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Prediction 2026 Expectations

What is your expectation for Freo in 2026?

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Big Animal said:
well you can watch it on TV. I'd rather be at the game screaming 'just kick it'
Click to expand...
Oh yeah definitely I'd prefer to go to as many home finals as possible.

But in terms of winning the thing
 

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That top 2 prediction isn't an outlier. There's quite a few media types tipping us top 2 - not just The West and AFL.com but espn, zero hanger, foxfooty etc. I think our draw is much easier than we've been lead to believe as well. We play very few of the top prospects away from home. In terms of banking wins, top 4 is non-negotiable.
 
Sully90 said:
That top 2 prediction isn't an outlier. There's quite a few media types tipping us top 2 - not just The West and AFL.com but espn, zero hanger, foxfooty etc. I think our draw is much easier than we've been lead to believe as well. We play very few of the top prospects away from home. In terms of banking wins, top 4 is non-negotiable.
Click to expand...
I note we are now 5th on the line in betting. Last time I checked we were 8th or 9th.
 
This Year Is Different. No, Really...
2Big2Strom's 2026 Season Expectations That No One Asked For

I have been ruminating on this thread every day since it has been posted. I am going to have a crack at outlining where I think we are at and why our goals should be high. If you have read any of my long posts or critiques, I am definitely on the optimistic side of the supporter base. However, I like to think that much of my optimism and excitement is coated in realism and is not pie-in-the-sky type stuff. If you do not like essays, hope, human-ONLY generated content, JLO, criticism of JLO or Bailey Banfield then I suggest you look away now.

Justin Longmuir

Alright, let's crack into one of the most dividing factors among Fremantle supporters. The Head Coach. Disclaimer - I am a Justin Longmuir fan. I loved him as a player and I rate him as a coach. To me he carries himself with the full-weight of responsibility to take this great playing list to the historic highs of Fremantle's first flag. He has shown introspection of his own limitations and his own performances as a Coach and he has actively worked at rectifying these. (E.g. - last year's pre-season lack of preparation disaster. They definitely took that on board throughout the season and did not have such a disastrous lack of prep over and longer breaks or the bye. In a fortnights time I may be eating my words).

Some people don't like that he's soft spoken, that he sucks at interviews, he isn't "alpha" enough (vom). I don't believe that has merit and whether JLO can or cannot get this team to a premiership has nothing to do with his personality. You do not need to be aggressive or loud or 'masculine' to get clear messaging across, nor do you need it to motivate people. (And if you believe that those things are necessary, maybe do a bit of reflection on why you think that and how that applies to your own life).

JLO has been doing a phenomenal job at keeping our very young team cool-headed, the idea being: play as we have trained, don’t let travel disrupt our routines, trust the process/your teammates/game plan, do not panic. This has been very consistent messaging from top to bottom across the club for awhile now.

IN SAYING ALL THAT dribble

JLOs bare minimum pass-mark: Prelim final. And it has to be one of the best prelim finals that has ever been played.

Unless we have players drop dead in round 1 or a catastrophic injury list like the plagued WCE across 2020-22, there are no reasons we should not make a prelim final. We have the list talent, we have the right age profile, we have numerous points of difference, we have one of the best fixtures we have ever had (thanks Simon Garlick for all your negotiating). We should be making top 4 and hitting our straps into a prelim. As outlined by recent club comms, Justin has more resources and assistant coaches at his disposal in 2026 than he ever has. Assuming last year’s 16-wins-not-being-top-4 was an anomaly, AND given Justin demonstrated that he could make much quicker changes in-game (Adelaide rotations, defensively tagging defenders, not waiting for injuries for subs) and could be daring at the selection table despite what the WillBrodie4Life cult may think (several times, incl. debuting Murphy Reid & Duds, playing Cooper Simpson across backline, playing 2 rucks in a super wet slugfest game up on the GC etc), AND the natural progression of our list profile AND adding addressing three specific deficiencies (half back McVee, high pressure small fwd Tobyn Murray (plus a small fleet of others), back up ruck for S Darcy that doesn't limit Jackson, MCox), I expect we will be winning 16 games or MORE. And that 16 wins will be enough for a top 4 position.

There is no where left to hide for Justin Longmuir. He started as full time head coach in the same year Caleb Serong, Hayden Young & Freddy joined the club. He has essentially seen a full cycle of a rebuild from start to... well, where we are now. Not even his most staunch supporters will be able to defend him (myself included) if he can’t pull something out of this great list in 2026.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Bailey Banfield

This point isn't really about Bailey Banfield. Well, not quite. So before I lose all you BB haters just hear me out. This is about the spirit of all Bailey Banfields around the world. The misfits, the fringe dwellers, the try-hards. Those who give their everything just to remain average (let's not debate average in this context). This is about those who are adaptable, those who realise their own limitations and those that never give up. Every single premiership team has them. EVERY. SINGLE. PREMIERSHIP. TEAM. HAS. THEM. Whether it is due to an ability to understand multiple roles and become an understudy for many roles, or an ability to keep uninjured, or it is right place or right time OR even if you are genuinely that deranged that you think BB has nudes of JLO or that the entire FFC is bankrolled by Willie's Pearls, the journeymen are insanely important to success. And we are quietly hoarding a whole pocket of (currently) fringe dwellers and journeymen that will be able to plug holes and provide a stable floor to the team - think Banners, think OMAC, think Cooper Simpson, think Draper (really, think about it), think Mason Cox. You may mock him, you may loathe him, but one thing you can guarantee is that Bailey Banfield is the type of guy that would try his guts out all season, get injured in a prelim putting his body on the line for his team and then celebrate the guy who took his place (ala the Big O).

Banners pass mark for the season: if used in more than two different positions (in the same game) or plugs into more than two different roles due to injury across the season, that’s a pass mark

Naturally, all this talk about Bailey Banfield leads me directly to my next topic…

Dynasty Building

This list has not been curated for a one off grand final appearance!! This list has been built from the bottom up, to ensure we have sustained success at the top, and to give us greater chances of winning a flag. It has been delicately balanced - not just in terms of talent but also in terms of renumeration. The club has shown faith in the people we have drafted, trained, recruited. Often signing them on to longer extensions than the norm to be able to flatten out the total cost of player's contracts and to sign on the many, many stars we have. I would also go as far as to say that we have been LEAGUE LEADING in this aspect. This is not the case of a 'brown paper bags' or Geelong's we just love to come to work so much we will play for free basically bullshit. The club has publicly stated that we want to foster an inclusive work place, including job security. This includes: providing minimum 2 year extensions (unless otherwise preferred), providing longer contract extensions, role clarity, not dragging players in and out of team sheets week to week etc (see interviews with Ras & Banners).

The club has also sorted out a lot of management issues internally, has been getting stuck into very important negotiations behind closed doors (North Melbourne deal, better fixtures, long stretches of being 'home') and upgrading training facilities. It is not just sitting back waiting for the players to go 'oh I'd like 1 premiership please'. They are working HARD to provide all the bits and pieces they possibly can to give our team the best chance.

The other key part of the dynasty has been building the game plan and team structure block by block. Often in a whole-rebuilding team this will start with defense. Usually, this is developing a defensive game style with a bunch of young kids first and may not translate to actually having highly skilled defenders on your list. This is not the case for us. Our defensive system and structure has been a long-standing strength over the past 14 years. We have some of the very best defenders in the league AND a premiership-winning defensive coach at the helm. That's why it has been easiest for us to build from the defense and work forward. I think this is also a really significant aspect to why the team reverts to overly defensive style plays when it is stressed/shocked, something that has been slowly phased out in the past two seasons.

Then you have the midfield. The idea was to have the trio of Brayshaw, Serong and Cerra as a cohort driving the team’s engine room. It almost worked and in the end we have ended up in a better scenario. Brayshaw, Serong and Young, all with extensive apprenticeships under Fyfe and Mundy. The midfield can be a clearance and contested beast. The biggest criticisms have been lack of damaging fwd disposals and being able to switch things up when someone is being shut down. Enter: Murphy Reid, Jackson, Bolton, Ras, Johnno, Switta, JOM. Hell, even Clark has spent a bit of time around ball ups. We have such a strong mixture of different types of ball users now that our predictability will be no more. We have the most talented kick this damn football club has ever seen.

That leads me to another critical building block - forwards. The Hail Mundys that have been on our lips for years, begging for a new Pav have not only been answered, they have been answered TRI-FOLD. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you too will suffer from WHY DON’T YOU MAKE A LEAD syndrome. Where you assume that our forwards are doing **** all waiting for the ball to be bulleted straight into their hands (hi Lobb if you are reading this). That is NO longer the case. We have the triple headed monster of Amiss, Treacy and Voss. They not only will fight and scrap for the ball, for space, to get a metre on their opponent, they will also fight and scrap for each other. They are hungry for success for the TEAM. Now, let’s just touch back on that midfield for a moment. Are you telling me we have midfielders that can actually deliver direct passes to our forwards??? Now back with me here in the fwd50, just imagine that even if our triple headed monster are unable to take a mark, we also now have a mosquito fleet that actually know how to get front and centre of a pack??? I’m telling you, Pav, Walters, Ballas died so this team could run. And one last thing, what if one of our triple headed monster gets injured, such as final weeks of the 2024 failed campaign? Well, simple really. We have the Unicorn, the American and OMac all ready to go.

The last critical building block for a dynasty is BEING the change. Unless you are buying your premierships (hellooo Carlton) to achieve anything like back to back or a threepeat you have to change the way the game is played and then be the best at that new method. (Forgive me if I’m wrong but I believe Taylor has been trying to convey something like this for quite awhile). Brisbane have an insanely controlled defense, with impeccable chip-mark-chip skills and then a brutally strong midfield group. Trying to emulate their game would be stupid because they already have the monopoly on it. It’s a bit like Carlton trying to emulate the crash and bash centre clearance style that worked for Melbourne, only for the game to change tactically so significantly, so quickly that they ****ed their whole list profile (oh noooo, anyway). Sure, we need something that can potentially match the standards of Brisbane, but to be successful we need it to be our own method.

So tying in ALL of the points above, I think we are extremely close to achieving that. What changes are we bringing to the game? Aside from the renumeration and contract side of things. We are bringing something new to the field, that is on top of our stingy and experienced backline, we now have a 3 pronged tall attack (who are all fairly reasonable at ground balls given their heights) AND a 2-ruck system AND a cohort of some of the most insanely talented:dynamic players in the game (to me, these are Murphy Reid, Youngy, Jackson & Treacy and to a lesser extent Bolton, Draper and the double Cox). Put them wherever you want and they have the ability to change the whole shape of a game. We are going to be able to wreak absolute havoc and we will be able to choose which area of the ground we want to cause that havoc and pull the trigger at different times of the game. That was shown to some extent last year but the potential has magnified for this season.

During 2022 (finals), 2023 (missed by 1 game), 2024 (missed by 1 game), 2025 (finals), we have won some absolutely back-against-the-wall type games. We have had one of the biggest comeback deficits in a finals game. We have beaten the weather, the odds, the crowds, the cheating ****ing umpires. And we have had some absolute character-building losses – Geelong humiliation, stunned by North, stunned by STK (ffs), having to piss in the sinks, Cam McCarthy dying, Mundy/Walters/Fyfe bowing out. The team does not shy away from the big games, they do not give a **** if the odds are against them and that’s why are they ready.

This team's 2026 pass mark is: Making the grand final. I'll accept a devastating, yet character defining prelim loss (think 2023 Brisbane Lions losing by 1 point to Collingwood).


Dynasty's pass mark: As a cohort, if this team has not won a premiership by 2030 it is a failure. If the team has won a grand final but not made multiple prelims it will be underachieving.


wHat AboUt GoLd CoaSt

Look, I'm not going to pretend that Gold Coast don't have an insanely talented list. They also have the most recent 'dynasty' coach (3 in 4 years is essentially a threepeat). On top of their absolute rort of academy systems and their millions of draft concessions and millions $$ of AFL money to get around soft caps etc, they've now secured adding Trac and JUH. I'm not stupid - I get it. I see they are a risk to our premiership hopes. But I don't think they can do it before us. In my mind, they are the equivalent of GWS from a few years ago and Freo from 2013-15. They have a fantastic list, a good coach, they are finally starting to taste some success (making finals, 2nd brownlow winner). But they are only just beginning to craft an identity. Until last season, they could barely win a game away from home. For **** sake, they can’t even get their own colours right. What with the all red, Sydney Swans white + red, West Coast yellow + blue, next thing we know they will be turning up in purple.

They have been gifted time and time again ridiculously easy fixtures. When GWS made the grand final and when we made the grand final both of our teams were 'unlucky' that we got caught up in the timings of other dynasty teams. Our inexperience on the day, without cohesive club identities to draw on and relying way too heavily on the Chosen Few in our teams, amounted both clubs to nothing in the end. The dynasty teams that overtook us had spent decades in turmoil searching for the right answers (okay, admittedly Hawks' idea of 'turmoil' is having a cry over only winning 1 premiership in the 90s and none in the noughties). It's almost as though it's time for another club, with a slow burn list, a long term 6+ year stint coach and a fanbase that is frothing at the mouth for success, to come through and pip GC at the post. We know who we are and what we stand for. And we damn well know what we want - that's blood. That's to obliterate our opposition and taste the ultimate success. The players want it, the coaches want and WE are desperate for it. Really, we will be doing Gold Coast a favour when we crush their hopes and dreams. It's called character building.

Let's put it this way Gold Coast's pass mark this year: making finals for back to back seasons. If we make finals but do not win one, that will be a failed season for us. In my mind, not winning TWO finals will be a failure.

Last thoughts

The changing of the guard has occurred completely – no Walters, no Fyfe. The current list have no more internal ‘do it for them’ chatter. They have ‘do it for ourselves’ mantras because why shouldn’t they be The Immortals? If they have the hunger, the dedication and the comradery to pull it off all power to them. I plan on sitting back, enjoying the ride and cheering them on. Strap yourselves in Purple Army because we are in for one heck of a ride.

TLDR; Flagmantle is coming (not the Flagmantle the facebook guy, **** that guy).

Freo should/need to/will make a Prelim. Anything less is a failure and will only magnify the last few seasons.
 
2big2strom said:
This Year Is Different. No, Really...
2Big2Strom's 2026 Season Expectations That No One Asked For

I have been ruminating on this thread every day since it has been posted. I am going to have a crack at outlining where I think we are at and why our goals should be high. If you have read any of my long posts or critiques, I am definitely on the optimistic side of the supporter base. However, I like to think that much of my optimism and excitement is coated in realism and is not pie-in-the-sky type stuff. If you do not like essays, hope, human-ONLY generated content, JLO, criticism of JLO or Bailey Banfield then I suggest you look away now.

Justin Longmuir

Alright, let's crack into one of the most dividing factors among Fremantle supporters. The Head Coach. Disclaimer - I am a Justin Longmuir fan. I loved him as a player and I rate him as a coach. To me he carries himself with the full-weight of responsibility to take this great playing list to the historic highs of Fremantle's first flag. He has shown introspection of his own limitations and his own performances as a Coach and he has actively worked at rectifying these. (E.g. - last year's pre-season lack of preparation disaster. They definitely took that on board throughout the season and did not have such a disastrous lack of prep over and longer breaks or the bye. In a fortnights time I may be eating my words).

Some people don't like that he's soft spoken, that he sucks at interviews, he isn't "alpha" enough (vom). I don't believe that has merit and whether JLO can or cannot get this team to a premiership has nothing to do with his personality. You do not need to be aggressive or loud or 'masculine' to get clear messaging across, nor do you need it to motivate people. (And if you believe that those things are necessary, maybe do a bit of reflection on why you think that and how that applies to your own life).

JLO has been doing a phenomenal job at keeping our very young team cool-headed, the idea being: play as we have trained, don’t let travel disrupt our routines, trust the process/your teammates/game plan, do not panic. This has been very consistent messaging from top to bottom across the club for awhile now.

IN SAYING ALL THAT dribble

JLOs bare minimum pass-mark: Prelim final. And it has to be one of the best prelim finals that has ever been played.

Unless we have players drop dead in round 1 or a catastrophic injury list like the plagued WCE across 2020-22, there are no reasons we should not make a prelim final. We have the list talent, we have the right age profile, we have numerous points of difference, we have one of the best fixtures we have ever had (thanks Simon Garlick for all your negotiating). We should be making top 4 and hitting our straps into a prelim. As outlined by recent club comms, Justin has more resources and assistant coaches at his disposal in 2026 than he ever has. Assuming last year’s 16-wins-not-being-top-4 was an anomaly, AND given Justin demonstrated that he could make much quicker changes in-game (Adelaide rotations, defensively tagging defenders, not waiting for injuries for subs) and could be daring at the selection table despite what the WillBrodie4Life cult may think (several times, incl. debuting Murphy Reid & Duds, playing Cooper Simpson across backline, playing 2 rucks in a super wet slugfest game up on the GC etc), AND the natural progression of our list profile AND adding addressing three specific deficiencies (half back McVee, high pressure small fwd Tobyn Murray (plus a small fleet of others), back up ruck for S Darcy that doesn't limit Jackson, MCox), I expect we will be winning 16 games or MORE. And that 16 wins will be enough for a top 4 position.

There is no where left to hide for Justin Longmuir. He started as full time head coach in the same year Caleb Serong, Hayden Young & Freddy joined the club. He has essentially seen a full cycle of a rebuild from start to... well, where we are now. Not even his most staunch supporters will be able to defend him (myself included) if he can’t pull something out of this great list in 2026.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Bailey Banfield

This point isn't really about Bailey Banfield. Well, not quite. So before I lose all you BB haters just hear me out. This is about the spirit of all Bailey Banfields around the world. The misfits, the fringe dwellers, the try-hards. Those who give their everything just to remain average (let's not debate average in this context). This is about those who are adaptable, those who realise their own limitations and those that never give up. Every single premiership team has them. EVERY. SINGLE. PREMIERSHIP. TEAM. HAS. THEM. Whether it is due to an ability to understand multiple roles and become an understudy for many roles, or an ability to keep uninjured, or it is right place or right time OR even if you are genuinely that deranged that you think BB has nudes of JLO or that the entire FFC is bankrolled by Willie's Pearls, the journeymen are insanely important to success. And we are quietly hoarding a whole pocket of (currently) fringe dwellers and journeymen that will be able to plug holes and provide a stable floor to the team - think Banners, think OMAC, think Cooper Simpson, think Draper (really, think about it), think Mason Cox. You may mock him, you may loathe him, but one thing you can guarantee is that Bailey Banfield is the type of guy that would try his guts out all season, get injured in a prelim putting his body on the line for his team and then celebrate the guy who took his place (ala the Big O).

Banners pass mark for the season: if used in more than two different positions (in the same game) or plugs into more than two different roles due to injury across the season, that’s a pass mark

Naturally, all this talk about Bailey Banfield leads me directly to my next topic…

Dynasty Building

This list has not been curated for a one off grand final appearance!! This list has been built from the bottom up, to ensure we have sustained success at the top, and to give us greater chances of winning a flag. It has been delicately balanced - not just in terms of talent but also in terms of renumeration. The club has shown faith in the people we have drafted, trained, recruited. Often signing them on to longer extensions than the norm to be able to flatten out the total cost of player's contracts and to sign on the many, many stars we have. I would also go as far as to say that we have been LEAGUE LEADING in this aspect. This is not the case of a 'brown paper bags' or Geelong's we just love to come to work so much we will play for free basically bullshit. The club has publicly stated that we want to foster an inclusive work place, including job security. This includes: providing minimum 2 year extensions (unless otherwise preferred), providing longer contract extensions, role clarity, not dragging players in and out of team sheets week to week etc (see interviews with Ras & Banners).

The club has also sorted out a lot of management issues internally, has been getting stuck into very important negotiations behind closed doors (North Melbourne deal, better fixtures, long stretches of being 'home') and upgrading training facilities. It is not just sitting back waiting for the players to go 'oh I'd like 1 premiership please'. They are working HARD to provide all the bits and pieces they possibly can to give our team the best chance.

The other key part of the dynasty has been building the game plan and team structure block by block. Often in a whole-rebuilding team this will start with defense. Usually, this is developing a defensive game style with a bunch of young kids first and may not translate to actually having highly skilled defenders on your list. This is not the case for us. Our defensive system and structure has been a long-standing strength over the past 14 years. We have some of the very best defenders in the league AND a premiership-winning defensive coach at the helm. That's why it has been easiest for us to build from the defense and work forward. I think this is also a really significant aspect to why the team reverts to overly defensive style plays when it is stressed/shocked, something that has been slowly phased out in the past two seasons.

Then you have the midfield. The idea was to have the trio of Brayshaw, Serong and Cerra as a cohort driving the team’s engine room. It almost worked and in the end we have ended up in a better scenario. Brayshaw, Serong and Young, all with extensive apprenticeships under Fyfe and Mundy. The midfield can be a clearance and contested beast. The biggest criticisms have been lack of damaging fwd disposals and being able to switch things up when someone is being shut down. Enter: Murphy Reid, Jackson, Bolton, Ras, Johnno, Switta, JOM. Hell, even Clark has spent a bit of time around ball ups. We have such a strong mixture of different types of ball users now that our predictability will be no more. We have the most talented kick this damn football club has ever seen.

That leads me to another critical building block - forwards. The Hail Mundys that have been on our lips for years, begging for a new Pav have not only been answered, they have been answered TRI-FOLD. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you too will suffer from WHY DON’T YOU MAKE A LEAD syndrome. Where you assume that our forwards are doing **** all waiting for the ball to be bulleted straight into their hands (hi Lobb if you are reading this). That is NO longer the case. We have the triple headed monster of Amiss, Treacy and Voss. They not only will fight and scrap for the ball, for space, to get a metre on their opponent, they will also fight and scrap for each other. They are hungry for success for the TEAM. Now, let’s just touch back on that midfield for a moment. Are you telling me we have midfielders that can actually deliver direct passes to our forwards??? Now back with me here in the fwd50, just imagine that even if our triple headed monster are unable to take a mark, we also now have a mosquito fleet that actually know how to get front and centre of a pack??? I’m telling you, Pav, Walters, Ballas died so this team could run. And one last thing, what if one of our triple headed monster gets injured, such as final weeks of the 2024 failed campaign? Well, simple really. We have the Unicorn, the American and OMac all ready to go.

The last critical building block for a dynasty is BEING the change. Unless you are buying your premierships (hellooo Carlton) to achieve anything like back to back or a threepeat you have to change the way the game is played and then be the best at that new method. (Forgive me if I’m wrong but I believe Taylor has been trying to convey something like this for quite awhile). Brisbane have an insanely controlled defense, with impeccable chip-mark-chip skills and then a brutally strong midfield group. Trying to emulate their game would be stupid because they already have the monopoly on it. It’s a bit like Carlton trying to emulate the crash and bash centre clearance style that worked for Melbourne, only for the game to change tactically so significantly, so quickly that they ****ed their whole list profile (oh noooo, anyway). Sure, we need something that can potentially match the standards of Brisbane, but to be successful we need it to be our own method.

So tying in ALL of the points above, I think we are extremely close to achieving that. What changes are we bringing to the game? Aside from the renumeration and contract side of things. We are bringing something new to the field, that is on top of our stingy and experienced backline, we now have a 3 pronged tall attack (who are all fairly reasonable at ground balls given their heights) AND a 2-ruck system AND a cohort of some of the most insanely talented:dynamic players in the game (to me, these are Murphy Reid, Youngy, Jackson & Treacy and to a lesser extent Bolton, Draper and the double Cox). Put them wherever you want and they have the ability to change the whole shape of a game. We are going to be able to wreak absolute havoc and we will be able to choose which area of the ground we want to cause that havoc and pull the trigger at different times of the game. That was shown to some extent last year but the potential has magnified for this season.

During 2022 (finals), 2023 (missed by 1 game), 2024 (missed by 1 game), 2025 (finals), we have won some absolutely back-against-the-wall type games. We have had one of the biggest comeback deficits in a finals game. We have beaten the weather, the odds, the crowds, the cheating *ing umpires. And we have had some absolute character-building losses – Geelong humiliation, stunned by North, stunned by STK (ffs), having to piss in the sinks, Cam McCarthy dying, Mundy/Walters/Fyfe bowing out. The team does not shy away from the big games, they do not give a * if the odds are against them and that’s why are they ready.

This team's 2026 pass mark is: Making the grand final. I'll accept a devastating, yet character defining prelim loss (think 2023 Brisbane Lions losing by 1 point to Collingwood).


Dynasty's pass mark: As a cohort, if this team has not won a premiership by 2030 it is a failure. If the team has won a grand final but not made multiple prelims it will be underachieving.


wHat AboUt GoLd CoaSt

Look, I'm not going to pretend that Gold Coast don't have an insanely talented list. They also have the most recent 'dynasty' coach (3 in 4 years is essentially a threepeat). On top of their absolute rort of academy systems and their millions of draft concessions and millions $$ of AFL money to get around soft caps etc, they've now secured adding Trac and JUH. I'm not stupid - I get it. I see they are a risk to our premiership hopes. But I don't think they can do it before us. In my mind, they are the equivalent of GWS from a few years ago and Freo from 2013-15. They have a fantastic list, a good coach, they are finally starting to taste some success (making finals, 2nd brownlow winner). But they are only just beginning to craft an identity. Until last season, they could barely win a game away from home. For **** sake, they can’t even get their own colours right. What with the all red, Sydney Swans white + red, West Coast yellow + blue, next thing we know they will be turning up in purple.

They have been gifted time and time again ridiculously easy fixtures. When GWS made the grand final and when we made the grand final both of our teams were 'unlucky' that we got caught up in the timings of other dynasty teams. Our inexperience on the day, without cohesive club identities to draw on and relying way too heavily on the Chosen Few in our teams, amounted both clubs to nothing in the end. The dynasty teams that overtook us had spent decades in turmoil searching for the right answers (okay, admittedly Hawks' idea of 'turmoil' is having a cry over only winning 1 premiership in the 90s and none in the noughties). It's almost as though it's time for another club, with a slow burn list, a long term 6+ year stint coach and a fanbase that is frothing at the mouth for success, to come through and pip GC at the post. We know who we are and what we stand for. And we damn well know what we want - that's blood. That's to obliterate our opposition and taste the ultimate success. The players want it, the coaches want and WE are desperate for it. Really, we will be doing Gold Coast a favour when we crush their hopes and dreams. It's called character building.

Let's put it this way Gold Coast's pass mark this year: making finals for back to back seasons. If we make finals but do not win one, that will be a failed season for us. In my mind, not winning TWO finals will be a failure.

Last thoughts

The changing of the guard has occurred completely – no Walters, no Fyfe. The current list have no more internal ‘do it for them’ chatter. They have ‘do it for ourselves’ mantras because why shouldn’t they be The Immortals? If they have the hunger, the dedication and the comradery to pull it off all power to them. I plan on sitting back, enjoying the ride and cheering them on. Strap yourselves in Purple Army because we are in for one heck of a ride.

TLDR; Flagmantle is coming (not the Flagmantle the facebook guy, **** that guy).

Freo should/need to/will make a Prelim. Anything less is a failure and will only magnify the last few seasons.
Click to expand...
Any chance you could flesh this out a bit?
 
2big2strom said:
This Year Is Different. No, Really...
2Big2Strom's 2026 Season Expectations That No One Asked For

I have been ruminating on this thread every day since it has been posted. I am going to have a crack at outlining where I think we are at and why our goals should be high. If you have read any of my long posts or critiques, I am definitely on the optimistic side of the supporter base. However, I like to think that much of my optimism and excitement is coated in realism and is not pie-in-the-sky type stuff. If you do not like essays, hope, human-ONLY generated content, JLO, criticism of JLO or Bailey Banfield then I suggest you look away now.

Justin Longmuir

Alright, let's crack into one of the most dividing factors among Fremantle supporters. The Head Coach. Disclaimer - I am a Justin Longmuir fan. I loved him as a player and I rate him as a coach. To me he carries himself with the full-weight of responsibility to take this great playing list to the historic highs of Fremantle's first flag. He has shown introspection of his own limitations and his own performances as a Coach and he has actively worked at rectifying these. (E.g. - last year's pre-season lack of preparation disaster. They definitely took that on board throughout the season and did not have such a disastrous lack of prep over and longer breaks or the bye. In a fortnights time I may be eating my words).

Some people don't like that he's soft spoken, that he sucks at interviews, he isn't "alpha" enough (vom). I don't believe that has merit and whether JLO can or cannot get this team to a premiership has nothing to do with his personality. You do not need to be aggressive or loud or 'masculine' to get clear messaging across, nor do you need it to motivate people. (And if you believe that those things are necessary, maybe do a bit of reflection on why you think that and how that applies to your own life).

JLO has been doing a phenomenal job at keeping our very young team cool-headed, the idea being: play as we have trained, don’t let travel disrupt our routines, trust the process/your teammates/game plan, do not panic. This has been very consistent messaging from top to bottom across the club for awhile now.

IN SAYING ALL THAT dribble

JLOs bare minimum pass-mark: Prelim final. And it has to be one of the best prelim finals that has ever been played.

Unless we have players drop dead in round 1 or a catastrophic injury list like the plagued WCE across 2020-22, there are no reasons we should not make a prelim final. We have the list talent, we have the right age profile, we have numerous points of difference, we have one of the best fixtures we have ever had (thanks Simon Garlick for all your negotiating). We should be making top 4 and hitting our straps into a prelim. As outlined by recent club comms, Justin has more resources and assistant coaches at his disposal in 2026 than he ever has. Assuming last year’s 16-wins-not-being-top-4 was an anomaly, AND given Justin demonstrated that he could make much quicker changes in-game (Adelaide rotations, defensively tagging defenders, not waiting for injuries for subs) and could be daring at the selection table despite what the WillBrodie4Life cult may think (several times, incl. debuting Murphy Reid & Duds, playing Cooper Simpson across backline, playing 2 rucks in a super wet slugfest game up on the GC etc), AND the natural progression of our list profile AND adding addressing three specific deficiencies (half back McVee, high pressure small fwd Tobyn Murray (plus a small fleet of others), back up ruck for S Darcy that doesn't limit Jackson, MCox), I expect we will be winning 16 games or MORE. And that 16 wins will be enough for a top 4 position.

There is no where left to hide for Justin Longmuir. He started as full time head coach in the same year Caleb Serong, Hayden Young & Freddy joined the club. He has essentially seen a full cycle of a rebuild from start to... well, where we are now. Not even his most staunch supporters will be able to defend him (myself included) if he can’t pull something out of this great list in 2026.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Bailey Banfield

This point isn't really about Bailey Banfield. Well, not quite. So before I lose all you BB haters just hear me out. This is about the spirit of all Bailey Banfields around the world. The misfits, the fringe dwellers, the try-hards. Those who give their everything just to remain average (let's not debate average in this context). This is about those who are adaptable, those who realise their own limitations and those that never give up. Every single premiership team has them. EVERY. SINGLE. PREMIERSHIP. TEAM. HAS. THEM. Whether it is due to an ability to understand multiple roles and become an understudy for many roles, or an ability to keep uninjured, or it is right place or right time OR even if you are genuinely that deranged that you think BB has nudes of JLO or that the entire FFC is bankrolled by Willie's Pearls, the journeymen are insanely important to success. And we are quietly hoarding a whole pocket of (currently) fringe dwellers and journeymen that will be able to plug holes and provide a stable floor to the team - think Banners, think OMAC, think Cooper Simpson, think Draper (really, think about it), think Mason Cox. You may mock him, you may loathe him, but one thing you can guarantee is that Bailey Banfield is the type of guy that would try his guts out all season, get injured in a prelim putting his body on the line for his team and then celebrate the guy who took his place (ala the Big O).

Banners pass mark for the season: if used in more than two different positions (in the same game) or plugs into more than two different roles due to injury across the season, that’s a pass mark

Naturally, all this talk about Bailey Banfield leads me directly to my next topic…

Dynasty Building

This list has not been curated for a one off grand final appearance!! This list has been built from the bottom up, to ensure we have sustained success at the top, and to give us greater chances of winning a flag. It has been delicately balanced - not just in terms of talent but also in terms of renumeration. The club has shown faith in the people we have drafted, trained, recruited. Often signing them on to longer extensions than the norm to be able to flatten out the total cost of player's contracts and to sign on the many, many stars we have. I would also go as far as to say that we have been LEAGUE LEADING in this aspect. This is not the case of a 'brown paper bags' or Geelong's we just love to come to work so much we will play for free basically bullshit. The club has publicly stated that we want to foster an inclusive work place, including job security. This includes: providing minimum 2 year extensions (unless otherwise preferred), providing longer contract extensions, role clarity, not dragging players in and out of team sheets week to week etc (see interviews with Ras & Banners).

The club has also sorted out a lot of management issues internally, has been getting stuck into very important negotiations behind closed doors (North Melbourne deal, better fixtures, long stretches of being 'home') and upgrading training facilities. It is not just sitting back waiting for the players to go 'oh I'd like 1 premiership please'. They are working HARD to provide all the bits and pieces they possibly can to give our team the best chance.

The other key part of the dynasty has been building the game plan and team structure block by block. Often in a whole-rebuilding team this will start with defense. Usually, this is developing a defensive game style with a bunch of young kids first and may not translate to actually having highly skilled defenders on your list. This is not the case for us. Our defensive system and structure has been a long-standing strength over the past 14 years. We have some of the very best defenders in the league AND a premiership-winning defensive coach at the helm. That's why it has been easiest for us to build from the defense and work forward. I think this is also a really significant aspect to why the team reverts to overly defensive style plays when it is stressed/shocked, something that has been slowly phased out in the past two seasons.

Then you have the midfield. The idea was to have the trio of Brayshaw, Serong and Cerra as a cohort driving the team’s engine room. It almost worked and in the end we have ended up in a better scenario. Brayshaw, Serong and Young, all with extensive apprenticeships under Fyfe and Mundy. The midfield can be a clearance and contested beast. The biggest criticisms have been lack of damaging fwd disposals and being able to switch things up when someone is being shut down. Enter: Murphy Reid, Jackson, Bolton, Ras, Johnno, Switta, JOM. Hell, even Clark has spent a bit of time around ball ups. We have such a strong mixture of different types of ball users now that our predictability will be no more. We have the most talented kick this damn football club has ever seen.

That leads me to another critical building block - forwards. The Hail Mundys that have been on our lips for years, begging for a new Pav have not only been answered, they have been answered TRI-FOLD. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you too will suffer from WHY DON’T YOU MAKE A LEAD syndrome. Where you assume that our forwards are doing **** all waiting for the ball to be bulleted straight into their hands (hi Lobb if you are reading this). That is NO longer the case. We have the triple headed monster of Amiss, Treacy and Voss. They not only will fight and scrap for the ball, for space, to get a metre on their opponent, they will also fight and scrap for each other. They are hungry for success for the TEAM. Now, let’s just touch back on that midfield for a moment. Are you telling me we have midfielders that can actually deliver direct passes to our forwards??? Now back with me here in the fwd50, just imagine that even if our triple headed monster are unable to take a mark, we also now have a mosquito fleet that actually know how to get front and centre of a pack??? I’m telling you, Pav, Walters, Ballas died so this team could run. And one last thing, what if one of our triple headed monster gets injured, such as final weeks of the 2024 failed campaign? Well, simple really. We have the Unicorn, the American and OMac all ready to go.

The last critical building block for a dynasty is BEING the change. Unless you are buying your premierships (hellooo Carlton) to achieve anything like back to back or a threepeat you have to change the way the game is played and then be the best at that new method. (Forgive me if I’m wrong but I believe Taylor has been trying to convey something like this for quite awhile). Brisbane have an insanely controlled defense, with impeccable chip-mark-chip skills and then a brutally strong midfield group. Trying to emulate their game would be stupid because they already have the monopoly on it. It’s a bit like Carlton trying to emulate the crash and bash centre clearance style that worked for Melbourne, only for the game to change tactically so significantly, so quickly that they ****ed their whole list profile (oh noooo, anyway). Sure, we need something that can potentially match the standards of Brisbane, but to be successful we need it to be our own method.

So tying in ALL of the points above, I think we are extremely close to achieving that. What changes are we bringing to the game? Aside from the renumeration and contract side of things. We are bringing something new to the field, that is on top of our stingy and experienced backline, we now have a 3 pronged tall attack (who are all fairly reasonable at ground balls given their heights) AND a 2-ruck system AND a cohort of some of the most insanely talented:dynamic players in the game (to me, these are Murphy Reid, Youngy, Jackson & Treacy and to a lesser extent Bolton, Draper and the double Cox). Put them wherever you want and they have the ability to change the whole shape of a game. We are going to be able to wreak absolute havoc and we will be able to choose which area of the ground we want to cause that havoc and pull the trigger at different times of the game. That was shown to some extent last year but the potential has magnified for this season.

During 2022 (finals), 2023 (missed by 1 game), 2024 (missed by 1 game), 2025 (finals), we have won some absolutely back-against-the-wall type games. We have had one of the biggest comeback deficits in a finals game. We have beaten the weather, the odds, the crowds, the cheating *ing umpires. And we have had some absolute character-building losses – Geelong humiliation, stunned by North, stunned by STK (ffs), having to piss in the sinks, Cam McCarthy dying, Mundy/Walters/Fyfe bowing out. The team does not shy away from the big games, they do not give a * if the odds are against them and that’s why are they ready.

This team's 2026 pass mark is: Making the grand final. I'll accept a devastating, yet character defining prelim loss (think 2023 Brisbane Lions losing by 1 point to Collingwood).


Dynasty's pass mark: As a cohort, if this team has not won a premiership by 2030 it is a failure. If the team has won a grand final but not made multiple prelims it will be underachieving.


wHat AboUt GoLd CoaSt

Look, I'm not going to pretend that Gold Coast don't have an insanely talented list. They also have the most recent 'dynasty' coach (3 in 4 years is essentially a threepeat). On top of their absolute rort of academy systems and their millions of draft concessions and millions $$ of AFL money to get around soft caps etc, they've now secured adding Trac and JUH. I'm not stupid - I get it. I see they are a risk to our premiership hopes. But I don't think they can do it before us. In my mind, they are the equivalent of GWS from a few years ago and Freo from 2013-15. They have a fantastic list, a good coach, they are finally starting to taste some success (making finals, 2nd brownlow winner). But they are only just beginning to craft an identity. Until last season, they could barely win a game away from home. For **** sake, they can’t even get their own colours right. What with the all red, Sydney Swans white + red, West Coast yellow + blue, next thing we know they will be turning up in purple.

They have been gifted time and time again ridiculously easy fixtures. When GWS made the grand final and when we made the grand final both of our teams were 'unlucky' that we got caught up in the timings of other dynasty teams. Our inexperience on the day, without cohesive club identities to draw on and relying way too heavily on the Chosen Few in our teams, amounted both clubs to nothing in the end. The dynasty teams that overtook us had spent decades in turmoil searching for the right answers (okay, admittedly Hawks' idea of 'turmoil' is having a cry over only winning 1 premiership in the 90s and none in the noughties). It's almost as though it's time for another club, with a slow burn list, a long term 6+ year stint coach and a fanbase that is frothing at the mouth for success, to come through and pip GC at the post. We know who we are and what we stand for. And we damn well know what we want - that's blood. That's to obliterate our opposition and taste the ultimate success. The players want it, the coaches want and WE are desperate for it. Really, we will be doing Gold Coast a favour when we crush their hopes and dreams. It's called character building.

Let's put it this way Gold Coast's pass mark this year: making finals for back to back seasons. If we make finals but do not win one, that will be a failed season for us. In my mind, not winning TWO finals will be a failure.

Last thoughts

The changing of the guard has occurred completely – no Walters, no Fyfe. The current list have no more internal ‘do it for them’ chatter. They have ‘do it for ourselves’ mantras because why shouldn’t they be The Immortals? If they have the hunger, the dedication and the comradery to pull it off all power to them. I plan on sitting back, enjoying the ride and cheering them on. Strap yourselves in Purple Army because we are in for one heck of a ride.

TLDR; Flagmantle is coming (not the Flagmantle the facebook guy, **** that guy).

Freo should/need to/will make a Prelim. Anything less is a failure and will only magnify the last few seasons.
Click to expand...
Jennifer Lopez Yes GIF by mtv
 
2big2strom said:
This Year Is Different. No, Really...
2Big2Strom's 2026 Season Expectations That No One Asked For

I have been ruminating on this thread every day since it has been posted. I am going to have a crack at outlining where I think we are at and why our goals should be high. If you have read any of my long posts or critiques, I am definitely on the optimistic side of the supporter base. However, I like to think that much of my optimism and excitement is coated in realism and is not pie-in-the-sky type stuff. If you do not like essays, hope, human-ONLY generated content, JLO, criticism of JLO or Bailey Banfield then I suggest you look away now.

Justin Longmuir

Alright, let's crack into one of the most dividing factors among Fremantle supporters. The Head Coach. Disclaimer - I am a Justin Longmuir fan. I loved him as a player and I rate him as a coach. To me he carries himself with the full-weight of responsibility to take this great playing list to the historic highs of Fremantle's first flag. He has shown introspection of his own limitations and his own performances as a Coach and he has actively worked at rectifying these. (E.g. - last year's pre-season lack of preparation disaster. They definitely took that on board throughout the season and did not have such a disastrous lack of prep over and longer breaks or the bye. In a fortnights time I may be eating my words).

Some people don't like that he's soft spoken, that he sucks at interviews, he isn't "alpha" enough (vom). I don't believe that has merit and whether JLO can or cannot get this team to a premiership has nothing to do with his personality. You do not need to be aggressive or loud or 'masculine' to get clear messaging across, nor do you need it to motivate people. (And if you believe that those things are necessary, maybe do a bit of reflection on why you think that and how that applies to your own life).

JLO has been doing a phenomenal job at keeping our very young team cool-headed, the idea being: play as we have trained, don’t let travel disrupt our routines, trust the process/your teammates/game plan, do not panic. This has been very consistent messaging from top to bottom across the club for awhile now.

IN SAYING ALL THAT dribble

JLOs bare minimum pass-mark: Prelim final. And it has to be one of the best prelim finals that has ever been played.

Unless we have players drop dead in round 1 or a catastrophic injury list like the plagued WCE across 2020-22, there are no reasons we should not make a prelim final. We have the list talent, we have the right age profile, we have numerous points of difference, we have one of the best fixtures we have ever had (thanks Simon Garlick for all your negotiating). We should be making top 4 and hitting our straps into a prelim. As outlined by recent club comms, Justin has more resources and assistant coaches at his disposal in 2026 than he ever has. Assuming last year’s 16-wins-not-being-top-4 was an anomaly, AND given Justin demonstrated that he could make much quicker changes in-game (Adelaide rotations, defensively tagging defenders, not waiting for injuries for subs) and could be daring at the selection table despite what the WillBrodie4Life cult may think (several times, incl. debuting Murphy Reid & Duds, playing Cooper Simpson across backline, playing 2 rucks in a super wet slugfest game up on the GC etc), AND the natural progression of our list profile AND adding addressing three specific deficiencies (half back McVee, high pressure small fwd Tobyn Murray (plus a small fleet of others), back up ruck for S Darcy that doesn't limit Jackson, MCox), I expect we will be winning 16 games or MORE. And that 16 wins will be enough for a top 4 position.

There is no where left to hide for Justin Longmuir. He started as full time head coach in the same year Caleb Serong, Hayden Young & Freddy joined the club. He has essentially seen a full cycle of a rebuild from start to... well, where we are now. Not even his most staunch supporters will be able to defend him (myself included) if he can’t pull something out of this great list in 2026.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Bailey Banfield

This point isn't really about Bailey Banfield. Well, not quite. So before I lose all you BB haters just hear me out. This is about the spirit of all Bailey Banfields around the world. The misfits, the fringe dwellers, the try-hards. Those who give their everything just to remain average (let's not debate average in this context). This is about those who are adaptable, those who realise their own limitations and those that never give up. Every single premiership team has them. EVERY. SINGLE. PREMIERSHIP. TEAM. HAS. THEM. Whether it is due to an ability to understand multiple roles and become an understudy for many roles, or an ability to keep uninjured, or it is right place or right time OR even if you are genuinely that deranged that you think BB has nudes of JLO or that the entire FFC is bankrolled by Willie's Pearls, the journeymen are insanely important to success. And we are quietly hoarding a whole pocket of (currently) fringe dwellers and journeymen that will be able to plug holes and provide a stable floor to the team - think Banners, think OMAC, think Cooper Simpson, think Draper (really, think about it), think Mason Cox. You may mock him, you may loathe him, but one thing you can guarantee is that Bailey Banfield is the type of guy that would try his guts out all season, get injured in a prelim putting his body on the line for his team and then celebrate the guy who took his place (ala the Big O).

Banners pass mark for the season: if used in more than two different positions (in the same game) or plugs into more than two different roles due to injury across the season, that’s a pass mark

Naturally, all this talk about Bailey Banfield leads me directly to my next topic…

Dynasty Building

This list has not been curated for a one off grand final appearance!! This list has been built from the bottom up, to ensure we have sustained success at the top, and to give us greater chances of winning a flag. It has been delicately balanced - not just in terms of talent but also in terms of renumeration. The club has shown faith in the people we have drafted, trained, recruited. Often signing them on to longer extensions than the norm to be able to flatten out the total cost of player's contracts and to sign on the many, many stars we have. I would also go as far as to say that we have been LEAGUE LEADING in this aspect. This is not the case of a 'brown paper bags' or Geelong's we just love to come to work so much we will play for free basically bullshit. The club has publicly stated that we want to foster an inclusive work place, including job security. This includes: providing minimum 2 year extensions (unless otherwise preferred), providing longer contract extensions, role clarity, not dragging players in and out of team sheets week to week etc (see interviews with Ras & Banners).

The club has also sorted out a lot of management issues internally, has been getting stuck into very important negotiations behind closed doors (North Melbourne deal, better fixtures, long stretches of being 'home') and upgrading training facilities. It is not just sitting back waiting for the players to go 'oh I'd like 1 premiership please'. They are working HARD to provide all the bits and pieces they possibly can to give our team the best chance.

The other key part of the dynasty has been building the game plan and team structure block by block. Often in a whole-rebuilding team this will start with defense. Usually, this is developing a defensive game style with a bunch of young kids first and may not translate to actually having highly skilled defenders on your list. This is not the case for us. Our defensive system and structure has been a long-standing strength over the past 14 years. We have some of the very best defenders in the league AND a premiership-winning defensive coach at the helm. That's why it has been easiest for us to build from the defense and work forward. I think this is also a really significant aspect to why the team reverts to overly defensive style plays when it is stressed/shocked, something that has been slowly phased out in the past two seasons.

Then you have the midfield. The idea was to have the trio of Brayshaw, Serong and Cerra as a cohort driving the team’s engine room. It almost worked and in the end we have ended up in a better scenario. Brayshaw, Serong and Young, all with extensive apprenticeships under Fyfe and Mundy. The midfield can be a clearance and contested beast. The biggest criticisms have been lack of damaging fwd disposals and being able to switch things up when someone is being shut down. Enter: Murphy Reid, Jackson, Bolton, Ras, Johnno, Switta, JOM. Hell, even Clark has spent a bit of time around ball ups. We have such a strong mixture of different types of ball users now that our predictability will be no more. We have the most talented kick this damn football club has ever seen.

That leads me to another critical building block - forwards. The Hail Mundys that have been on our lips for years, begging for a new Pav have not only been answered, they have been answered TRI-FOLD. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you too will suffer from WHY DON’T YOU MAKE A LEAD syndrome. Where you assume that our forwards are doing **** all waiting for the ball to be bulleted straight into their hands (hi Lobb if you are reading this). That is NO longer the case. We have the triple headed monster of Amiss, Treacy and Voss. They not only will fight and scrap for the ball, for space, to get a metre on their opponent, they will also fight and scrap for each other. They are hungry for success for the TEAM. Now, let’s just touch back on that midfield for a moment. Are you telling me we have midfielders that can actually deliver direct passes to our forwards??? Now back with me here in the fwd50, just imagine that even if our triple headed monster are unable to take a mark, we also now have a mosquito fleet that actually know how to get front and centre of a pack??? I’m telling you, Pav, Walters, Ballas died so this team could run. And one last thing, what if one of our triple headed monster gets injured, such as final weeks of the 2024 failed campaign? Well, simple really. We have the Unicorn, the American and OMac all ready to go.

The last critical building block for a dynasty is BEING the change. Unless you are buying your premierships (hellooo Carlton) to achieve anything like back to back or a threepeat you have to change the way the game is played and then be the best at that new method. (Forgive me if I’m wrong but I believe Taylor has been trying to convey something like this for quite awhile). Brisbane have an insanely controlled defense, with impeccable chip-mark-chip skills and then a brutally strong midfield group. Trying to emulate their game would be stupid because they already have the monopoly on it. It’s a bit like Carlton trying to emulate the crash and bash centre clearance style that worked for Melbourne, only for the game to change tactically so significantly, so quickly that they ****ed their whole list profile (oh noooo, anyway). Sure, we need something that can potentially match the standards of Brisbane, but to be successful we need it to be our own method.

So tying in ALL of the points above, I think we are extremely close to achieving that. What changes are we bringing to the game? Aside from the renumeration and contract side of things. We are bringing something new to the field, that is on top of our stingy and experienced backline, we now have a 3 pronged tall attack (who are all fairly reasonable at ground balls given their heights) AND a 2-ruck system AND a cohort of some of the most insanely talented:dynamic players in the game (to me, these are Murphy Reid, Youngy, Jackson & Treacy and to a lesser extent Bolton, Draper and the double Cox). Put them wherever you want and they have the ability to change the whole shape of a game. We are going to be able to wreak absolute havoc and we will be able to choose which area of the ground we want to cause that havoc and pull the trigger at different times of the game. That was shown to some extent last year but the potential has magnified for this season.

During 2022 (finals), 2023 (missed by 1 game), 2024 (missed by 1 game), 2025 (finals), we have won some absolutely back-against-the-wall type games. We have had one of the biggest comeback deficits in a finals game. We have beaten the weather, the odds, the crowds, the cheating *ing umpires. And we have had some absolute character-building losses – Geelong humiliation, stunned by North, stunned by STK (ffs), having to piss in the sinks, Cam McCarthy dying, Mundy/Walters/Fyfe bowing out. The team does not shy away from the big games, they do not give a * if the odds are against them and that’s why are they ready.

This team's 2026 pass mark is: Making the grand final. I'll accept a devastating, yet character defining prelim loss (think 2023 Brisbane Lions losing by 1 point to Collingwood).


Dynasty's pass mark: As a cohort, if this team has not won a premiership by 2030 it is a failure. If the team has won a grand final but not made multiple prelims it will be underachieving.


wHat AboUt GoLd CoaSt

Look, I'm not going to pretend that Gold Coast don't have an insanely talented list. They also have the most recent 'dynasty' coach (3 in 4 years is essentially a threepeat). On top of their absolute rort of academy systems and their millions of draft concessions and millions $$ of AFL money to get around soft caps etc, they've now secured adding Trac and JUH. I'm not stupid - I get it. I see they are a risk to our premiership hopes. But I don't think they can do it before us. In my mind, they are the equivalent of GWS from a few years ago and Freo from 2013-15. They have a fantastic list, a good coach, they are finally starting to taste some success (making finals, 2nd brownlow winner). But they are only just beginning to craft an identity. Until last season, they could barely win a game away from home. For **** sake, they can’t even get their own colours right. What with the all red, Sydney Swans white + red, West Coast yellow + blue, next thing we know they will be turning up in purple.

They have been gifted time and time again ridiculously easy fixtures. When GWS made the grand final and when we made the grand final both of our teams were 'unlucky' that we got caught up in the timings of other dynasty teams. Our inexperience on the day, without cohesive club identities to draw on and relying way too heavily on the Chosen Few in our teams, amounted both clubs to nothing in the end. The dynasty teams that overtook us had spent decades in turmoil searching for the right answers (okay, admittedly Hawks' idea of 'turmoil' is having a cry over only winning 1 premiership in the 90s and none in the noughties). It's almost as though it's time for another club, with a slow burn list, a long term 6+ year stint coach and a fanbase that is frothing at the mouth for success, to come through and pip GC at the post. We know who we are and what we stand for. And we damn well know what we want - that's blood. That's to obliterate our opposition and taste the ultimate success. The players want it, the coaches want and WE are desperate for it. Really, we will be doing Gold Coast a favour when we crush their hopes and dreams. It's called character building.

Let's put it this way Gold Coast's pass mark this year: making finals for back to back seasons. If we make finals but do not win one, that will be a failed season for us. In my mind, not winning TWO finals will be a failure.

Last thoughts

The changing of the guard has occurred completely – no Walters, no Fyfe. The current list have no more internal ‘do it for them’ chatter. They have ‘do it for ourselves’ mantras because why shouldn’t they be The Immortals? If they have the hunger, the dedication and the comradery to pull it off all power to them. I plan on sitting back, enjoying the ride and cheering them on. Strap yourselves in Purple Army because we are in for one heck of a ride.

TLDR; Flagmantle is coming (not the Flagmantle the facebook guy, **** that guy).

Freo should/need to/will make a Prelim. Anything less is a failure and will only magnify the last few seasons.
Click to expand...
Wow, what a post. Really great points, completely Purple biased, but only in the best possible, most palatable of ways. Epic as Gilgamesh!!! I read the whole damn thing, you may have just eclipsed me :tearsofjoy:
 
Quazar2 said:
Wow, what a post. Really great points, completely Purple biased, but only in the best possible, most palatable of ways. Epic as Gilgamesh!!! I read the whole damn thing, you may have just eclipsed me :tearsofjoy:
Click to expand...
A difficult task, but it has been achieved! 😅
 

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I think you've landed at the perfect conclusion as well. It has to be a prelim. It's beyond rare that a team just bobs up out of the wilderness and wins a flag. Prelims are the arena where the identity of being a contender is formed. If the goal of this build is a period of sustained contention, or however it's worded, we absolutely have to be there to give the season a tick.
 

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go_the_dockers said:
Have we increased the number or quality of assistant coaches this year, or will this happen for future years?
Click to expand...
It has increased over a number of years I believe and sounds like the plan is to continue increasing (where necessary).

https://archive.md/emLbh

Off the top of my head that's already at least 1 extra assistant coach and 1 extra development coach more than last year.
 
2big2strom said:
It has increased over a number of years I believe and sounds like the plan is to continue increasing (where necessary).

https://archive.md/emLbh

Off the top of my head that's already at least 1 extra assistant coach and 1 extra development coach more than last year.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear this.

What's the point of having money in the bank if you don't use it?
 
Great post 2big2strom. You made that 1% improvement! You've won the day! You're making the small things become the big difference. You embody the aggregation of marginal gains? You are the English bicycle team, I think. And that is what we're all about in the Freo family, now.
 

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