With the top eight settled in all but position, eight others are effectively finished for 2008. Here’s what we found out about those clubs this year, and the burning questions to be answered in 2009.

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RICHMOND
WHAT WE LEARNED: Matthew Richardson deserves a statue at Tigerland. Brett Deledio is a bonafide star. Trent Cotchin will be. The Tigers can beat the teams below them but not those above them. That effectively cost them a first finals appearance since 2001.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Terry Wallace sold the dream five years ago. 2009 is delivery time - and his career will be over without finals. Whether the shock round 20 win over high-flying Hawthorn will be a turning point for the club. Can Graham Polak make a miraculous return to the game?

CARLTON
WHAT WE LEARNED: The Blues are the best side outside the eight - and would shake up September more than others that have made the finals. Chris Judd has made Carlton better. Brendan Fevola has flaws, but who cares when you kick 90-plus goals a year? And Brett Ratten is the right coach to lead them forward.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: That the draft system works. Years of mediocrity have delivered the Blues Judd, Stevens, Murphy, Gibbs and Kreuzer. It’s hard to see anything but several years of finals if they keep this group together.

BRISBANE
WHAT WE LEARNED: The Lions’ top six players - Brown, Bradshaw, Black, Power, Brennan and Charman - remain among the competition’s most formidable. It’s what lies beneath that’s questionable. Brisbane have a worrying tendency to lose close matches.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Whether the young Lions can step up. Can Jared Brennan finally become a week-in, week-out superstar? Will coach Leigh Matthews be under pressure for the first time in his glorious reign?

ESSENDON
WHAT WE LEARNED: Coach Matthew Knights wants to bring “sexy” back to AFL. An horrendous injury list hurt the Bombers’ ability to carry out his attacking style of play. Matthew Lloyd is still a force.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Whether Knights’ determination to give youth its head will put his on the chopping block. What are the Bombers capable of with a better run with injuries? Can exciting footy reap the rewards it deserves?

PORT ADELAIDE
WHAT WE LEARNED: Their 2007 grand final appearance flattered the Power considerably. Aside from the Cornes brothers, too many of their supposed stars go missing when things get tough. So too do their supporters, judging by crowds at AAMI Stadium.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Can coach Mark Williams perform similar heroics to 2001, when he turned the club around after a poor season? Whether the decision to end key players’ seasons early to ready them for 2009 was the right call.

FREMANTLE
WHAT WE LEARNED: The Dockers were as flaky under Mark Harvey as they were under Chris Connolly. Case in point - their unravelling against previous winless Melbourne in round seven. Dean Solomon rearranging Cameron Ling’s face showed discipline hasn’t improved either. Results? The usual mix of inconsistency and underachievement. Freo, way to go? A long, long way to go.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Can Harvey get his message through? Whether serial bad boy Jeff Farmer has a Teflon coating. Will Rhys Palmer be the Joel Selwood of his draft class? And whether their one genuine superstar Matthew Pavlich should have gone elsewhere when he had the chance.

WEST COAST
WHAT WE LEARNED: Take two champs out of a team, and you expose the chumps. There would appear several Eagles whose 2006 premiership medals are owed almost entirely to Judd and Cousins. The duo’s absence has affected West Coast more than anyone thought - probably because most of the rest of their best 22 were either overrated or underachieved.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Whether this season was just a blip on the radar, or the start of the inevitable post-premiership decline. And can the Eagles possibly deal with another high-profile loss if Daniel Kerr wants out as the rumour mill suggests?

MELBOURNE
WHAT WE LEARNED: Their list simply wasn’t up to AFL standard. Several Demons - David Neitz, Adem Yze and Jeff White - played on a season too long as the hard decisions that weren’t taken in the off-season bit hard. Cale Morton will probably be good. The jury’s out on the rest of their kids.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN `09: Whether the once-proud Demons can survive their remaining $3 million debt, and do so in Melbourne. Whether populism - Jim Stynes and Cameron Schwab in, Paul McNamee out - can win over pragmatism.

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