When will clubs learn that topping up your list by trading for discards from other clubs at the expense of going for youth simply doesn't work?
It is no coincidence struggling pair Fremantle and Essendon have both been guilty of it in recent years as has St Kilda, which on the evidence of Sunday's capitulation in Brisbane is as far from a premiership as it has ever been, while Richmond is only now recovering after making the same mistake at the end of 2001.
In contrast Hawthorn, which after a slow start against Melbourne on Sunday registered its best ever start to a season with nine straight wins and moved to outright top spot on the ladder, has re-built its ageing list in just four years by getting as many young players as it could to the club.
The Bombers, however, are at their lowest ebb for 30 years while the Dockers and Saints - who thought they were on the verge of a flag - are going nowhere.
The Dockers created a new piece of unwanted history in Round 9 by becoming the first club since St Kilda in 1940 to be beaten in four successive weeks after leading at three-quarter-time - yet again highlighting the losing culture at the AFL's most frustrating club.
And Essendon, fresh from having suffered three successive 10-goal defeats for the first time in its history, was soundly beaten by last year's wooden spooners Richmond in Saturday night's 'Dreamtime at the G' clash in a game in which they conceded the first eight goals.
As for St Kilda, its 46-point loss to Brisbane on Sunday in a game pitting eighth against ninth again shows the Saints' current list is the most overrated in the AFL and unlikely to deliver that long-awaited second premiership after so many near misses in recent seasons.
So just how much blame should Knights, Harvey and Lyon receive for the club's current predicaments?
While Knights' game-plan does look one-dimensional, at least he is attempting to get his team to play entertaining football and the truth is he took over a team already in decline remembering they finished 13th, 15th and 12th in Kevin Sheedy's final three years in charge.
A fourth successive season out of the finals now appears a certainty and the last time Essendon had such a bad run was in five successive seasons from 1974-78 when, ominously for Knights, the club went through three coaches in Des Tuddenham, Bill Stephen and Barry Davis before Sheedy's arrival in 1981 and record-breaking 27 year tenure revived Windy Hill.
But Sheedy also has to take his share of blame for the Bombers' current problems.
The Bombers' recruiting since their last premiership win in 2000 has been terrible and is the main reason why the club finds itself in its current predicament.
Not only did Essendon trade away far too many picks for ageing players that offered little such as Matthew Allan, Mark Alvey, Richard Cole and Justin Murphy but it has also wasted its crucial early draft picks - the picks that should yield future 200-game stars.
Instead, Essendon used its top national draft choice on Shane Harvey (2001), Jason Laycock (2002), Kepler Bradley (2003), Angus Monfries (2004) - players who have either left the club or are still there but offering little.
The Dockers' problems are harder to fathom, after all this team