Toast Bring on 2026!

[spartan-magpie]

There is no way I would do Beau or Bobby to Curnow. Curnow’s career averages aren’t dissimilar to Mihocek’s and he’s five years older. Caveat is obviously whatever has gone on with Hill in the background.

We need to retain our young talent.

Id only be giving them up for something that is elite. Bobby I absolutely love and think is the reason we’re not playing this week. I love beau too, but it we’d need to give up something good to get some good back.

 

[magwood]

One player I’m excited to see next year is Harvey Harrison. I think he will be like a new recruit. Has pace and looks a lot stronger with another pre season to continually improve that.
Hopefully he can stay relatively injury free

 

[TradeDraft]

One player I’m excited to see next year is Harvey Harrison. I think he will be like a new recruit. Has pace and looks a lot stronger with another pre season to continually improve that.
Hopefully he can stay relatively injury free

Missed over a Season from ACL is a Worry

 

[manicpie]

Missed over a Season from ACL is a Worry

Same with reef, it's a wait and see on both for next year

 

[WanderingDude]

I think we got hurt. Pace. Noble and Richards gone. Haynes too soon. HH out forever it seemed with a knee and complications. Bobby on personal leave. Veterans slowing. Hard to foresee the whole sequence, it just hurts when everyone goes quicker.

 

[manicpie]

**** 2026, we still have the spring carnival and snapper season, then there's the Christmas holidays and then cricket.

 

[Kes1984]

I think we got hurt. Pace. Noble and Richards gone. Haynes too soon. HH out forever it seemed with a knee and complications. Bobby on personal leave. Veterans slowing. Hard to foresee the whole sequence, it just hurts when everyone goes quicker.

The loss of Bobby is not to be understated. His contribution to the scoreboard through goals himself, as well as goal assists, was a huge loss. Our season went off the rails once we lost him.
I really hope we do retain him and his season is not disrupted with family issues next season.

 

[Jen2310]

“I think your point right from the start; they haven’t felt like they’ve needed to or haven’t trusted their young players.
“They don’t have that core of players that have played fewer than 50 games. They’ve always been ‘in and out’.
“They’re going to have to commit to those young players, and then they have to be players.”
Buckley: “It’s a balance, and they need to find them.
“(Will) Hayes came through and didn’t look quite there. (Harvey) Harrison injured, (Lachie) Sullivan injured. (Ed) Allan, whether he’s an ongoing concern or not… he’s shown that he’s got high work rate.
“(Wil) Parker is a legitimate yes, he’s going to be really good. (Harry) Demattia, we haven’t seen come through yet. Obviously, you miss Bobby Hill, who had issues through the year. (Tom) Mitchell and (Will) Hoskin-Elliott are probably past their time… Hoskin-Elliott has already turned out.

“(Ned) Long and (Roan) Steele are finds – Steele looked good when he came into the team.
“When you get to the pointy end and you don’t salute, and you don’t take those last couple of steps… people will go and say, ‘that’s the wrong strategy’… they put themselves in the mix.
“For PFI (Preliminary Final Integrity), that’s actually being able to get to the Prelim, which is solid enough. Geelong have showed that it can be hard to convert at times.
“There’s got to be some courage shown at list management and connection from the coaches and list managers to know exactly what these moves are going to be, because there needs to be three, four, five young players blooded in the next 12 to 24 months for Collingwood to stay as competitive as they have been.
“That’s what the best sides have been able to do continually. Collingwood haven’t had to do that for quite a while due to their really stable base in their locker room, but the young talent needs to come, and it needs to come now.”

Buckley: Will Collingwood remain competitive in 2026?

“There’s got to be some courage shown at list management.”

www.sen.com.au

 

[stormskye]

Buckley: Will Collingwood remain competitive in 2026?

“There’s got to be some courage shown at list management.”

www.sen.com.au

Saying what we all have been. The ones good enough are getting opportunities. I believe sidey once said that he will keep playing until a kid takes his spot. That’s on the kids to challenge for them not be gifted games.

The 3 in Allan, Macrae, HDM are the ones costing us a bit atm. Just 1 of them coming on and we were in a much better position.

 

[granniewolf]

Saying what we all have been. The ones good enough are getting opportunities. I believe sidey once said that he will keep playing until a kid takes his spot. That’s on the kids to challenge for them not be gifted games.

The 3 in Allan, Macrae, HDM are the ones costing us a bit atm. Just 1 of them coming on and we were in a much better position.

Macrae is gone.

 

[steviewonder36]

Missed over a Season from ACL is a Worry

Yes, we thought freeman and Scharenberg would be good after similar injuries.

Sadly, I see us sliding down the ladder next season. We dont have draft picks, and not enough kids coming through.
Hence, they re-signed Howe, Sidey, Pendles etc

 

[timokane]

Off season now

 

[Tista7000]

Here is my very early round 0 2026 team

FB: Maynard Frampton Howe

HB: Quaynor Moore Houston

C: Allan Perryman J.Daicos

HF: Hill Buller McCreery

FF: Schultz Mcstay Elliott? (otheriwse HH)

RR: Cameron, N.Daicos, Pendlebury

INT: Parker, De Goey, Long, Sidebottom, West

Guys like Lipinski, Membrey (or Mcstay), Crisp become depth.


Josh back to his winger spot.

Houston in the roll he played for Port.

Perryman in the middle.

Get games into Parker, Allan, Roan & West.

Try to give games to the likes of HDM, Steene etc and build towards the future.

 

[timokane]

I have similar not sure on Hills situation just yet.
Time to retire Cox now finally was great usa usa at the time but time to move cox on.
2026 year to unearth some x factor and that next generation.
Filter in the vfl at afl level.
All i know is round zip is back us in it again but thankfully from accounts we play stkilda at the mcg on a possible Friday night or Sunday afternoon fixture
Not to sure what i would like fixture wise as long we start at the mcg for at least first few rounds first interstate game easter thursday at the gabba.
Like say 3 games mcg
Have a string of them early on.

 

[larrikan]

It’s roughly 20 weeks to the next season.

The best four sides played in the preliminary finals. The two who peaked better have made the GF. We were close.

It’s funny how in six months we believe this team will need a mini rebuild or struggle when we should actually improve with good list management.

New sub and ruck rules will change dynamics.

I’m excited to see us get over a few hiccups from the second half of this season.

We won 17 games in the regular season. Fly will have us in contention again. Alls well. Lots to look forward too.

 

[foreigner]

The loss of Bobby is not to be understated. His contribution to the scoreboard through goals himself, as well as goal assists, was a huge loss. Our season went off the rails once we lost him.
I really hope we do retain him and his season is not disrupted with family issues next season.

Agree, the loss and uncertainty of Bobby was the catalyst for our scoring woes. It negatively affected our forward line functioning properly

 

[Buckley is my hero]

Saying what we all have been. The ones good enough are getting opportunities. I believe sidey once said that he will keep playing until a kid takes his spot. That’s on the kids to challenge for them not be gifted games.

The 3 in Allan, Macrae, HDM are the ones costing us a bit atm. Just 1 of them coming on and we were in a much better position.

The reality is you have to gift games to kids. It’s an investment. The kids get better playing in the senior team. They don’t necessarily get better playing VFL. It’s too big a step up. The investment pays off when the kid has 50 games under his belt in the senior team. You need a crystal ball as a coach to tell if a kid is going to make it. The first 20 games or so a kid plays in the senior team, he’s usually a liability. It’s like life. You have to give something up to get something back. However if we don’t do it we risk falling over a cliff with the senior players we have in the team.

 

[eddiesmith]

So what sort of fixture are we expecting? Double ups v Hawks and Brisbane a lock. Probably Bulldogs and Cats as well, Melbourne to be the bottom 6 one again if the league expects them to get better under King.

Definitely be playing Adelaide over there, expect a home game in gather round v Freo or GWS and away games v Gold Coast, Sydney, Brisbane and West Coast.

 

[domus]

After watching that massacre, I'm feeling more optimistic about next season. We were right in it with ten minutes to go in the prelim before that moment. This was achieved with a lame Checkers, Pendles gone after five minutes, little Roan thrown to the wolves, Howe playing his first game in two months and a team that has struggled to score beyond 70 points for the past two months. And no Bobby Hill-our only live wire capable of changing a game with a few moments of brilliance.

We fought our way back into it against the flow with sheer grit and heart and after giving up 5 or 6 stoppage goals in the third quarter which is unimaginable for a team renowned for its defensive prowess.

We'll be okay.

 

[Go Woods]

There needs to be some positional changes for a few of the boys:
Best 23 barring injuries & any left field recruiting.

FB: Maynard Frampton Howe??
HB: Quaynor Moore Houston
C: Allan Perryman Hill
HF: *Sidebottom Buller *McCreery
FF: Schultz Mcstay Elliott

RR: Cameron, *Naicos, *Jaicos

5 on the bench sub rule gone?
INT: Parker, *JDG, *Pendles, West
*Long

Crisp, Lipinski, Membrey, Jiath, Hayes, HDM, Sullivan, Harrison

*midfield rotation group

 

[jmac70]

There needs to be some positional changes for a few of the boys:
Best 23 barring injuries & any left field recruiting.

FB: Maynard Frampton Howe??
HB: Quaynor Moore Houston
C: Allan Perryman Hill
HF: *Sidebottom Buller *McCreery
FF: Schultz Mcstay Elliott

RR: Cameron, *N.Daicos, *Jaicos

INT: Parker, *JDG, *Pendles, West
*Long

Crisp, Lipinski, Membrey, Jiath, Hayes, HDM, Sullivan, Harrison

*midfield rotation group

I’m tipping Crisp to bounce back next year.

 

[Go Woods]

I’m tipping Crisp to bounce back next year.

Hope so!

 

[cakewalk_1]

So what sort of fixture are we expecting? Double ups v Hawks and Brisbane a lock. Probably Bulldogs and Cats as well, Melbourne to be the bottom 6 one again if the league expects them to get better under King.

Definitely be playing Adelaide over there, expect a home game in gather round v Freo or GWS and away games v Gold Coast, Sydney, Brisbane and West Coast.

You forget, Add in play the bottom 4 sides once again like every year. The AFL wants the money ahead of a fair draw.

 

[Professor Knowall]

You forget, Add in play the bottom 4 sides once again like every year. ...

Yes, that's a given. ... we're not Geelong.

 

[timokane]

Fixture wise whats our wish list.

For mine a more favourable draw.

More day games

Only play marvel once be it v north as away game.

Time to say thanks but no thanks to round zero but if we play it it has to be at the MCG.
Playing say a stkilda or say port at the MCG.

More time between matches.

Like to play Suns at the MCG.

Play both Essendon and Carlton twice also Richmond and Melbourne.

Both hawks and cats only once.

For gather round play the Dogs.

Play swans mcg.

Start a string of mcg games first up.

So what else would you like to see in 2026 fixture

Kind of done with night games to be honest.

i want more red ball footy in 2026.