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 a superstar stayed fit at a crucial juncture?
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, from 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, Melbourneย
What if the Duck had remained a Roo?
Following aย 2001 season in which he suited up in just 14 games, Carey and his Roos limped into the summer break after theirย 9-0-13 campaign.
Despite the fact that there were numerous household names beginning their careers with the blue-collar club, many of the senior names on the Shinboner's list were entering their footballing winter.
Prior to the start of the Roos' 2002 fixture,ย six names โ including Carey โ that had tasted premiership glory with the club were aged 30 or older. Yet to be named Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer was also snapping at their heels aged 29.
Still, head coach Denis Pagan โ then entering his final year in the role - had a plethora of names that were either in or around their prime at his disposal, with Leigh Colbert, Shannon Grant, Adam Simpson, Byron Pickett and Brent โBoomer' Harvey all still shy of their 27th birthday.
Although the club was only two years post its fourth flag and, on paper, their list seemed able to contend again, the Kangaroos' form from the previous year had many musing that the writing appeared to be on the walls of the decaying Fogarty Street grandstand.
However, if the Roos' premiership window had been open ahead of the 2022 Wizard Cup series, then it was slammed emphatically shut by the beginning of the season proper.
As commentary on extramarital affairs is better left for the gossip rags, we'll spare everyone an unreliable recount of the events of March 2002.
In spite of this, as the fallout had a profound impact on a football club, we will endeavour to focus our attention to on-field matters only.
As previously mentioned, 2001 proved to be a lull year for an ageing North Melbourne list, and with the club's skipper and best player asked to leave the premises less than 12 months later, many were of the belief that would only go from bad to worse.
Even though the Roos may have won just nine games in '01, by the time the curtain came down on Pagan's final season at Arden Street, the club's splintered playing group was able to belt out their song on 12 occasions in 2002.
While these 12 wins were enough to see North return to the September action, the Roos' ambitions of adding to their trophy cabinet were thwartedย in an elimination final loss to Neale Daniher's Demons.
Having dropped five games throughout the season by less than 20 points, one can't help but wonder how much higher than seventh the Roos could have bounded had Carey still been on the scene.
As the man that many dubbed โThe King' hadย slotted 105 goals in his final 37 games in blue and white stripes, it could be argued that a mean of 2.8 majors a week could be ascribed to his right boot.
But as mentioned, Carey was slowing down by 2002, so as to truly find a reasonable number, we have added his 56 goals in his 28 starts for the Crows to help find a balance.
Once these figures are run through a calculator, it could be argued that Carey's worth to the Roos that season was somewhere around the 2.5 goals-per-game mark.
With this wonky reasoning in mind, had the prototypical centre-half-forward behaved himself, and also met his benchmark, then four out of five of these aforementioned defeats would have been erased.
If you add these proposed wins to their realistic tally and adjust their competitors', the Kangaroos would have sewn up third place on the ladder and a date with the eventual premiers Brisbaneย in a qualifying final.
As one of the losses turned victories came against the Lions at the โGabba - the venue for this theoretical clash - a case can be made for lightning striking twice.
If this were to be the case, then the Carey-led Kangaroos would have earned the right to faceย Port Adelaideย in a Preliminary Final at the MCG โ a side that North had knocked off twice that year by an average of more than three goals.
With the Lions again likely to have awaited Pagan's men in the grand final, this fanciful form line shows that Carey and Pagan could very well have held aloft their third premiership cup.
As football games have never been won on paper or after punching digits into a calculator, these mental gymnastics may mean absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, we are simply showing you that a case, however implausible, can be made.
Still, it could also be argued that the Shinboners may not have bounced back at all from their lull in 2001 had they not been granted a fresh start.
One thing that is known is that had Glenn Archer hosted an uneventful barbeque in the summer of 2002, then North Melbourne's 1996 and 1999 premiership reunions would have been a heck of a lot less frosty.
