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Poll: Expectations for 2026

What are your expectations in 2026?

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    214
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On field, do not care. However I do believe we will rocket up the ladder again.

Off field, the messaging to evolve, we start to carry an aura of expectation in our language and we start to talk like winners again. We start to ‘engage’ fans again, genuinely appreciate being Athletes and Idols to so many young Kids.
 
EskimoPAFC said:
My expectations are far more about standards, culture and game plan than they are about ladder position. These last 6 years, from the no captains, to the August deadline, to the "succession plan", have probably been the most pathetic period the club has seen in 155 years and there is a lot of damage to repair. I want to see that Port Adelaide is actually coming back. If we can show that development and a path to a flag that I can believe in, then I don't really care if we finish 12th doing it.

So in short, Jack Watts.
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100%
 
It is very, very difficult to give expectations when our Head Coach hasn't actually said a word which is starting to get a bit distracting.

Carr has to work out whether 2025 was an aberration or the norm. Once 'the decision' was made, Hinkley started to sook and this eventually cascaded down into the team. I am hoping that Carr sees 2025 as a one off and that the team can be turned around very quickly.

These are things that seem to have been a main part of the Hinkley regime that Carr should fix:

a good, balanced gameplan
setting standards and accountability
better players at the back end of the rotation of the 23
ditching the unaccountable swill
ditching middling to poor spuds
ditching old blokes
not playing injured blokes
better skills
stronger bodies
playing a full, hard game, not giving up
no loser talk
strong Port Adelaide creed messaging

That is a lot of poor coaching in there which means there is a lot of improving to do as well. It's almost like Hinkley didn't know and didn't care.

In the end, the processes will be more important than the results but it is possible the results come back. IF we have an easy early run, I could see us doing well.

I'm very interested to see if the Hornet will take off or just be another good player.
I'm interested to see how Byrne-Jones and Farrell go if Carr demands something more than good kicking.
There are plenty more that I'm interested in but I'll save that for other threads coming up.

We could easily make the 8 and snip at the Top 4.
 
Last edited:
9th-14th amidst a constant media campaign snidely potting the fanbase and Tredrea (footy-related) at every opportunity
 

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A reset year but with a similar outcome to 2025 so 10th-14th

I'm more hoping for a mindset and cultural improvement than on field

Recruit campaigners
Train to be campaigners
Game plan to be campaignery
Coach like campaigners

So sick to death of nice Port Adelaide. It's not who we are.

Be campaigners
 
There is absolutely no reason why we can't compete for and win a premiership in 2026, and my expectation is that we'll do exactly that.

We all agree that Hinkley was holding us back. We all agree that we can do better without him. We all know that the club put the cue in the rack in 2025 and we absolutely had key injury issues in 2025 in addition to that. Not many clubs can handle having most of their starting key position stocks out for most of the season.

The core of this list has finished top 3 on 4 occasions 6 seasons, and if you can make the top 3 you can win a flag (unless Hinkley is your coach).

None of this "let's see if we can get back to finals". If you want to punch someone in the mouth, aim for the back of their head.
 
People keep saying "i'm hoping for us to be more Port Adelaide, a mindset improvement and consistent performances where we show up every week"

My brothers and sisters in Christ, if that happens then we're neck deep in the flag race. We went 16-7 and finished 2nd on the ladder 2 seasons ago. The anomaly is 2025.
 
New coach(es) and gameplan gets us into the 8, unless we're particularly unlucky with injuries.

Beyond that, we're relying on a few younger players, who've now played 20-50 games to step up to the next level.

On the other end of the spectrum, Aliir and Wines at 31 staying in form and injury free is important. But so is giving their replacements some gametime rather than forcing them to play injured, as Ken loved to do with Aliir.
 
I go into 2026 just like every season since 2014, expecting us to win between 10 to 15 games. Even in 2013 I thought before the season started we could win 10 games if some things went well for us - ie get our best players on the park after 2 years of shocking run with injuries.

The 2 main things affecting our win/loss ratio, will be injuries and the FIXture. We don't have massive depth, so we need a good run with injuries and the FIXture with back to back travel and 5 day and 6 day breaks as well us double up games will have a decent impact.

If the following 10 players all play 18 plus games and no more than a couple of games are 3 of them missing, then I reckon we make finals:

KPDs Aliir, Ratugolea, BZT ............... this year played 21, 13, 12
KPFs Georgiades, Lukosius, Marshall.. this year played 22, 6, 0 .... and Luko's 2nd game he played all of 3 minutes
Mids Butters, Rozee, JHF, Bergman ... this year played 19, 21, 15, 18 and Bergman plays in the middle not spare parts man

And our rucks don't have long injury spells.

Plus we need to see continued improvement from Whitlock, Cochrane, Berry and Visentini. I'm also keen to see how much Ramm improves by.
 
We should be able to beat every bottom ten team from 2025 in season 2026, based on talent on the park. Bulldogs and Swans the two 50:50, whilst the Saints are a question mark. Our extra six games should feature a showdown, and something like 2-3 double ups from the bottom six, 1-2 double ups from 6-12, and maybe one other double up against a top 6 team.

So let’s just assume we beat who we should, go fifty fifty in mid table and lose to the top.

After 17 games we should have 7 wins, 7 losses and 3 undecided 50:50. Considering our potential double ups, that’s 3 wins, 1 50:50, 2 losses. So 10 wins, 4 undecided and 9 losses - if we beat who we should beat. Win the undecided and/knock off a top team or two and we push for finals.
 

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It'll take more than one pre-season to completely wipe the mentality of Hinkley from the players. 6-10 is the range. Where in there depends on injuries, there's some positions we're still very thin.

In 2027 Josh will have been able to cull more deadwood (especially the contracted for 2026 Temu coaches) and build on that for a real flag crack. Like most it's mainly about seeing a gameplan (especially forward entries / setup with some sort of structure), intent and the 'We'll never give up' attitude that left in the 2015 pre-season and never returned. Add in seeing Josh make moves from the coaches box when things aren't going right and looking angry / unhappy when we lose.
 
I’m just excited to take joy in our wins again. I’m just intrigued to see how far we can possibly go now after a decade of our ceiling obviously being a Preliminary Final loss.

I’m normally pretty optimistic. I never canceled my membership, I still watched all of our games and even still traveled around the country to see us play, but I was as over Hinkley and jaded as anyone else.

But now that he’s gone I have that excitement, optimism and passion for this football club back. I especially want to win even more now to prove that we were right all along and to stick it up Kane Cornes, Whateley, Rucci etc. and all the nuffies who argued with us for a decade about the most unsuccessful coach in the history of the game.
 
Since 2020 covid reduced season, the number of changes to the final 8 have been 4 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 3 in 2024 and 4 in 2025. So if the pattern continues, there should be 3 in 2026.

Bulldogs and Sydney are most likely to take up 2 of those 3 slots in 2026.

Since 1995, given 1994 was the first year year of the 8, all bar 2 years 2012 and 2013 affected by expansion teams, at least 1 club has come from Outside the top 8 to next year either finishing the minor round in the Top 4 or playing in a PF (given the impact the finals bye is having on top 4 sides going out in straight sets).

It's happened every year since 2021 and this year Adelaide went from 15th to minor premiers but was knocked out in straight sets, and Collingwood went from 9th to 4th and finished ranked 3rd because Hawks made the PF from 8th.

So expect 1 big riser in 2026.

The other rule of Top 8 to Bottom 4 which happened every year between 1995 and 2010, then the first 4 years of the expansion clubs, it didn't happen, then it started up again, happened in 2021 and 2022, but not the last 3 years, mainly because the bottom 3 sides, North, West Coast and Richmond have been so crappy.
 
Depth is a weakness, so our injury run is critical. Getting something out of 2025's long term injured and out of those who hobbled on despite injury is the other big key. Moraes, Berry & Whitlock impact more in 2026 and we look less fragile, more dangerous, carry fewer... passengers. At a minimum someone apart from "Mitch" needs to kick goals, throw in a few less 2025-special Q4 fades, and we're in the mix for 5-8 with the Swans who had a horror first half of injuries, and the Dogs.

But who drops? Freo or GWS because "underachievers"? Do the Crows take a short implosion as they tend to do post self-inflicted "embarrassments"? Geelong or Collingwood because age finally catches up to cap & trade shenanigans? Any injuries to a very few at GC and they drop back. Hard to pick the "drops" without resorting to stereotype and cliche.

Smarter play and better between-the-ears courtesy of Carr could get us to a respectable prelim performance instead of a standard Hinkley embarrassment. But even from there "It's a long way to the top" as a bunch of loons once sang.
 
Teams currently clearly above us:

Brisbane
Geelong
Collingwood
Freo
Hawks
GC Suns
Dogs
St Kilda (their recruits will move them up into the 8 easily)
Adelaide (but reality year this year with tougher draw and old man Tex trying again)

that's 9 above us.

Then I believe we sit in a pack as follows:

Port
GWS
Sydney

Then the rest well below us:

Carlton
Melbourne
Essendon
North
Richmond
WCE


So I expect us to finish between 10th and 13th.

If by some miracle and with a soft draw, we are a chance to sneak in to take the spot of Dogs or Adelaide.

I think Brisbane wins it again this year with Hawthorn as runner ups.
 

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Tbh I am just looking forward to not seeing the same crap week in week out. Would love to see some improved forward craft and we need to be a shit load fitter. A good run of injuries and we might sneak in the 8. But realistically, I expect us to be just outside. Will take a couple of years.
 
Is our list really that much worse than 2024, where we finished Top 4 and reached a prelim under Stinkley?

9 of the Top 10 in our B&F that year are still on the list. You'd expect an easier draw in 2026.

I'd consider our only significant losses from 2024 to be:
Dan Houston (5th in B&F)
Willie Rioli
Travis Boak

The rest - make up your own mind as how much we (will) miss them and whether they have been replaced effectively:
Charlie Dixon, 18(!) out of 26 games in 2024
Francis Evans, 17 games (started as sub 6 times)
Ryan Burton, 15 games
Jed McEntee, 14 games
Quinton Narkle, 13 games (sub 8 times)
Jeremy Finlayson, 12 games
Dylan Williams, 5 games

Certainly not suggesting we are a finals lock, but the list on paper is OK albeit with gaps.

A combination of a very good preseason, a good gameplan and a coach that instils belief should see us challenging for a spot in the 8. Here's hoping the club can put all that together.
 
Even if we don’t set the world on fire in Josh’s first year, at least we’ve got a “Remember 2025?” reverse Uno card to use against the usual suspects.

There’s no chance that we’ll be as confused, lethargic and dead inside as were in 2025. At least Josh Carr with the help of some new face assistants in Dew, Reeves, Webster etc. will breathe some much needed life into a playing group that’s only ever known the loser mentality of Ken Hinkley.
 
Scholz Supremacy said:
Even if we don’t set the world on fire in Josh’s first year, at least we’ve got a “Remember 2025?” reverse Uno card to use against the usual suspects.

There’s no chance that we’ll be as confused, lethargic and dead inside as were in 2025. At least Josh Carr with the help of some new face assistants in Dew, Reeves, Webster etc. will breathe some much needed life into a playing group that’s only ever known the loser mentality of Ken Hinkley.
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Yeah I fully agree.

There was no doubt that 2025 was a full blown write off from very early on. The succession plan was a mistake, Hinkley didn't give a **** all year and that attitude permeated the entire club. We had a bunch of key injuries and sent a bunch of key players off for early surgery. It's the worst season in the history of the club given the quality of the list.

Unless we're also going to completely mentally write off 2026, we're going to have some automatic improvement just by actually giving a shit about winning.

For those that don't think we'll improve, do you agree that Hinkley was a bad coach holding us back? I don't get it.
 
El_Scorcho said:
Yeah I fully agree.

There was no doubt that 2025 was a full blown write off from very early on. The succession plan was a mistake, Hinkley didn't give a **** all year and that attitude permeated the entire club. We had a bunch of key injuries and sent a bunch of key players off for early surgery. It's the worst season in the history of the club given the quality of the list.

Unless we're also going to completely mentally write off 2026, we're going to have some automatic improvement just by actually giving a shit about winning.

For those that don't think we'll improve, do you agree that Hinkley was a bad coach holding us back? I don't get it.
Click to expand...
I think the list is a lot worse now than it was two years ago (Houston, Rioli, Boak, Dixon gone, plus Burton and Finlayson who despite being crap the last couple of years were good players at their best, SPP likely to miss most of the year, and no real established quality brought in to replace any of them), and I think it'll take more than one off season to fully clean the Hinkley attitude out of the place. Plus who knows what effect the contract speculation is going to have on our best player next year.

I expect our percentage will be better next year, I'm not expecting the regular 10 goal beltings to continue under the mentality that I expect Carr will instill in the group, but I'm not convinced our win/loss record or ladder position is going to markedly improve just yet.
 

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Poll: Expectations for 2026

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