"That's how indulged and self-satisfied clubs like Carlton operate. Rather than sift through all the evidence of decay and complacency then establish who the real culprits are, they throw the coach overboard."

Now hang on a second, Patrick, when did we last sack a coach? 1990, at the end of a season. More than 15 coaches have been sacked in the meantime. Did we sack Parkin when things were looking bad in 1991, 1997 or 1998? No. Sure we sacked Walls in 1989 but that was only because he'd lost the faith of the players. The reality is that we have had four coaches in the past 20 years. Out of all the clubs that have been around for 20 years only Essendon have had fewer coaches. Despite not being around for all 20 of those years, Brisbane, Fitzroy and West Coast have all used more coaches. It is a misconception that Carlton sack the coach when things are going badly. It isn't Carlton who is speculating about Brittain's future, but the media that of which Smith is a part. Carlton has done nothing to show that they don't support Brittain. Fair enough to have a go at Carlton, but do so for the real issues.

Smith shows little knowledge of football when he praises Brittain for flooding against Fremantle. I don't see why Brittain should be praised for his performance on the weekend - I thought the players tried hard and did quite well but the flooding did not help us at all. Flooding is ugly, it doesn’t bring much needed supporters to the games, and it teaches young players bad lessons. It is a form of damage control only, and a signal that the white flag has been raised.

Also, to say we won't make the finals in the next 5 years is yet another flawed judgement by Smith. Fremantle could very well make the finals this year and this time last year they hadn't even won a game. West Coast could make the finals this year and their list last year was said by most media scribes to be easily the worst in the AFL. Things change much quicker than that, Patrick. If by some fluke you are reading this, Patrick, I'm willing to bet you quite a bit of money that we do make the finals within 5 years.

It was brought to my attention recently that Smith has put himself in a situation where it is impossible for him to lose. If Brittain gets the sack, Smith can say I told you so. If Elliot gets booted, Smith can gloat about how he was leading the charge for it. If they both survive, he can continue on moaning about it in his articles. Wouldn’t we all like to be backing such a winner?