It's interesting looking at the bottom 10 sides and where the improvement would come from for each.
9th - Bulldogs.
Didn't end up improving their side much, if at all, during the offseason. Only senior player added was Budarick form GC. They do have Weightman to come back, after missing the entire 2025 season with a false joint in his kneecap(wtf?). Should be finishing a lot higher than they have in recent years and I've said numerous times that I don't think Beveridge is the man to take them to the promised land a 2nd time. Also failed to address their KPD needs.
10th - Sydney
Shocker year considering they made the GF the season prior. Having said that they did the exact same thing the last time they got thumped in the GF but they at least have the excuse of having a new coach this year. Cox certainly made some big changes during the offseason, punting Hayward and Florent to Carlton and receiving Curnow in the extended trade. With the addition of Curnow, Sydney have addressed a huge problem their side has had for a number of years, so expect them to bounce back up in 2026.
11th - Carlton.
Lost Curnow to Sydney but did add Florent, Hayward, Ainsworth, Chesser and Reidy via trades, so they've probably lifted their floor somewhat significantly when you compared those guys to the delisted players. Curnow's a huge out obviously but they still have another Coleman medalist and they've added a bit more firepower up forward with Ainsworth and Hayward. Hard to place this lot. If Smith comes back clean from his ACL, he could have an impact, even though he hasn't played a senior game yet but he had no issues stepping up from CTL to VFL in his draft year.
12th - St Kilda.
Big moves during the offseason will have the club feeling they should push for finals. Flanders and De Koning should improve their midfield a fair bit, whilst Ryan should bolster their forward line, as will Silvagni their defence. I'm unsure if they improved enough with the trade ins to actually push much further up the ladder though and will certainly be banking on NWM to retain his form with the added attention, as well as the like of Wilson showing his final game of the season was no fluke. Got some good kids coming through but are they experienced enough to actually impact the team's finals push?
13th - Port.
Did nothing meaningful to improve their side this offseason and JHF has already started the preseason by reaggravating his foot injury on top of looking like Harley did when he came back last preseason. Could drop down further now that Carr's finally got full control and may be a case of one step back to make 2 forward in 2027. Hard to see where the improvement comes from.
14th - Melbourne.
Dumped Petracca and Oliver whilst asking Steven May to piss off. No natural improvement to come from players brought in this offseason for 2026 but it's clear they're looking to rejuvenate their list under the new coach. Actively made their side worse in the short term to get better later.
15th - Essendon.
Injury issues for the past couple of seasons and now an internal review has concluded that the players 'didn't train hard enough' under the old S&C crew. Matt Innes now heading it up, so expect a lot more 'broken' players this offseason(they're already experiencing it) like he did with WCE to improve them long term. No notable trades, other than a mature player in Fiorini, and they also lost a couple of B22 players alongside Martin potentially missing the entire 2026 season. No significant improvement to the side this offseason.
16th - North Melbourne.
With access to talent rivaling a start up side, the fact this club has been shit for so long would have anyone's head scratching, including their coach who admitted the defensive plan he's been working on for the past 3 season was utter shite and has handed the reins over to another coach to come up with an AFL standard defensive system. If they can manage that, then that alone should see them jump up. I'll believe it when I see it but even though they made no significant additions to their team this offseason, they 'should' finally break out of the bottom 4 at the very least. They should realistically be pushing the top 8 but it's impossible to have any faith in this team currently.
17th - Richmond.
With pick 99, Richmond brought in Patrick Retschko from Geelong. Other than that, they made no improvement to their side via the trade period and let go of a number of senior players, so they are actively getting younger. A couple of their top picks from last year have had interrupted preseasons, although it's now Smillie who's still out of action, after only managing 4 VFL games last year. They haven't actively improved their side this offseason for 2026, so expect them to tread water, or perhaps even vie for the spoon, as the only way they'll improve from their current position is if 2024's crop significantly improve, or 2025's are key players straight out of the blocks.
18th - West Coast.
Obviously a horrific, one-win season. Having said that, the kids did a lot of the heavy lifting around the ground, which will be invaluable experience. Once Yeo was out in the preseason, we knew we'd have midfield issues and this was further exacerbated by the losses of Gov and Waterman, as well as Sheed retiring. Still, there were strong signs the team was on the improve and despite the one win for the year, WCE actually achieved a higher % than 2 out of the previous 3 seasons. Had a couple of those senior players not been out of the side through injury, we probably win those close ones against Richmond and Essendon at the very least, as well as potentially the game against Adelaide late in the season, which was also missing Harley. Out of the bottom 4, the Eagles were the team to improve the most significantly via the trade period and other mature signings. They are also ahead of both Essendon, Richmond and Melbourne in regards to list turnover and development age of young players.
Now, I'm not saying we're going to push finals or anything but compared to the bottom 4, WCE have improved their list the most during the 2025 offseason, with the caveat that North have a bazillion first rounders and should never have finished that low to begin with.
Will we make it out of the bottom 4 in 2026? Doubtful based on recent form, but if we compare ourselves to Richmond, Essendon and Melbourne, we should certainly be thinking we're a real possibility to finish above those 3 teams.
TLDR: Eagles are the best, book your GF tickets now.
9th - Bulldogs.
Didn't end up improving their side much, if at all, during the offseason. Only senior player added was Budarick form GC. They do have Weightman to come back, after missing the entire 2025 season with a false joint in his kneecap(wtf?). Should be finishing a lot higher than they have in recent years and I've said numerous times that I don't think Beveridge is the man to take them to the promised land a 2nd time. Also failed to address their KPD needs.
10th - Sydney
Shocker year considering they made the GF the season prior. Having said that they did the exact same thing the last time they got thumped in the GF but they at least have the excuse of having a new coach this year. Cox certainly made some big changes during the offseason, punting Hayward and Florent to Carlton and receiving Curnow in the extended trade. With the addition of Curnow, Sydney have addressed a huge problem their side has had for a number of years, so expect them to bounce back up in 2026.
11th - Carlton.
Lost Curnow to Sydney but did add Florent, Hayward, Ainsworth, Chesser and Reidy via trades, so they've probably lifted their floor somewhat significantly when you compared those guys to the delisted players. Curnow's a huge out obviously but they still have another Coleman medalist and they've added a bit more firepower up forward with Ainsworth and Hayward. Hard to place this lot. If Smith comes back clean from his ACL, he could have an impact, even though he hasn't played a senior game yet but he had no issues stepping up from CTL to VFL in his draft year.
12th - St Kilda.
Big moves during the offseason will have the club feeling they should push for finals. Flanders and De Koning should improve their midfield a fair bit, whilst Ryan should bolster their forward line, as will Silvagni their defence. I'm unsure if they improved enough with the trade ins to actually push much further up the ladder though and will certainly be banking on NWM to retain his form with the added attention, as well as the like of Wilson showing his final game of the season was no fluke. Got some good kids coming through but are they experienced enough to actually impact the team's finals push?
13th - Port.
Did nothing meaningful to improve their side this offseason and JHF has already started the preseason by reaggravating his foot injury on top of looking like Harley did when he came back last preseason. Could drop down further now that Carr's finally got full control and may be a case of one step back to make 2 forward in 2027. Hard to see where the improvement comes from.
14th - Melbourne.
Dumped Petracca and Oliver whilst asking Steven May to piss off. No natural improvement to come from players brought in this offseason for 2026 but it's clear they're looking to rejuvenate their list under the new coach. Actively made their side worse in the short term to get better later.
15th - Essendon.
Injury issues for the past couple of seasons and now an internal review has concluded that the players 'didn't train hard enough' under the old S&C crew. Matt Innes now heading it up, so expect a lot more 'broken' players this offseason(they're already experiencing it) like he did with WCE to improve them long term. No notable trades, other than a mature player in Fiorini, and they also lost a couple of B22 players alongside Martin potentially missing the entire 2026 season. No significant improvement to the side this offseason.
16th - North Melbourne.
With access to talent rivaling a start up side, the fact this club has been shit for so long would have anyone's head scratching, including their coach who admitted the defensive plan he's been working on for the past 3 season was utter shite and has handed the reins over to another coach to come up with an AFL standard defensive system. If they can manage that, then that alone should see them jump up. I'll believe it when I see it but even though they made no significant additions to their team this offseason, they 'should' finally break out of the bottom 4 at the very least. They should realistically be pushing the top 8 but it's impossible to have any faith in this team currently.
17th - Richmond.
With pick 99, Richmond brought in Patrick Retschko from Geelong. Other than that, they made no improvement to their side via the trade period and let go of a number of senior players, so they are actively getting younger. A couple of their top picks from last year have had interrupted preseasons, although it's now Smillie who's still out of action, after only managing 4 VFL games last year. They haven't actively improved their side this offseason for 2026, so expect them to tread water, or perhaps even vie for the spoon, as the only way they'll improve from their current position is if 2024's crop significantly improve, or 2025's are key players straight out of the blocks.
18th - West Coast.
Obviously a horrific, one-win season. Having said that, the kids did a lot of the heavy lifting around the ground, which will be invaluable experience. Once Yeo was out in the preseason, we knew we'd have midfield issues and this was further exacerbated by the losses of Gov and Waterman, as well as Sheed retiring. Still, there were strong signs the team was on the improve and despite the one win for the year, WCE actually achieved a higher % than 2 out of the previous 3 seasons. Had a couple of those senior players not been out of the side through injury, we probably win those close ones against Richmond and Essendon at the very least, as well as potentially the game against Adelaide late in the season, which was also missing Harley. Out of the bottom 4, the Eagles were the team to improve the most significantly via the trade period and other mature signings. They are also ahead of both Essendon, Richmond and Melbourne in regards to list turnover and development age of young players.
Now, I'm not saying we're going to push finals or anything but compared to the bottom 4, WCE have improved their list the most during the 2025 offseason, with the caveat that North have a bazillion first rounders and should never have finished that low to begin with.
Will we make it out of the bottom 4 in 2026? Doubtful based on recent form, but if we compare ourselves to Richmond, Essendon and Melbourne, we should certainly be thinking we're a real possibility to finish above those 3 teams.
TLDR: Eagles are the best, book your GF tickets now.
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