Don’t get sucked in. We make this mistake every year. Our players look good in their comfort zone at The Hangar mostly playing against guys who aren’t AFL level. Senior players in particular are being vocal and giving advice to young players, etc.
Once it comes to real matches, we see the same old versions of these guys with the same issues.
I just want team who can defend on transition like real team.
I know we’ve been conditioned (over 20 years) for mediocrity, but this is next level, even by Blitz standards….
I just think it is a reflection of where we are as a team.
I think we are going to be awful in 2026, but I think as long as it means we are pumping games into the guys who might be able to take us forward, that’s ok.
I agree with mostly all of this apart from the bit about being a weaker list than last year. I do not see that at all.
We really have only lost Draper from our B22 and he couldn’t and can’t stay on the park.
I am not expecting miracles and think we will likely finish 13th-15th and am quite confident we won’t end up in the bottom few.
Hopefully some run both ways, forwards leading towards the ball carriers and the backline don’t stop, prop, turn around and kick backwards as our only strategy for bringing the ball out of defence.
I’m not expecting too many wins, crush Hawthorn and FC and I’ll be happy. I doubt we’ll be far from the bottom four but it would be nice to see players fit and an improved game plan after last year’s disaster.
He’s not half the player Martin is.
Hopefully Fiorini is a better pick up than Gresh though.
Edit…we could probably prop Scotty21 on the HFF and he’d contribute as much as Gresh !
I think this is overly pessimistic. Realistically, we’ve lost compared to Scott’s two 11 win seasons Martin, Lav, Kelly, Heppell and Draper/Goldstein. Edit: add in Shiel and Hobbs, per @westozziebomber pointing out I missed them.
On the other hand:
That feels like more ‘in’ than the outs. Kako, Roberts, Parish fit offset Martin and the rucks, while the kids and mature pick-ups offset Heppell/Kelly/Lav.
If we have a 2023 or 2024 level of injuries, I don’t think the team has changed that much that its all doom or gloom (bottom 4) or anything exciting (top 8).
The list is marginally weaker but I just don’t know how people ignore that we’re getting like 15 x best 23 players back and think we’re somehow going to be the same, if not worse than last year. Players like Wright, Langford, Parish et al. are by no means taking us to the promise land, but at worst they keep us mid table, in the 10th-14th range. Plus you have to factor in natural growth from players like Caddy, Roberts, Kako, Clarke etc who will be better players than what we’ve seen thus far.
I get some are pessimistic, but to think we’ll be worse with better players returning seems contradicting.
Wright needs to find his aggression again? What wonder is this? When has 2MP ever shown aggression? You can’t show something you don’t have. If he shows aggression in 2026 it will be for the first time, he should be called 2Meeker Peter. I hope he comes out breathing fire, but l won’t be holding my breath waiting for him to do so.
I like where the list is headed. I think we are on the right track. But from a depth perspective, we are considerably weaker this year. Martin is a huge loss, our rucks will get belted each week with no draper/goldstien and guys like hobbs & shiel are probably going to provide better depth than 1st year players. They are the right calls to punt them, absolutely, but it probably makes us a bit thin for the time being
Once injury hits, we are proper cooked imo
I think we finish 7th this season.
You’re right I forgot Shiel and Hobbs (although, frankly, Hobbs was only ever played as a HFF and not sure is anything Huss can’t cover), but I think that is offset by Parish being fitter and the development of Roberts. Other than Martin and the ruck situation, I’m just not seeing major losses from the 2023 & 2024 campaigns, with a number of important ins (Kako, Roberts) and development that offsets them.
We had injuries in both those years but still got 11 wins.
Ruck rule change may also reduce the impact of brutes at centre bounces, focus now more on athleticism than on strength. Our much vaunted midfielders must surely also halve the hitouts won by opponents.
Going to be a tough year if measured solely by W’s.
I’m thinking 8 wins is the upper limit, unless we’re extremely lucky with injuries, and players recover/ return quickly from ‘25 ailments.
Realistically, 9/10th Wildcard weekend is pretty optimistic.
Given the only loss to our senior list was Draper , I’ll assume you reckon his move is the cornerstone to your point. You spent a lot of your post talking about the futility of relying on injury prone players to improve us; which Draper was as well. How can both be true?
I think we have some excellent young prospects who are being nurtured and led by a much weaker senior core of players. That’s the biggest risk to us turning the corner as a club. That and the coaching ability of Brad which I also see as a huge risk.
I don’t know why blood pressure is so high on Blitz regarding our placing in 2026 as the last 2 years have blatantly shown we are one of the poorer teams so the idea that a lightbulb will turn on and we’ll jump 10 places up the ladder is a bit far fetched. Miracles can happen for sure but let’s not forget that 17 other clubs have also spent the last 4-5 months strengthening their lists as well and will also be having the pre-season of their lives!
Martin is effectively a huge loss as well.
But he’s still on our list.
I’m really afraid we’re not going to see the kids a huge amount without injuries. I could easily see Brad selecting the below team for Round 1:
FB: Nguyen, McKay, Ridley
HB: McGrath, Reid, Redman … SEH
C: . Duursma Parish Fiorini … Clarke
RK: Blackiston Merret Caldwell … Roberts, Tsatas
HF: Langford Caddy Durham
FF: Kako Wright Gresham … Guelfi
Now, I suspect Guelfi won’t get in, or SEH, but that would still be only a handful of the kids we’d like to see.
Suggesting that McKay is great even on paper is stretching creditability.