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 – such as the misery born when a relationship breaks down or after committing a far more criminal act – 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 had picked a different player from a certain draft?
What if your star spearhead had kicked straight when it mattered?
What if said player was better behaved?
Well, for fans of every creed we have sought to answer the question that has rankled you for years and kept you up at nights 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.
PART ONE: Adelaide, Brisbane Bears, Brisbane Lions, Carlton
PART TWO: Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Fremantle
PART THREE: Geelong, Gold Coast, Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn
PART FIVE: Sydney, St Kilda, West Coast, Western Bulldogs
However, if we can help you find closure by looking at the facts and asking what if the doors slid the other way, then we have done our job.
As always, feel free to critique our non-linear traipses, as we are tipping some of you are unlikely to enjoy some of the conclusions we have drawn.
With the first three instalments in this series now behind us, here is part four of the game's greatest ‘what ifs' since 1990.
Richmond
What if 'Dusty' departed at the end of 2013?
Despite lending a vast quantity of this series' column space to recounting errors, mistakes and regrets, when it comes to running a fine-toothed comb through the Tigers' coat, the door that slid was one that did so to safety.
With a trio of premiership cups having been placed in the previously cobwebbed trophy case at Punt Road since 2014, this contemporary era has been Richmond's most lustrous since the mid-70's.
Although their list, coaching staff and board have worked wonders to rid the club of their previously mocked identity, it has been the work of one heavily inked and highly skilled man that has led the way in giving Richmond back their roar.
However, had things panned out differently following the cessation of the 2013 season and the kibosh not been put on a killer deal, there was a very real possibility that the Tigers' 1980 chalice may have been the last piece of silverware in their cupboard.
Having been taken with the 3rd pick of the 2010 draft, Dustin Martin had longed been rated highly by the brass at Tigerland.
After making his debut in the number 36 guernsey in 2010, the man with Maori heritage – as evidenced by his tattooed homage to the Ngāti Maru people and their Matai Whetu marae on his neck – 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 with the Punt Road club, 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 part with the contents of Fort Knox to end their on-field woes.
In spite of the fact that Martin would eventually return to the Tigers' ambush 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?
Would Richmond break their drought?
Would the Giants big, big sound have become a 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 Dustin Martin packed his bags and jaunted north to join the Giants ahead of the 2014 season, would Richmond have become a worse team? The simple, and obvious, answer here is yes, they absolutely would have.
Secondly, would the Giants have then in turn become a better team? Again, the answer is relatively straight forward.
Be that as it may, like I was always requested to do by my fleet of fed-up maths teachers across my schooling years, I'm going to show you my work.
Prior to Round 1, 2014, Dustin Martin had played 86 out of a possible 89 games for Richmond and had scored 7.61% of the Tiger's goals across his four years in the league.
SEE ALSO: What if Ablett's shoulder had remained intact in 2014?
At that stage, Martin was still a pair of years away from flexing his inked biceps on the competition, as evidenced by his bare trophy case.
Now, we all know that Damien Hardwick eventually raised Martin's midfield minutes, and the now 30-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 – their third in the league – GWS had a catalogue of names that could run through the engine room such as Ward, Treloar, Shiel, Smith, Greene, Coniglio, Scully and 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 appointed Leon Cameron 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% of the Giants' total majors. For this reason, one would have to imagine that Martin would have likely been asked to play 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 could have actually been stunted.
Still, as the Richmond dynamo has gone on to cement himself as possibly the greatest name of his era so far, there is a more than fair counter point that would suggest Martin would have dominated no matter where he called home.
There is also another view that coach Cameron would have read from the same playbook as ‘Dimma', and that ‘Dusty's' midfield minutes would have climbed at Homebush as well.
SEE ALSO: What if the Giants had landed 'Buddy' at the end of 2013?
Having now played upwards of 250-games for the same club that drafted him, Dustin Martin's record-breaking trifecta of Norm Smith medals suggest one thing – he has been Richmond's greatest weapon at the stage when one was most needed.
Howbeit, had Martin had been a fourth-year Giant by the time that the Tigers had broken a 37-year premiership drought, would the long awaited rains have fallen Punt Road Oval at all?
I am sure that this hot needle has rankled many of the Richmond's 100,000 members, but the question is salient – just how important was ‘Dusty' to the creation the dynasty?
Across Richmond's rise and rise between 2016 and the cessation of last season, the club has 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, the 2017 Brownlow medallist collected 118-Brownlow votes, meaning that on average, ‘Dusty' 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, but 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 the Giants in that year's Preliminary Final.
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 have had an alternative ending.
SEE ALSO: What if Jason Dunstall didn't insist on Alastair Clarkson's appointment?
With 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 been missing during the 2019 Prelim' in which the Tigers clawed back from 21-points down at half-time against the Cats, then a case could be made that they may have bowed out early again.
Once more, had Martin been unavailable during last year's Grand Final – another contest in which they trailed the Moggs by 21-points before he stamped his influence – then yet another chance could have been squandered.
Again, I am sure that I have stroked the Tiger of old's fur in the wrong direction, but this exercise has not been enacted in the effort to label Richmond a ‘one-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 ‘Dusty' packed his bags and joined the Giants just over seven seasons 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 – and reality – 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 I do try and move the goalposts.
