How do we get better in 2026?

[Dazb86]

What needs to happen to take us from 9th into the top 4?

If anything 2025 was our most consistent year I've seen under Bevo. There were no shock losses but conversely no shock wins.

How do we go from a middling side to one of the best teams next season?

 

[Foxman98]

More games into the kids and another preseason

Most games we had 10 players or more under 50 games

 

[Libbaaaa]

Just beat a couple of top 8 sides and we are right in it.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Just parking the ego and fixing the defensive system. With the players we’ve got we have enough to win enough games on talent alone

Shoot ourselves in the foot constantly by this need to take the most aggressive position in defense and at stoppages. Footy has turned into a game of momentum, every team has those 15 minute stretches where they are unstoppable or when they are off. The periods that we are off leak so many goals and were continually trying to will ourselves back from 5 goals down. Not going to win many games from that position (not sure we won any from there, lost in Gather round with that type of lead)

 

[TiAn_]

- Prioritise selecting contest winners in the back half and wings. This year we didn’t have enough individuals that could st least break even when the ball was in dispute.

- Forego some of the density we use when the ball is in forward 50 in order to set up better behind the ball. The ball might come back out more frequently, but we won’t get burned as often as we do when it does.

 

[BigFloppa]

Michael Sellwood

 

[Graeme Cook]

We might want to tag the opposition best midfielder

 

[maddog37]

Kick straight.

 

[BigFloppa]

Kick straight.

Didn't we have one of the highest kicking accuracy in the comp?

 

[Royale]

Midfield stoppages and clearances. The numbers say we are good. But we aren't. We only dominate the weaker teams. Never been convinced about Lade. We haven't had a decent mids coach since Kingy and Corey.

 

[maddog37]

Didn't we have one of the highest kicking accuracy in the comp?

Not when it matters.


I have no idea if this is true but the vibe is there.

 

[DiamondDogs8]

Tackling, defensive running and winning 1 on 1s in our D50

 

[JTCWBFC]

I'm sure we'll sort it out when trade period comes around.

Oh wait.

 

[JTCWBFC]

I don't see us improving significantly unless the coach finally sorts out his game-plan & starts valuing defence.

 

[Mr. Walker]

The improvement will come once preseason is over. Then the track watchers on WOOF will stop writing preseason training reports and begin writing defensive structure assessment reports and (hopefully) “Lesser Ego” Bev will take notice and implement the suggested changes.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Not when it matters.


I have no idea if this is true but the vibe is there.

On memory analysis, despite our accuracy I don’t think we won any games with less scoring shots than the opponent and lost one game when we had more scoring shots than our opponent

 

[FoochPackage]

What needs to happen to take us from 9th into the top 4?

If anything 2025 was our most consistent year I've seen under Bevo. There were no shock losses but conversely no shock wins.

How do we go from a middling side to one of the best teams next season?

Sack the coach prior to round 1

 

[dogwatch]

Infiltrate the executive ranks of the AFL with ex players and club officials.

 

[Doggies7]

Not when it matters.


I have no idea if this is true but the vibe is there.

Yeah we were 2nd in goal kicking accuracy in 2025 so if anything we are likely to see a bit of a regression in our goal kicking for 2026.

 

[grassman75]

Michael Sellwood

And sack Bevo

 

[iambrilliant]

We don’t . We wait untill we get butters 2027 and then try and compete against the gold coast juggernaut

 

[BomToydd]

Midfield stoppages and clearances. The numbers say we are good. But we aren't. We only dominate the weaker teams. Never been convinced about Lade. We haven't had a decent mids coach since Kingy and Corey.

Think it says a lot that he's never been a serious contender for a senior gig

 

[bobs head soup]

The obvious answer is that we have so many youngsters with a heap of growth in them.

The old maxim is that you judge a players capabilities after 50 games at the level.

Aside from our debutantes, players in the under 50 game bracket include Darcy, Freij, Sanders, JOD, Arty, Hynes, Davo, Cleary, Dolan, Buss, Croft, Gags, Garcia and Khamis.

That is a lot of talent developing.

 

[BomToydd]

Our tall defenders are shit can't see that improving with Lobb getting older and JOD and Busslinger showing no ability to win 1v1s. So the rest of the team has to step up. Our midfield is very overrated, they look great against weak teams but really need to improve defensive running and tackling against stronger teams. Think the best way to help our defence and midfield is to up the forward pressure. Can't have 3 talls and rest slow midfielders forward at the same time and not expect it to rebound straight up the other end most of the time. Would also help if we had more small forwards other than West who actually kicked goals and the opposition had to worry about

 

[Angak]

We have to get better at pressure game. Both without the ball and with it.

A big part of this is sticking tackles. Hold onto opponents. Do not get shrugged off. Force rushed handballs and kicks under stress.

If we lift our pressure game it also protects the back six. We will win more one on ones because entries come in slower and messier. This also ties into ground balls. We lost too many in defensive 50. That links straight back to opponents moving the ball too easily on us and we couldn't get numbers back in time to win the loose ball.

We also can't overcommit numbers to the ball carrier like we did in the freo game towards the end of season. This will create easy exits for teams to score.

If we fix/improve this side of our game a lot of defensive issues will improve.