Bruce McAvaney

With Hawthorne and Geelong following in Sydney and Fremantle's weight at the moment.

So you're not dismissing the Lions?

No, not just yet.

Crucial on the weekend, of course, they play Gold Coast.

And if they get to six and seven, it is unravelling a bit.

Not completely, but this is the one thing I think, Joe.

It's unreasonable to bank on a team playing in four consecutive Grand Finals.

It's so difficult to do, and that's what they're faced with this year.

They could easily have won that first one.

They've won the last two.

So it's a lot to ask, and maybe we're just thinking about 2025 and 2024 and not 2026, but they're probably, the next month will be absolutely crucial.

I know they've got to buy, but they have to start playing some good footy again.

I could.

I could.

I think the key is he's got to go through the process and convince the bombers and that selection committee that he can take them to where they want to get to.

There's so much romance surrounding him.

He's got the Midas touch.

We know there is that mark alongside of his name that won't go away, but he has got the Midas touch, and anyone that's met him and had anything to do with him, and you know this,

There's a charisma about him that is irresistible in so many ways, but you can't appoint him because he's the golden boy.

You're not going to appoint Kevin Sheedy, and he's the other still golden boy in many ways at Essendon.