Ladder Prediction 2026

[Cyclonus]

Top 6 and a finals win is the minimum I want. No idea if it will happen.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

We'll miss finals.

Doubt now it's a top 10.

But if we don’t finish top 6, we won't go anywhere.

 

[Rank]

1 Brisbane
2 Adelaide
3 Hawthorn
4 Gold Coast
5 Fremantle
6 Sydney
7 Geelong
8 Western Bulldogs
9 Collingwood
10 GWS
11 Saints
12 Port Adelaide
13 Carlton
14 Essendon
15 Melbourne
16 North Melbourne
17 Richmond
18 West Coast

 

[CDC60]

1 Brisbane
2 Sydney
3 Fremantle
4 Geelong
5 Gold Coast
6 Hawthorn
7 Western Bulldogs
8 Adelaide

9 St Kilda
10 Collingwood

11 GWS
12 Carlton
13 Port Adelaide
14 Melbourne
15 Essendon
16 North Melbourne
17 Richmond
18 West Coast

 

[1970crow]

Hawks
Suns
Giants
Lions
Pies
Freo

Crows
Cats
Swans
Dogs

Port
Saints
Tigers
Roos
Blues
Demons
Bombers
Eagles

Just re-did it. Reckon I’m overrating Dogs consistency, but here it is.

Lions
Hawks
Freo
Suns
Dogs
Giants

Crows
Swans
Pies
Cats

Port
Saints
Roos
Blues
Dons
Demons
Tigers
Eagles

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Brisbane
Gold Coast
GWS
Hawthorn
Fremantle
Adelaide
Port
Bulldogs

Sydney
Geelong

St Kilda
Collingwood
Melbourne
Richmond
Carlton
North Melbourne
Essendon
West Coast

 

[WeeBlake]

Brisbane
Gold Coast
GWS
Hawthorn
Fremantle
Adelaide
Port
Bulldogs

Sydney
Geelong

St Kilda
Collingwood
Melbourne
Richmond
Carlton
North Melbourne
Essendon
West Coast

I’ve been burned tipping the Cats to slide too many times. why do you think they will go badly backwards, rather than, say, us?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I’ve been burned tipping the Cats to slide too many times. why do you think they will go badly backwards, rather than, say, us?

I don't think we rely on the older guys as much as they do

 

[Scorpus]

I don't think we rely on the older guys as much as they do

They've missed top 4 only 4 times since 2006

 

[Golumless]

It would be a skill if it was a repeated trend over time, but it isn't.

We were +2.9 xWins last year but average -0.4 xWins a season over the last 5 seasons. That suggests our overperformance was luck or at the very least a massive outlier

Yeah, the +2.9 xWins is something we probably won't see again, however, it's more to do with how well our defense held up then offensive performance.

After all, there is building evidence the goalkicking is sustainable. For instance, there was minimal improvement in our goal kicking performance in 2025 compared to 2024 (+0.24 and +0.22 respectively), with similar numbers in set shot (+0.42 and +0.38) and a minor improvement in general play (+0.09 in 2025, 0 in 2024). The spike in those numbers compared to 2023 is from a much better shot selection, seeing our set shots went from 3.36 (with a +0.09 performance) to 3.55-3.56 over 2024-2025 and general play shots went from 2.81 to 2.87-2.97. It is worth noting we were close to league average in terms of expected scores in 2023 which indicates we're a highly skilled goalkicking team who are now picking good shots.

Defensively, it seems like the difference is in the number of shots we gave up, more so than accuracy. For instance, opposition had an xscore of 74.2 with a rating of -3.7 which isn't massive in terms of score, with us typically giving up the 6th worst quality shots (xscore of 3.2, with an under performance of -0.16). However, the devil in the detail is the expected score from where the opposition was winning the ball, seeing we gave up the third highest expected score of 85.6 (and as you can expect, the two grand finalist retained the ball in the most dangerous areas the most). We're not pariahs out of the top 6 in this regard though, with Hawthorn being the 4th worst team at this aspect (and both of us got worse at this as the season progresseed). Seems to relate to how well we defend ball movement considering the difference between that and xscore, with both stoppage and turnover being equally affected.

 

[FR0GGY]

Brisbane
Gold Coast
GWS
Hawthorn
Fremantle
Adelaide
Port
Bulldogs

Sydney
Geelong

St Kilda
Collingwood
Melbourne
Richmond
Carlton
North Melbourne
Essendon
West Coast

I reckon port above saints is bold.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

I reckon port above saints is bold.

Port have an incredibly easy draw.

I think they'll make the wildcard round, but unlikely to go beyond that.

 

[kirky]

I’ve been burned tipping the Cats to slide too many times. why do you think they will go badly backwards, rather than, say, us?

They were touched up in the GF.

Interesting to see how they react from that.

Still rely on the over 30 year old players.

 

[AFC979810]

Gotta go with my tried (and sometimes not so true) formula of 3 in and 3 out of the top 8.

Outs: Geelong, Collingwood, GWS
Ins: Saints, Sydney, Doggies.

Gold Coast
Sydney
Fremantle
Hawthorn
Brisbane
Doggies
Saints
Adelaide

GWS
Essendon

Port Adelaide
Collingwood
Geelong
Carlton
North Melbourne
Richmond
West Coast
Melbourne

Brownlow - NWM
Coleman - Curnow

 

[FR0GGY]

Gotta go with my tried (and sometimes not so true) formula of 3 in and 3 out of the top 8.

Outs: Geelong, Collingwood, GWS
Ins: Saints, Sydney, Doggies.

Gold Coast
Sydney
Fremantle
Hawthorn
Brisbane
Doggies
Saints
Adelaide

GWS
Essendon

Port Adelaide
Collingwood
Geelong
Carlton
North Melbourne
Richmond
West Coast
Melbourne

Brownlow - NWM
Brownlow - Curnow

Dual brownlow medalists or Curnow Coleman?

 

[Velvet George]

Dual brownlow medalists or Curnow Coleman?

Shoosh, I was going to bump this post when Curnow didn’t win the Brownlow

 

[Carmo]

Bris
Haw
Adl
Freo

Gws
Gc
Syd
Coll

WB
Geel

Port
Carl
Stk
Melb
Ess
Rich
Norf
Wc

 

[Ciao Giacomo]

1 Sydney
2. Fremantle
3. Gold Coast
4. Brisbane
5. Hawthorn
6. Adelaide

7. Geelong
8. Bulldogs
9. Collingwood
10. St Kilda

11. Poort Pear
12. GWS
13. Carlton
14. Melbourne

15. Kangaroos
16. Richmond
17 Essendon
18 West Coast

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

1 Sydney
2. Fremantle
3. Gold Coast
4. Brisbane
5. Hawthorn
6. Adelaide

7. Geelong
8. Bulldogs
9. Collingwood
10. St Kilda

11. Poort Pear
12. GWS
13. Carlton
14. Melbourne

15. Kangaroos
16. Richmond
17 Essendon
18 St Kilda

Saints win spoon... wouldn't have picked that... nor West Coast being relegated.

 

[Ciao Giacomo]

Saints win spoon... wouldn't have picked that... nor West Coast being relegated.

I am still hoping that we get The Poo plus NWM when St Kilda are relegated and Tassie take their place.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I am still hoping that we get The Poo plus NWM when St Kilda are relegated and Tassie take their place.

Roos more likely...

 

[adelaidecrows]

Im loathe to do this but i have a bad feeling about our chances this year. If we make it above the wild card teams id be surprised. In fact Im going to go so far as to state we will host the first ever wild card game at AO. So that would make us around 7/8th I guess,

1. Brisbane
2. Gold Coast
3. Fremantle
4. Sydney
5. Geelong
6. St Kilda

7. Western Bulldogs
8. Adelaide
9. Hawthorn
10. Collingwood

11. North Melbourne
12. Carlton
13. Port Adelaide
14. GWS
15. Melbourne
16. West Coast
17. Richmond
18. Essendon

 

[Thylacinus]

1 Brisbane
2. Freemantle
3. Adelaide
4. Bulldogs
5. Gold Coast
6. Hawthorn

7. Geelong
8. Sydney
9. Collingwood
10. St Kilda

11. GWS
12. Port Power
13. Carlton
14. Kangaroos

15. Richmond
16. Melbourne
17 Essendon
18 West Coast

 

[Cromulant]

We'll miss finals.

Wouldnt have thought so.

 

[Slim258]

Port have an incredibly easy draw.

I think they'll make the wildcard round, but unlikely to go beyond that.

Think you're overestimating their list, its terrible outside of
Butters, JHF, Rozee, Georgiades and Aliir.
10 of their 25 don't get games at other clubs.