Poll: Expectations for 2026

[Sheeds]

Like many, I have no idea what to expect and that is a good thing. I don't think it can be underestimated the job Josh has in changing the cultural mindset that has permeated throughout the club during the Hinkley era. Close enough is good enough is hopefully a thing of the past.

Rightfully there will be a level of patience from most Port fans on this journey and a new game plan may take some time to develop and a there are a lot of new faces to integrate.

I can say I have hope which I haven't been able to say for a long time. If things are not trending in the right direction and don't work in x amount of years then change will be made which is what most clubs do. I don't expect Josh will be given four contract extensions and 13 years to try and get things right like a certain someone.

 

[MrChow]

Compared to our last Top 4 finish.

Rioli for Durdin, Richards and Berry.
Dixon for Lord/Whitlock.
Boak for Wehr/Brodie/Moraes

Houston out. Lukosius in.

Bergman in the middle, Rozee to half back.

More games into JHF, Farell, Jones, Burgoyne, Sweet types…

Wines on the slide.

I don’t think our list has improved, unless we see a break out from a few of Luko/Berry/Sinn/Whitlock, etc and Marshall can get a consistent run at it.

I think the coach is better, and there are more genuine midfield, groundball footballers on the list now. So hopefully our fitness can increase

 

[Duck Farmer]

Out: Houston
In: Sinn

Huuuuuge downgrade

Out: Rioli
In: Richards

Big downgrade

Out: SPP
In: Luko

Meh, different types, probably works out to a draw

Out: Dixon
In: Whitlock

Whitlock has potential, but for now, big downgrade

Out: Boak
In: Wehr

Downgrade

Out: Finlayson
In: Berry

Similar to Whitlock, Berry will hopefully turn out better, but for now, downgrade

Out: Soldo
In: Sweet

Meh

Out: McKenzie
In: BZT

Meh

Out: Burton
In: Durdin

Meh

Out: Hinkley
In: Carr

Huuuuuge upgrade.

 

[240volt]

I’m expecting the new coach syndrome will see us start pretty well, even Norf looked good in the first weeks of Clarkson.
A much better draw with some more winnable games to start wouldn’t hurt either.
After that injuries will play a big part of the team’s performance.
We are going in basically with the same side as last year but hopefully an improvement in the injury department.
Fitness is something that has to be addressed as we looked like a bunch of old moles at the end of some games last year.
I’m not expecting much next year but believe how we draft and trade in the next two years will shape our future.
As for actual ladder position I see us in the 12-15 range.

 

[KanesBurner]

I’d say in the 6-10 range with a solid season.

No one in the media seems to be taking into account our ridiculous injury list plus the fact we ended up with the 2nd hardest draw in the league this year.

Next year we’ll have a bottom 6 draw and our top 6 double up by default should be the Crows.

 

[MrChow]

I’d say in the 6-10 range with a solid season.

No one in the media seems to be taking into account our ridiculous injury list plus the fact we ended up with the 2nd hardest draw in the league this year.

Next year we’ll have a bottom 6 draw and our top 6 double up by default should be the Crows.

I feel like we will all know what kind of year we are going to have after the first month.

 

[KanesBurner]

I feel like we will all know what kind of year we are going to have after the first month.

Hopefully we have the McCrae new coach bounce rather than the Cox new coach game plan struggles.

 

[Scholz Supremacy]

Hopefully we have the McCrae new coach bounce rather than the Cox new coach game plan struggles.

I think we will.

Collingwood finished 17th in Buckley’s last year, whereas Sydney made the GF in Longmire’s last year.

 

[Portmagpies36]

Georgiades and Burgoyne cracked our side and played plenty of good footy in 2024, so let's account for me being shit at picking teams by subbing them in for the two worst players in that side, probably Evans and Dyl Wil.

Out: Houston
In: Sinn

Huuuuuge downgrade

Out: Rioli
In: Richards

Big downgrade

Out: SPP
In: Luko

Meh, different types, probably works out to a draw

Out: Dixon
In: Whitlock

Whitlock has potential, but for now, big downgrade

Out: Boak
In: Wehr

Downgrade

Out: Finlayson
In: Berry

Similar to Whitlock, Berry will hopefully turn out better, but for now, downgrade

Out: Soldo
In: Sweet

Meh

Out: McKenzie
In: BZT

Meh

Out: Burton
In: Durdin

Meh

Kidding yourself if you think our list now is as good as our list in 2024, unfortunately. And while Richmond, Melbourne and Carlton have all spectacularly shit the bed and North, West Coast and Essendon don't seem likely to snap out of being perennial cellar dwellers any time soon, I'd say the other 11 lists have on average gotten better. On list strength I'd have us about 12th.

Thank God a dose of reality

 

[240volt]

Thank God a dose of reality

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

David King at the end of trading day - the last of 18 clubs reviewed - he had a crack at 17th reviewed North, basically said they are going nowhere based on trades having an impact on the club since Clarko got there, then said about Port;

"I just think this is about to fall off a cliff, this, this list ( Ralph - that's a big call), 3 top 30 picks in the last 5 years, I think, they got, came in. Done a lot of trading, got a whole hand full of nothing if you ask me. We all talk about Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis. Outside of that, Georgiades obviously, what else is there? I think they're in for a lot of pain to come, they're about to plummet if you ask me."

Montagna - they don't want to re build, they've said that, but what are they doing with their list? yeah its gonna be the big question this season.

I suspect this is very much the opinion across the whole non SA media.

Since 2020 draft/trade period

Top 30 Picks
2020 Lachie Jones #16 using 2 picks in 30's ( traded out 2020 1st Rd in 2019 to get #16 that then became #18 and we drafted Georgiades)
2021 Josh Sinn #12
2024 Joe Berry #15
2024 Jack Whitlock #33 - started at #29 before Academy/F-S picks


Traded In - concentrate on 1st and 2nd Round picks ( delisted free agents picked up with no draft picks are ignored)
2020 Fantasia - for pick #29 + 2021 Rd3 pick ..... one good year, great 2021 QF, but a bust.
2020 Allir - for 2021 Rd2 pick ...... and All Oz player.

2021 Sinn draft night upgrade with WCE, from #12 - for #14 + 2022 Rd2 pick to WCE ... still to prove his trade picks.

2022 JHF and Willie Rioli

15

Willie Rioli

Age

30

Ht

175cm

Wt

78kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.0

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.8

4star

G

1.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

11.0

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.6

3star

- for Picks #8, 43, 53, 57, 2023 first-round pick, 2023 second-round pick, 2023 third-round pick and traded back in 2023 second-round pick (tied to Collingwood), 2023 future third-round pick (tied to Fremantle)

2023 trade out 2024 Rd1 pick for Freo's pick #23 and 2024 Rd 2 pick, and via other combined trades got us Ratugolea, Soldo and Sweet. Colingwood's Rd 2 pick in 2023 was #41, which was part of Soldo trade.

2023 trade out Duursma (2018 1st Rd pick) for Zerk-Thatcher + #73 + 2 x 4th round picks

2024 traded out Dan Houston

9

Dan Houston

Age

28

Ht

186cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.2

5star

K

11.8

4star

HB

6.4

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

3.0

5star

MG

289.2

4star

D

17.6

4star

K

11.6

4star

HB

6.0

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.4

4star

MG

319.9

5star

D

16.6

4star

K

12.4

5star

HB

4.2

4star

M

7.0

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

279.8

5star

and picks 39 (Port's 2024 Rd 2 pick) and 58 + 2025 1st Rd pick, traded in for Jack Lukosius

12

Jack Lukosius

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.8

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.4

3star

D

14.8

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

3.3

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.8

3star

G

0.4

3star

D

13.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

0.4

3star

, Joe Richards, Rory Atkins

32

Rory Atkins

Age

31

Ht

185cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.9

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

7.9

5star

M

4.6

4star

T

1.9

4star

MG

367.4

5star

D

9.0

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

0.3

1star

T

2.7

4star

MG

147.7

3star

D

14.2

4star

K

8.8

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.2

3star

MG

217.8

4star

, picks 13, 29, 36 and 50

2025 trade out #29 for Durdin and Carlton's 2026 Rd2 pick to help with a Cochrane matching bid in 2026.

"A whole hand full of nothing" traded in? Not quite, but not a great hand full either.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

I am normally pretty aligned with Schluzy's view of football but I disagree pretty strongly with how he assessed those two teams.

I'd be comparing Houston and Rozee, Rioli and Berry/Durdin, Powell-Pepper and Richards, Dixon and Whitlock, Finlayson and Lukosius, Soldo and Sweet, McKenzie and Ratugolea, Burton and Zerk-Thatcher, Boak and Moraes/Wehr. Not withstanding mentioning the ghosts of Spud Valley of McEntee, Narkle and Fevans and probably a few more I've tried to hard to forget.

Whether you think one lot is better than the other, what is obvious to me is that there is a lot of young talent getting games instead of middling spuds and Hinkley favourites.

 

[MrChow]

I am normally pretty aligned with Schluzy's view of football but I disagree pretty strongly with how he assessed those two teams.

I'd be comparing Houston and Rozee, Rioli and Berry/Durdin, Powell-Pepper and Richards, Dixon and Whitlock, Finlayson and Lukosius, Soldo and Sweet, McKenzie and Ratugolea, Burton and Zerk-Thatcher, Boak and Moraes/Wehr. Not withstanding mentioning the ghost of Spud Valley of McEntee, Narkle and Fevans and probably a few more I've tried to hard to forget.

Whether you think one lot is better than the other, what is obvious to me is that there is a lot of young talent getting games instead of middling spuds and Hinkley favourites.

I’d agree with more of this.

I do think our list was better when we last made Top 4 though by player names (ie Dixon, Boak, Houston, Rioli) vs Luko, Richards, Durdin and draft picks.

I don’t reckon anyone has mentioned growth of players. I think you’ll find the majority of our list Rozee and Butters age and under are only now starting to hit their prime, and will be better footballers this year. Even some of the older ones like Esava and Sweet have improved.

Wines, possibly Allir for me are the ones getting on.

The rest is coaching. Priority on fitness, ground ball gets, and learning how to throw the ball in front of you to team advantage when you get tackled.

 

[Schulzenfest]

People using 'Houston to Rozee' as a comparison are aware that if you do that you also have to take into account that two time All Australian midfielder Rozee not playing in the midfield any more, right? Because so far it doesn't seem like they are.

And if you say 'we replaced him with Bergman'? Okay, well Bergman isn't a two time All Australian midfielder so that's still a downgrade, and then on top of that you have to consider Bergman not being in defence anymore. You can't just magic up a position switch into an entirely new player.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

We're winning the flag.

Lids arent just off, they're orbiting Jupiter

 

[bomberclifford]

Schluzy.

 

[TazD]

Rozee is only a dual AA midfielder because it helps Kane with his Rozee>Walsh shitposting.

 

[johnnysix]

I don't care if we have to slug it out for a few years estabishing a team identity and game plan, it'll be worth it. Our whole identity for last 5 or so years minimum, has been "do it for Kenny". When we achieved this, it was largely off the back of herculean individual performances. One of the reasons we suffered last year, is we didn't get the stand-out individual games from Butters, Rozee and JHF. The number of times JHF almost single-handedly turned a game with a purple patch of brute force footy in 2024 can't be underestimated. It was this lack of system and reliance on individual performance, combined with the 'bar lowering' "finals are scary" rhetoric from Ken that killed us in finals. If we can work on implementing a solid syustem with accountability while still getting some of those stand-out performances, it will go a long way to us making the eight. Whatever hit we take is worth it.

 

[longdonkey]

Its easy to say that Dixon, Boak, Houston and Rioli are better than Lukosius, Richards, Sinn and Berry.

The truth is Dixon and Boak were cooked or close to cooked for years and in my opinion there have been glimpses of Lukosius being able to provide the goals we lose from Rioli/Dixon. Sinn and Berry are only going to get better, what we miss is the quality of Houston and Boak doing what they do best.

At some stage once guys go > 30 yrs old you have to have some renewal and that is what we are going through now. I wish Hinkley wasn't here the past 2 years and we could have drafted better during that time.

In my opinion there are guys being played out of position under Hinkley and once that is changed we will get a quick bounce.

 

[Willsy10]

I think the loss of Dixon and Houston are the big ones we need to adjust to because they were major components of our entire system. But Dixon was a warmed up corpse in 2024, but we still channelled everything through him and somehow managed to make a prelim. We haven't had a chance to see how Georgiades + Luko/Marshall work together.

Burton, Boak and Finlayson aren't big losses at all. All borderline best 23 (even in 2024) and absolutely no reason the players we've drafted or traded in the last couple years can't offer as much as them.

 

[El_Scorcho]

People using 'Houston to Rozee' as a comparison are aware that if you do that you also have to take into account that two time All Australian midfielder Rozee not playing in the midfield any more, right? Because so far it doesn't seem like they are.

And if you say 'we replaced him with Bergman'? Okay, well Bergman isn't a two time All Australian midfielder so that's still a downgrade, and then on top of that you have to consider Bergman not being in defence anymore. You can't just magic up a position switch into an entirely new player.

You also can't just line the players up and compare them one for one and argue that our list was better 2 seasons ago ignoring positional changes and improvement from players who have been on the list the whole time. That's not how lists work.

Anything our midfield has lost since 2024 will be gained in other areas, and i'm not particularly convinced it's lost much at all all things considered. I think Rozee moving to halfback is a net gain for the team because of how damaging he can be there.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

I won't be surprised if Whitlock next year provides more than Dixon did in his final year.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

People using 'Houston to Rozee' as a comparison are aware that if you do that you also have to take into account that two time All Australian midfielder Rozee not playing in the midfield any more, right? Because so far it doesn't seem like they are.

And if you say 'we replaced him with Bergman'? Okay, well Bergman isn't a two time All Australian midfielder so that's still a downgrade, and then on top of that you have to consider Bergman not being in defence anymore. You can't just magic up a position switch into an entirely new player.

That's the issue when you want to compare two teams and you cherry pick matchups to suit your argument.

If you want to compare two teams, you have compare all of the components.

 

[Schulzenfest]

That's the issue when you want to compare two teams and you cherry pick matchups to suit your argument.

If you want to compare two teams, you have compare all of the components.

Which is exactly what I did, and you didn't.

Houston is replaced by Rozee the defender? Great. Who replaces Rozee the midfielder then? Bergman? Okay, then who replaces Bergman the defender?

 

[bomberclifford]

I won't be surprised if Whitlock next year provides more than Dixon did in his final year.

He's the one I'm most excited about watching next year. He looked very comfortable on the ground in the games he played and with a new coaching group around him, it'll be good to see him develop his game.