Preview 2026 Best 23 Discussion

[mattis117]

Slightly related to this thread but I really dislike the move to a 23rd man on the field by the AFL. This has been a slow creep from 22 to now 23 players being named as regular starters in the last few years.
Given we clearly had the worst bottom 6 players of all the eight finalists last year, it’s just another small thing that makes it even harder for us.
Great for teams with massive depth like Brisbane and GC. Bad for the likes of freo.

This seems short sighted to me. We have a lot of developing depth and what was a weakness may be a strength quite quickly.

 

[theGav56]

Our bottom 6 aren’t great but I don’t think we have enough match winning talent consistently which will cost us a few finals.

I'm not giving the club any leeway for the bottom 6.

This is the lower echelons of team selection from Channels

IC: Erasmus Johnson Draper Chapman Worner

Competing for spots : Banfield, Walker, o'Meara, Dudley

Injury cover: Omac and Cox

Pretty decent options for last players selected and depth.

If the club can't drag itself to a decent season with those options I don't think it is list issues.

 

[Dockeroo]

I really don't think our bottom 6 are that bad, at least assuming no injuries.

I think our depth has improved a fair bit in the off season, at least at the moment when everyone is training the house down.

I think except for Brisbane, we are not too far away from matching any side for depth. GC will have awesome depth in 2 or 3 years, but they are not there yet and need to hold on to their free agents to win a flag.

Key forward depth is not ideal, but we can easily play one less tall and an extra small with out any issues.
We really just need one of Pickett, Dudley, Sweid , Murray to have a break out season.

Having said all that, it would have been great to get someone like Ah Chee or .. to improve our bottom 2 or 3 players, and add more final experience.

--------------------
FB: Ryan Pearce Simpson
HB: Clark Cox McVee
C: Wagner Young Frederick
HF: Bolton Treacy Reid
FF: Amiss Voss Switkowski

R: Darcy Jackson Brayshaw

I: Chapman Serong Erasmus Johnson Murray

Depth
General: Worner, JOM, O'Driscoll, Walker, Banfield, Sharp, Pickett, Dudley, Sweid

KPD: Davies, Draper, McDonald
KF/ Ruck: Cox, Riddle

Do Gold Coast really have massive depth?

Feels like they shed about 4 best 23 players this last trade period alone to accumulate the points that they did to draft their Queensland kids.

Gold coast had a more balanced 22 than us in September anyway.
I seem to recall guys like Will Powell and Bodhi Uwland really stepping up and delivering for them - in our team their equivalents are the likes of Chapman and Frederick - that 14th to 18th best bracket in their respective teams in terms of ranking.

I think we rely massively on our top 6 or 8 players. I know every team does, but we do to a greater degree.

Yes GC lost Flanders and Ainsworth but they brought in Petracca, two top 5 picks (I have a bad feeling Dylan Patterson will be a freak btw ) and had a whole host for first round picks sitting in the shed like Lombard, Rogers etc waiting to go that didn’t even play that final in September.
There’s a reason some of us have been whinging for years on the main board about their concessions - they are coming home to roost right now.

I thought we did as well as we could this offseason but we have still only brought in one quality AFL player I’m absolutely sure about in McVee. Everyone else is an unknown quantity at this point.

I didn’t see much in the shed down at peel by the end of last season, the picking were pretty slim. Brandon Walker is one that needs a big year for sure. Should be looking at taking either Worner or Banfield spot in the 22.

This seems short sighted to me. We have a lot of developing depth and what was a weakness may be a strength quite quickly.

I hope you are right. We will have a good idea of our depth - if Banfield is still getting games next year though. I recall this time last year (and the year before) posters saying he was depth yet he played 20 games in 2025!

Maybe one of the unknown draftees like Sweid or Murray comes from nowhere to grab a spot. That would be nice.

I thought our small forwards were really exposed in the end last year and glad to see the club throwing everything at fixing this glaring issue in the draft and even the SSP train ons.
Law of averages surely means one of Murray, Sweid, Kickett or Scerri is a decent AFL small forward.

 

[theGav56]

Gold coast had a more balanced 22 than us in September anyway.
I seem to recall guys like Will Powell and Bodhi Uwland really stepping up and delivering for them - in our team their equivalents are the likes of Chapman and Frederick - that 14th to 18th best bracket in their respective teams in terms of ranking.

I think we rely massively on our top 6 or 8 players. I know every team does, but we do to a greater degree.

Yes GC lost Flanders and Ainsworth but they brought in Petracca, two top 5 picks (I have a bad feeling Dylan Patterson will be a freak btw ) and had a whole host for first round picks sitting in the shed like Lombard, Rogers etc waiting to go that didn’t even play that final in September.
There’s a reason some of us have been whinging for years on the main board about their concessions - they are coming home to roost right now.

I thought we did as well as we could this offseason but we have still only brought in one quality AFL player I’m absolutely sure about in McVee. Everyone else is an unknown quantity at this point.

I didn’t see much in the shed down at peel by the end of last season, the picking were pretty slim. Brandon Walker is one that needs a big year for sure. Should be looking at taking either Worner or Banfield spot in the 22.


I hope you are right. We will have a good idea of our depth - if Banfield is still getting games next year though. I recall this time last year (and the year before) posters saying he was depth yet he played 20 games in 2025!

Maybe one of the unknown draftees like Sweid or Murray comes from nowhere to grab a spot. That would be nice.

I thought our small forwards were really exposed in the end last year and glad to see the club throwing everything at fixing this glaring issue in the draft and even the SSP train ons.
Law of averages surely means one of Murray, Sweid, Kickett or Scerri is a decent AFL small forward.

Player like Worner, Banfield and O'Meara cop a hiding on here and portrayed as week depth. I think they are fit for purpose in Longmuir's eyes.

We brought in McVee and seemed to have no other trade targets. My conclusion is Longmuir has the list he wants.

 

[Dockeroo]

Player like Worner, Banfield and O'Meara cop a hiding on here and portrayed as week depth. I think they are fit for purpose in Longmuir's eyes.

We brought in McVee and seemed to have no other trade targets. My conclusion is Longmuir has the list he wants.

My view is that none of those players you mentioned are good enough to play in a flag winning side. So far, the best those 3 have done is week one of finals (and they were pretty damningly exposed in that) so they have it all to prove still.

I agree McVee is a fine pickup but I’d also bet anything that JL would have liked to recruit more - but what could he do?
Mason Cox was just about the only other player that even wanted to come to the club. Once Jai Serong declined us that was about it in terms of potential other recruits.
Off to the draft and hope Wallsy can pull another rabbit or two out of the hat.

 

[theGav56]

My view is that none of those players you mentioned are good enough to play in a flag winning side. So far, the best those 3 have done is week one of finals (and they were pretty damningly exposed in that) so they have it all to prove still.

I agree McVee is a fine pickup but I’d also bet anything that JL would have liked to recruit more - but what could he do?
Mason Cox was just about the only other player that even wanted to come to the club. Once Jai Serong declined us that was about it in terms of potential other recruits.
Off to the draft and hope Wallsy can pull another rabbit or two out of the hat.

Thinking Jai Serong is a significantly better player than those three is fanciful.

 

[Docker82]

I don't think the bottom six stacks up too badly.

There's plenty of players that can be AFL standard all season. I'd argue it's actually more than 23.

But who can genuinely stand up if our best 7-8 players aren't performing or are injured? Those types aren't there IMO and the other top eight teams have them.

So I'm talking the middle 7-8 players of our best 23. Can those guys take us to the next step? Think that's the bigger issue.

 

[Dockeroo]

Thinking Jai Serong is a significantly better player than those three is fanciful.

I never said that. In fact I’m not sure he’s much chop at all. That’s actually my point though - here’s a fringe VFL player and we couldn’t even convince him to move to Perth despite his brother being a massive part of our team.
Basically if there is no Western Australian on the move - we might as well sit out trade week, because no one else is moving to Perth.

If we were a Melbourne based club I’m 100% certain JL would have recruited several blokes via trade in recent years to strengthen the bottom 6 and move those guys out. He doesn’t have that luxury unfortunately

 

[E Shed]

GC remind me when I was younger and inherited some money and proceeded to buy about 20 guitars and amps over the next year or so. Only a few stuck but damn they’re good. The rest got moved on to pay for the next one.

 

[Suma Says]

I never said that. In fact I’m not sure he’s much chop at all. That’s actually my point though - here’s a fringe VFL player and we couldn’t even convince him to move to Perth despite his brother being a massive part of our team.
Basically if there is no Western Australian on the move - we might as well sit out trade week, because no one else is moving to Perth.

If we were a Melbourne based club I’m 100% certain JL would have recruited several blokes via trade in recent years to strengthen the bottom 6 and move those guys out. He doesn’t have that luxury unfortunately

We couldn't convince him to come because we couldn't guarantee him a spot in our best 23. At best he was in a dogfight in a position he doesn't really want to play (wing). In his preferred position of half back he was no shot to be best 23.

At Sydney the equation is very different

WA had sfa to do with it

ETA - rest of what your saying is absolutely valid. Just Jai doesn’t really fit the bill in terms of why he didn't come. If we had a spot down back for him im confident he would be in purple this year

Its significantly harder for us to convince non WA born players to come, no question. But its not impossible. Once upon a time Brisbane couldn't keep anyone let alone recruit a non Queensland player, yet they pinched Lachie from us. So opportunities will arise, but for us they will be few and far between

 

[jerms]

It doesn't help that one of the more compelling reasons to pitch at a non-West Aussie in favour of moving over there - substantially cheaper property prices / cost of living than Melbourne and Sydney - is no longer the case.

 

[anchor man]

I am not going to try to name a best23, but I do believe that our forward srtucture will depend early on how Sam Switkowski

39

Sam Switkowski

Age

29

Ht

179cm

Wt

74kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.8

3star

K

5.3

2star

HB

6.5

4star

M

2.7

3star

T

4.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.4

4star

K

7.2

3star

HB

6.2

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

4.0

5star

G

0.4

3star

goes pre season. How he stands up, whether his body will
hold him in stead for the season.
A lot will be banging on the door for his position.

 

[CapitalA]

Not many best 22 players, but I think Flanders is seriously overrated. (I think he was the only best 22 player they lost)

It is probably more of an issue that players like Witts and Miller are slowing. If their first round picks hit the ground running, it will be a big win otherwise they may struggle.

The other question is can they hold on to King.

I think a lot of depth left them, probably just on the 23-26 of the list but they all have played games in recent years.
Ainsworth, Flanders, Budarick, Sexton, Swallow, Rosas.

 

[theGav56]

We couldn't convince him to come because we couldn't guarantee him a spot in our best 23. At best he was in a dogfight in a position he doesn't really want to play (wing). In his preferred position of half back he was no shot to be best 23.

At Sydney the equation is very different

WA had sfa to do with it

ETA - rest of what your saying is absolutely valid. Just Jai doesn’t really fit the bill in terms of why he didn't come. If we had a spot down back for him im confident he would be in purple this year

Its significantly harder for us to convince non WA born players to come, no question. But its not impossible. Once upon a time Brisbane couldn't keep anyone let alone recruit a non Queensland player, yet they pinched Lachie from us. So opportunities will arise, but for us they will be few and far between

Like you say, not impossible:
McDonald, Wagner, Voss, Cox and Dudley are all here by choice and from interstate. All viable selections come game day.

Not huge names. More targeted recruitment. Walls is at his finest when he is surgical in his recruitment.

In the past we have definitely recruited interstate 'stars'. Not a strategy I am particularly in favour of.

 

[theGav56]

I am not going to try to name a best23, but I do believe that our forward srtucture will depend early on how Sam Switkowski goes pre season. How he stands up, whether his body will
hold him in stead for the season.
A lot will be banging on the door for his position.

Not sure about that. If Switkowski is available I think the door is closed.

 

[theGav56]

It doesn't help that one of the more compelling reasons to pitch at a non-West Aussie in favour of moving over there - substantially cheaper property prices / cost of living than Melbourne and Sydney - is no longer the case.

If only we had a property developer on the board who could spin deals towards players.

 

[anchor man]

Not sure about that. If Switkowski is available I think the door is closed.

That is what I mean. But if he and his body don't hold up early, there are any number knocking on the door.
And even still, think Switta will be under pressure.

 

[E Shed]

That is what I mean. But if he and his body don't hold up early, there are any number knocking on the door.
And even still, think Switta will be under pressure.

Nah, a fit Switta is one of the first magnets on the board. His burst and agility in traffic plus great vision and high footy IQ make him a creative connector piece. Him and Reid are dynamite at working together to create opportunities.

 

[s_wd6]

If only we had a property developer on the board who could spin deals towards players.

Apparently a lot of work has been put into an "industry-leading" relocation package as part of the the next 5 year plan. Surely that includes a place to live.