GO on Ross, play all the kids – I dare you.

The Dockers’ shocking loss to the Brisbane Lions on the weekend – and let’s be honest, they were just awful – provides Ross Lyon with an opportunity: Either stick to the true rebuilding path or go into damage control ahead of a trip to Darwin to play Melbourne.

If he’s dinkum about where this team needs to go in the next few years, he’ll go with the former. If he plays true to form, he’ll do the latter.

At least one of the changes Fremantle will have to make this week is obvious. Brad Hill slots straight in for Nat Fyfe. It’s the ones beyond that, which might happen, that worry me.

Does Danyle Pearce bob up again as Lyon looks to protect whatever slight chance the Dockers have of playing finals? What about Michael Johnson? You can guarantee Harley Bennell’s name will get thrown up even though he doesn’t deserve a game and that the club will try to milk it as a good news story to deflect the fallout from the Brisbane loss.

These are the questions that come up when you have a rebuild where it’s debatable if the bloke in charge is really committed to it.

By my reckoning the “restump” actually started after the loss in Round 5 of 2016 to Carlton but the narrative has changed continually since: from “a four-year process” (end of 2016), to “great optimism” (this pre-season), to trying to dig in for a finals tilt (after eight rounds of 2018), to “doubling down on the kids” (translation: the finals hopes are slipping away), to “we’re suddenly a sniff of playing in September again” (the coach’s message behind closed doors recently after a couple of wins) and now to wherever it lurches this week.

At this point in time Ross Lyon needs to be accountable.

If the people “selling the club” – membership, sponsorship and marketing staff – are going to be held to account then face of the product they sell has to be as well.

Is he really committed to doubling-down on the rebuild or is that just nice language for the public arena? Is he prepared to potentially put his job security at risk to further advance his footy club?

Camera Icon Dockers coach Ross Lyon needs to be held accountable, writes Brad Hardie. Credit: Getty Images

Why did Michael Walters start on the bench against the Lions (genuinely one of the most baffling things I’ve seen) and was Alex Pearce rushed back too soon from his thumb injury?

How could your team possibly be so ill-prepared for a home game after a bye against a very young team that had to take the longest flight in footy (after playing the weekend before)? The Dockers were clearly going to lose before Nat Fyfe got hurt and that’s an indictment of where they were at on the day.

And when is the rebuild going to show some teeth against a decent side? So far this season Freo have beaten Essendon (12th on the ladder), the Gold Coast (16th), the Bulldogs (14th), St Kilda (15th), Adelaide (11th) and Carlton (16th).

On the other hand, they’ve been beaten by 50 or more points by Port Adelaide, Richmond, Sydney, Collingwood and now Brisbane.

Saturday night against Melbourne seems like an opportune time to start answering some of those questions. I’ll be very interested to see which way things go.

Inspiration of the week:

I’ll go with Chris Mayne. Went to Collingwood on a four-year deal and an awful lot of people thought he was gone inside year one. Through injury, good luck and hard work he’s got his chance and is running with it. Nice to see.

Word on the street/Bulltish of the week:

It’s a joint award this week to the AFL coach who told one of the club’s board members his team was right in the mix for finals this year and in position to push for a premiership in 2020 or 2021. Then they went out and kicked nine goals. That worked out well!

Brownlow medallist Brad Hardie writes for PerthNow each week of the 2018 AFL season. You can also hear him on Radio 6PR daily with Oliver Peterson on Drive.