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AFL CANBERRA SEASON TWENTY TWENTY FIVE

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Apr 19, 2015
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Collingwood
Welcome to season 2025.
This is your one stop shop for all things AFL Canberra for this year.

Who are the movers and shakers this year?
What are the key player movements?
Who is your pick for the flag?
Who will stand up on that last Saturday?
Who wants it more this year?
Will we see big ladder changes?
Who will be the breakout stars?

Engagement in the forum has significantly dropped off in the past couple of years.

Should we look at a forum season launch?


Good luck to all teams!



On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Big Footy pages are for us dinosaurs from the 00s / early 2010s plus Canberra is a transient city that people move on from so I'm not shocked the feed has died.

Batemans Bay do a podcast that gets them a little bit of traction. Honestly though mate I'd set up a Reddit feed, then push the link to all the Community Grade Clubs via their instagram pages, a comment on some preseason posts will likely do the trick.

Community Grade structure looks to be something like this in 2025

Div 1 (Senior Grade):
ADFA, Ainslie, ANU, Batemans Bay, Cootamundra, Eastlake, Googong, Goulburn, Molonglo, Woden, Yass

Div 2 (Reserve Grade):
ADFA, Ainslie, ANU, Batemans Bay, Belconnen, Cootamundra, Googong, Molonglo, Murrumbateman, Southern Cats, Woden

Common sense finally won & Div 3 has been abolished.
 
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My answers to your Qs though

MOVERS & SHAKERS?
Ainslie in Div 1
Good player retention & performance has improved year on year since 2023.
New teams in the comp will give them the opportunity to solve the issue they have of learning how to win games of footy.

Murrumbateman in Div 2
If they keep the talent together they will run away with that comp. Probably should step up to Div 1 in season 2026 as a one team club having found multiple years of lower grade success.

KEY PLAYER MOVEMENT?
Googong
Jordan Hedington coming in as Player coach from Marrar is a great get for Googong footy (he is a good bloke to).
Already looks to be talent coming from the Farrer League along with him which puts Googong at the top of the table for mine.

The big question though is what kind of cash is potentially being thrown around & the ethics behind Community Grade clubs paying players in the community grade when there is a Senior comp that sits above they refuse to enter.

I personally don't have an issue with clubs paying players but Canberra isn't your traditional footy league set up with promotion or relegation.

FLAG FANCY?
Googong in Div 1
Murrumbateman in Div 2

BREAKOUT STAR?
Having been affiliated with Ainslie I can't really speak much on other sides.
I am a fan of the young ANU onballer with shaggy blonde hair. He could easily jump into Senior 1st grade with any of the clubs occupying 4th-6th in that comp.
I think most ANU wins next season will have his DNA on them.

From an Ainslie perspective, two fellas
Sean Gupanis & Nick Palmer.

Sean finished runner up in the BnF & was the guy who routinely made any fwd opponent look useless last year off HB

Nick is your classic Tom Hawkins esque FF. Came in late last season & immediately found goals. Culminated in a Senior grade game.

Both seemed to have trained the house down in the off-season & will lead from the front through preseason no doubt.
 
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Canberra Pear said:
Looks like a big change for the 2026 season.

View attachment 2326041
Batemans Bay joining as the seventh team in the top division.
Click to expand...

It's bold and it looks like they'll have some great facilities added to what they already have at Hanging Rock. There is plenty of talent on the South Coast, and hopefully rather than that talent having to travel interstate to test themselves, they'll be doing that at AFL Canberra.

You'd imagine there would be an influx of players and they might be able to be a four club team plus the women's and rising stars. A great vision, I don't know if it's something that can be replicated in other areas as the Bay is such a huge catchment area.
 
Brentford26 said:
It's bold and it looks like they'll have some great facilities added to what they already have at Hanging Rock. There is plenty of talent on the South Coast, and hopefully rather than that talent having to travel interstate to test themselves, they'll be doing that at AFL Canberra.

You'd imagine there would be an influx of players and they might be able to be a four club team plus the women's and rising stars.
Click to expand...

Was thinking the same. Gungahlin has struggled since they've entered, but you would think the Seahawks would attract top end talent from across the South Coast looking to play in an elevated competition.

Brentford26 said:
A great vision, I don't know if it's something that can be replicated in other areas as the Bay is such a huge catchment area.
Click to expand...

The only other area I thought it might be able to be replicated in is some western Canberra amalgam.

Some joint venture between Weston Creek/Molonglo/Marist/Woden for their top end talent.
 
Canberra Pear said:
Was thinking the same. Gungahlin has struggled since they've entered, but you would think the Seahawks would attract top end talent from across the South Coast looking to play in an elevated competition.



The only other area I thought it might be able to be replicated in is some western Canberra amalgam.

Some joint venture between Weston Creek/Molonglo/Marist/Woden for their top end talent.
Click to expand...
When I came through the talent pathways the ACT was always aligned with the South Coast and there was plenty of talent down there that ended up at Ainslie and Aaron Vandenberg ended up getting drafted, so there is absolutely the means to go forward.

The question will be whether they go for the sustainable model initially and just look to compete with Gungahlin and Tuggeranong, then once established work out a way to break up the big four that's currently occuring.

I remember the old comp with the Wildcats, I agree they're probably the only other region that could make a splash, but then it falls down to Canberra trying to protect its players from big money offers from country clubs.

The other issue is how do entice the level of talent player in the lower divisions to make the jump back up to the higher divisions?
 

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Brentford26 said:
When I came through the talent pathways the ACT was always aligned with the South Coast and there was plenty of talent down there that ended up at Ainslie and Aaron Vandenberg ended up getting drafted, so there is absolutely the means to go forward.

The question will be whether they go for the sustainable model initially and just look to compete with Gungahlin and Tuggeranong, then once established work out a way to break up the big four that's currently occuring.

I remember the old comp with the Wildcats, I agree they're probably the only other region that could make a splash, but then it falls down to Canberra trying to protect its players from big money offers from country clubs.

The other issue is how do entice the level of talent player in the lower divisions to make the jump back up to the higher divisions?
Click to expand...

The Wildcats are already a stronger feeder for Molonglo.

The rate at which Molonglo's population is growing, I can see a separate juniors club popping up there in coming years. Then the Juggernauts could have two junior feeder clubs similar to Belco with the Cats.
 

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