker and hairstyle, but not his brilliance, over the next 11 seasons.
Still, by the time the yellow and black army were bested by a side that ironically finished ninth in the 2013 finals series, Martin and his management had set their sights on a financially sound, orange sunset.
After reportedly turning down a deal that would see the Bendigo Pioneers product net around $600,000 per annum as a Tiger, Martin and his manager, Ralph Carr, jetted north to the Harbour City's west after receiving word that the competition's youngest side was willing to up the ante with a mega deal.
In spite of the fact that Martin would eventually return to the Tigers' on a smaller deal than first negotiated, what would his career have looked like if he had traded yellow and black for orange and charcoal?
Would his mantel remain as decorated?
Wouldย Richmond have broken their drought?
Would theย Giants' big, big sound have become a more familiar tune in late September?
With a multitude of directions available for us to travel, to truly get to the bottom of this nightmarish reality for troops of the Tiger Army, we'll need to begin by answering the most concrete questions.
Firstly, had Martinย packed his bags and jaunted north to join theย Giants in 2014, would Richmond have been left worse for wear? The simple, and obvious, answer here is yes, they absolutely would have.
Secondly, would theย Giants have then in turn become a better team? Again, the answer is relatively straightforward.
Prior to Round 1, 2014,ย Dustin Martinย had played 86 out of a possible 89 games forย Richmond and had scored 7.61 per cent of the Tiger's goals across his four years in the league.
At that stage, Martin was still a pair of years away from flexing his inked biceps on the competition, as evidenced by lack of individual awards won.
Now, we all know thatย Damien Hardwick eventually raised Martin's midfield minutes, and the now 32-year-old would rise to the task and never look back, but what if he had made a geographical move before he had been afforded a positional switch?
Ahead of the 2014 season โ the club's third in the league โ GWS had a litany of names that could run through the engine room, including Callan Ward, Adam Treloar, Dylan Shiel, Devon Smith, Toby Greene, Stephen Coniglio, Tom Scully and Lachie Whitfield.
Granted none of these names had elevated themselves to total prominence by this point, but with such a lengthy list at his disposal, where would the newly appointedย Leon Cameronย have deployed Martin had he joined his arsenal that summer?
As a side that had only managed 221 goals in 2013, Martin's tally of 23 in the same season was worth the value of 10.41 per cent of the Giants' total majors. For this reason, one would have to imagine that Martin would have likely been asked to play significant periods forward of the ball for a side that was coming off back-to-back wooden spoons.
If this was the case, then an argument can be made that had Martin made the move to Breakfast Point, his career, theoretically at least, could have actually been stunted.
Still, as theย Richmond dynamo has gone on to cement himself as possibly the greatest name of his era so far, there is a more than fair counterpoint that would suggest Martin would have dominated no matter which colours he wore or where he stood on the field.
There is also another, saner, view that Cameron would have read from the same playbook as โDimma', and that โDusty's' midfield minutes would have climbed at Homebush as well.
Having now played 289 games for the same club that drafted him, Martin's record-breaking trifecta of Norm Smith medals suggest one thing โ he has beenย Richmond's greatest weapon at the stage when one was most needed.
Yet, had Martin been a fourth-year Giant by the time the Tigers had broken a 37-year premiership drought, would the long-awaited rains have fallen Punt Road Oval at all?
Acrossย Richmond's rise and rise between 2016 and the Covid-condensed 2020 season, the club claimed three flags after compiling a record of 79 wins, 45 losses and a singular draw.
Throughout this 117-game stretch, Martin managed to lace the boots on 113 occasions.
Across this portion of performances,ย the 2017 Brownlow medallist collected 118 Brownlow votes, meaning that on average, โDusty' was one of the best three players on the ground each and every week.
Just let that sink in.
If any side lost a player of this calibre, their performance would naturally dip. And as Martin has a reputation of showing up when Richmond needs him most, would the Tigers have managed to have hopped their many post-season hurdles without their superstar?
Had Martin been absent during September of 2017, there is an argument that the Tigers may not have beaten theย Giants in that year's preliminary final.
And as the man in question showed up to kick three goals in the space of 10 minutes and put the game to bed early in the final term, had Martin been wearing orange that day, the tale could very well have had an alternative ending.
With a performance that saw him slot 2.2 and boot the Sherrin inside 50 on four occasions during a game decided by just over three goals, had Martin also been missing during the 2019 prelim' in which the Tigers clawed back from 21 points down at half-time against the Cats, then another strong case can be made that they may have bowed out early again.
Once more, had Martin been unavailable during the 2020 Grand Final โ another contest in which they trailed the Moggs by 21 points before he stamped his influenceย โ then yet another chance could have been squandered.
Again, we are sure that we have stroked the Tiger of old's fur in the wrong direction, but this exercise has not been enacted in the vain effort to label Richmond's dynasty built by a โone-man team', it has simply been completed to highlight how pivotal the mystifying Martin really is.
It is also for all of these reasons that had โDusty' packed his bags and joined theย Giants a decade ago, it would be a safe bet to say that the league's youngest franchise would almost certainly have some silverware to their name.
However, as history โ and reality โ have shown us, Martin remained a Tiger, and as long as he still calls Punt Road home, his side is never beaten until the final siren sounds - even when we try to move the goalposts.
