Expectations for 2026

[Cuzz09]

Average more for and average less against and hopefully there are some wins attached.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

2010 to 2011 style please.

 

[Rivoroo17]

Here's my prediction I've been telling workmates, come round 18 we look a serious threat to potentially play finals through the wildcard round only 4 points in it between 12 and 10... and then Brisbane and GWS come along and pull our pants down like they always do and hawthorne spank us. I've been through the season and there are 9 (plus stk win =10) games that we could've been in a position to win or were in a clear spot to win it, but the general inexperience of our team at playing in front and our below average fitness cost us. Last 5 years 10th place has finished anywhere from 10-13 wins so we might be sitting at 8 or 9 wins come round 20 and then shit the bed against top 8.

 

[wctorp]

Mini’s 2nd year + 50 odd games under the belts now for the likes of Reid, Ginbey, Hough, Maric etc + the additions of Waterman, Yeo, Starcevich, Young from our last season

With a decent injury run and some extra depth I expect to go to each home game with thoughts of a possible win if we play somewhere near our potential. Realistically I’m shooting for 6 wins and a % in the‎ 70’s. If our WAFL side don’t make finals I’ll be disappointed.

 

[Astro7]

I've always got rose coloured glasses on, especially at the start of the year but I honestly think we now have the potential to be better than the clubs below

Richmond
Essendon
Carlton
Melbourne
North Melbourne

Equal with clubs like
St Kilda
Collingwood
Port Adelaide

I think we're a sneaky suprise chance at a top 8 finish if we actually have some luck.

Always enjoy some optimism and it's hard not to have preseason rose-coloured glasses on, especially with the list we have now. Top 8, hmm....you must've got the expensive rose-coloured glasses?

Thats a big call for a side that finished 2025 with a single win.

Personally I think finishing outside the Bottom 4 would be a herculean task.

This is Mini's first "proper" year as coach. Lets see if he's got the chops first before becoming a sneaky finalist.

Agree, finishing above bottom 4 would be a great stage 1, if do-able? Not sure if it's such a herculean task. Looking at some of last year's games, we were right in them, with a very underwhelming list. Reckon from what we've seen (early days), Mini has the chops, just didn't have the list. That's why there could be a bit of a surprise ahead, when it all comes together. Midfield's going to be much improved (still needs a top up), just need to sort out the small forwards. But from what we've seen at matchsims already, Mini is trying out players in different positions, particularly mid+forward.

 

[EdCurnowRules]

As a former country football hack, one of the clubs I played with used to write the years targets and stretch targets up on a board, driven by the whole squad. Some were outrageous and quite funny. I’d like to know if this is something that AFL clubs do and what WCE players think are reasonable and ridiculous / stretch possibilities for the year

 

[PremiershipNo4]

Confidence and belief are the biggest areas of concern for me, the talent is there.
If we get a few hidings early it could be a long year, if we can get a couple of wins early and the players get some much needed confidence then we might have a great year.
We’ve got to get that WC arrogance and swagger back as early as possible.

 

[liam123]

Should win the NAB cup if Glass can contain Fevola.
West Coast will do well this year. Teams only suck when I don’t support them hard enough and I’ve done very little for west coast since covid.
Yes, I do apologise, it’s mostly my fault.

 

[Cainozz]

Confidence and belief are the biggest areas of concern for me, the talent is there.
If we get a few hidings early it could be a long year, if we can get a couple of wins early and the players get some much needed confidence then we might have a great year.
We’ve got to get that WC arrogance and swagger back as early as possible.

100% - belief and confidence is paramount. I fear we’ve become a club who has forgotten how to win. That’s a hard thing to shake. We saw how long it took Melbourne in the early to mid 2010s to shake it. North Melbourne now. It will come back but sometimes you just need a couple of lucky breaks to snag an unexpected win so the group gains belief. Otherwise Mini’s message becomes harder and harder to get through to the players. Hoping we can get a couple of wins in the first 6 rounds to set up a little belief in the remaining part of the season.

 

[Bestbird]

Would be great if we could lift the % to somewhere near or above 80 this year. In the past this has been a good measure for developing teams in terms of rapid improvement in the following years despite the amount of wins.

 

[No Hassle Hough]

Increase our average clearances by 5 and inside 50s by 4.

If we can do that, we should win some games against fellow strugglers (North, Richmond, Essendon and Melbourne). May even pinch a win against the next tier (Power, Dockers, Giants).

 

[oak79]

8 wins IF we have a good year injury wise.

4-5 wins if we don't.

 

[Art OF war]

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I think most are overly optimistic. See us with 2-4 wins, possibly a 5th is a stretch and would be considered an epic year.

This comes down to our midfield. We are putrid here. Even with Yeo being fit, Reid , McCarthy (1st year as a full time AFL mid) & Flynn (love the bloke but his peak is a C+ player) - that's a bottom 3 starting midfield. Harley will be a star but he's going to be inconsistent again this year - less so than last but the fact is he's a 20 year old and you can't put those expectations on him to win games yet. Willem looks sensational but he needs 3-4 years before he can win games off his own boot.

3 wins is my guess, 2nd last (behind Essendon) with a higher percentage than LY and less blow outs/more competitive for longer.

 

[evans1863]

North x2 at home
Richmond x2
Port x2
Essendon at home

That's 7 winnable games. 3 wins should be the minimum from those.

We showed last season that we can compete on occasions with bigger sides, so there's no reason we can't pick up a shock win somewhere. Carlton and Melbourne look vulnerable.

Our list has most potential for growth in the youngsters (Ginbey, Allan, Hough, Harley, Hewett, Archer and Shanahan should elevate). Add in Waterman, Edwards and Yeo (anything at all from Yeo is big for us) to hopefully contribute more than last season, and Young, Dev, Schoenberg and Macrae to add to us further.

Which of our key players from last year is likely to recede? Given their age, Owies, Cole, Cripps and Kelly could go backwards but outside of Cripps and Cole we didn't rely on that list too much last year... Ok we lost Liam Ryan

31

Liam Ryan

Age

29

Ht

181cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

2.7

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.3

5star

D

9.9

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.3

3star

T

1.6

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

9.0

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.6

5star

and we did get half a season out of an out of form OA.

I'll be surprised if we don't get at least 5 wins. However I am ever the optimist.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

With a decent injury run and some extra depth I expect to go to each home game with thoughts of a possible win if we play somewhere near our potential. Realistically I’m shooting for 6 wins and a % in the‎ 70’s. If our WAFL side don’t make finals I’ll be disappointed.

This is more than fair. Although I've five wins as the benchmark - would be nice if some of those kids who have been in our system for three to six years take their game to the next level and play their roles in us winning six games.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I think most are overly optimistic.

This comes down to our midfield. We are putrid here.

A higher percentage than LY and less blow outs/more competitive for longer.

I'm glad someone else is talking my language.

Health permitting I think Yeo, Kelly and Harley start on the ball with Graham and Willem on the wings. McCarthy first exchange on-baller with Hewett and Dewar (wing) coming on next. The reality is, I think one to two of the depth recruits (Robertson, Macrae and Schoenberg) will play depending on the health of Yeo, Kelly and Hewett. This a lot stronger than what we've selected in the past four years or so.

The development of the likes of Hewett, Dewar, Maric, Bazzo, Hall and the depth recruits will be key to our short-term progress.

 

[Shueygod]

Reid, McCarthy (if he takes to the midfield), Hewett (provided he improves his fitness) is a more than acceptable offensive trio imo. Need one of the new additions (Robertson?) to fill that defensive mid role to a high level.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

Reid, McCarthy (if he takes to the midfield), Hewett (provided he improves his fitness) is a more than acceptable offensive trio imo. Need one of the new additions (Robertson?) to fill that defensive mid role to a high level.

I know a lot of people are theorising this trio, but I think it just lacks maturity. Graham, Robertson, Macrae will likely feature with two of those three given their relative inexpeirence.

 

[Shueygod]

I know a lot of people are theorising this trio, but I think it just lacks maturity. Graham, Robertson, Macrae will likely feature with two of those three given their relative inexpeirence.

Yeah 100% can only have 2/3 at a time. What I was saying with the defensive mid comment.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

Yeah 100% can only have 2/3 at a time. What I was saying with the defensive mid comment.

Ahh, gotcha. I think Mini will use Dev/Macrae in that role.

 

[Shueygod]

Ahh, gotcha. I think Mini will use Dev/Macrae in that role.

It’s a role that in theory is the easiest to fill (Long, Nash, Atkins). From an offensive standpoint Harley, Hewett and McCarthy aren’t considerably worse than most.

I don’t think our midfield is “far below afl standard” anymore.

Provided Hewett can improve his fitness, it matches up fairly well to 2/4 prelim sides from last year.

 

[Rowan18]

North x2 at home
Richmond x2
Port x2
Essendon at home

That's 7 winnable games. 3 wins should be the minimum from those.

We showed last season that we can compete on occasions with bigger sides, so there's no reason we can't pick up a shock win somewhere. Carlton and Melbourne look vulnerable.

Our list has most potential for growth in the youngsters (Ginbey, Allan, Hough, Harley, Hewett, Archer and Shanahan should elevate). Add in Waterman, Edwards and Yeo (anything at all from Yeo is big for us) to hopefully contribute more than last season, and Young, Dev, Schoenberg and Macrae to add to us further.

Which of our key players from last year is likely to recede? Given their age, Owies, Cole, Cripps and Kelly could go backwards but outside of Cripps and Cole we didn't rely on that list too much last year... Ok we lost Liam Ryan and we did get half a season out of an out of form OA.

I'll be surprised if we don't get at least 5 wins. However I am ever the optimist.

The way I look at it, we have those 7 winnable games plus a game against Melbourne. I view par as 50/50 in that bracket - so 4 wins. I also think we were a 4/5 win team last year but luck wasn't on our side in a lot of close ones (Bombers at home, Richmond away, North in Bunbury) - so this is no form of a stretch.

Then throw in random luck against others and I figure another 3/4 wins could come from somewhere. So I'd like to think we're a 50% chance of 8 wins this year.

My optimist gets me to around 10-12 wins if absolutely everything went right. We win all 8 against minnows and jag 4 wins from luck. But we're talking 5% chance type of thing.

We could also have another bad year and get 2-4 wins. Another lower probability.

 

[PepperTom32]

North x2 at home
Richmond x2
Port x2
Essendon at home

That's 7 winnable games. 3 wins should be the minimum from those.

We showed last season that we can compete on occasions with bigger sides, so there's no reason we can't pick up a shock win somewhere. Carlton and Melbourne look vulnerable.

Our list has most potential for growth in the youngsters (Ginbey, Allan, Hough, Harley, Hewett, Archer and Shanahan should elevate). Add in Waterman, Edwards and Yeo (anything at all from Yeo is big for us) to hopefully contribute more than last season, and Young, Dev, Schoenberg and Macrae to add to us further.

Which of our key players from last year is likely to recede? Given their age, Owies, Cole, Cripps and Kelly could go backwards but outside of Cripps and Cole we didn't rely on that list too much last year... Ok we lost Liam Ryan and we did get half a season out of an out of form OA.

I'll be surprised if we don't get at least 5 wins. However I am ever the optimist.

Clay

 

[Scotland]

Expectations: low. How shit we are is going to depend on who is available and how quickly our younger players can be AFL standard. Duursma and CDT as picks 1 and 4 might be superstars one day but someone like Dev who won't has still done 5+ pre-seasons. Harley Reid was good enough to poll Brownlow votes in games 4, 6, 9 and 11 but then not in his next 18 games of footy. He's probably another season or two away from being ready to be his best.

We saw in 2024 we started with 3 rubbish losses then had a good game against Sydney at Gather Round, wins over Richmond and Freo, a close loss to Essendon then a win over Melbourne in the space of 7 games. There was some positive press about WC for the first time in years (mainly Reidgasming). Drawing the line at ~6 goals it was 5 wins, 8 competitive losses and then 10 losses between 50 and 100. Last year not so good, but we got next to nothing from AA Waterman and Gov, nothing from Yeo, TB left, next to nothing from Allen etc.

I would like to see something like 4-6 wins, 4-6 losses by 40+ and the remaining games competitive. Finishing with a percentage of 70-75 would be a big step in the right direction. We're going to have big losses because the list profile won't allow consistent performance even at relatively low level. I just don't want to see an 80 point loss turn into a pattern and undo any good work done.