Was 2025 a success?

[kanga kanga kanga]

felt like a step forward but then again most of us said 6 wins was a pass and we still didn’t reach that mark.

so was it a success?

 

[StiffArm]

No. There was progress, but it was slower than hoped for.

 

[Devil Fish]

felt like a step forward but then again most of us said 6 wins was a pass and we still didn’t reach that mark.

so was it a success?

A success? Pffft. The 5 wins coming against other trash teams. Anyone who thinks 2025 was a success needs to stop sniffing glue.

We are the masters of setting the bar as low as possible to avoid "failure."

A lot of people now saying the aim is 7-8 wins next year.....Gee, how exciting. Could be another "successful" year coming up. Might buy a few extra memberships.

 

[Wels Eicke]

For Brisbane yes. For everyone else, no.

 

[Zondor]

Yes. We had a draw with the eventual premier and as such it means had we played in the Grand Final it would’ve been a draw. And we all know we win Premierships after we draw Grand Finals.

 

[Topparoo]

No definitely not a success. An extra win, but ultimately they disappointed yet again. If there isn't significant improvement next year it will be time to pack the place up sadly. That's a touch over the top I know, but we can't keep trawling the depths of the ladder, if we do Simpkin might be the first of a bunch that look elsewhere. I'm concerned that Georgie W hasn't signed on. We need Duursma to show a modicum of something to justify his selection. Hopefully the likes of Hardeman, FOS, Kerch etc and even Goad will continue to improve. If Goater and B George can get on the field consistently we just might have something to be a little bit excited about. Whitlock, W Dawson and Trembath have certainly shown a bit. Will next year be the one where we start to move up a bit? I bloody hope so, because it has been bloody hard following this mob for the last five years.

 

[Devington]

I stopped watching halfway through the season, which probably tells you enough about my thoughts.

 

[Devil Fish]

I stopped watching halfway through the season, which probably tells you enough about my thoughts.

Yeah, we started playing dead rubbers in round 7. Again.

 

[zoomba23]

Been through this already, haven't we? Resounding no. Many were saying 7-8 wins before it started. How many did we get again?

 

[Gasometer]

The question is what do we need to achieve success

 

[hellas_johnny]

Success is definitely not the word to describe it. It was an improvement but obvs not as much as we would have hoped/ expected.

 

[Tas]

Had the potential to do a lot better had we played with some sort of system. It was good to see the progression of some of the younger players and the impact Parker had in the side.

I think on average we do about 5 ******ed things which cost goals which our opposition don't do every game and god knows how many more goals we would kick if we had some system of ball movement.

We lost to Essendon by 3, Fremantle by 6, Saints by 9, Port by 9, Crows by 13, Dogs by 16 and a bunch by 5-7 goals.

It would be pretty trivial to turn those 6 games we lost into wins by finally addressing the ball movement issues and if we manage to bring in quality big bodied inside mid a lot of the other games we lost we would be more realistic in those games.

So... I think we have improved in the areas of developing some of the talent to go forwards, but we have to shift focus from an individual aspect of development into team development.

Our biggest liability atm is coaching and list management, we have some massive holes in the side that haven't been filled and we are only going to play with a more effective system if it is forced by the coaches. I can't think of any player that was dropped for repeatedly hacking the ball to the opposition so you get what you deserve. That isn't tolerated by our AFLW team, so why is it by the AFL team?

I initially had doubts about Crocker after his first year or so, but credit where it is due, he pissed off everyone who couldn't kick, couldn't run, couldn't pressure in two years, the final purge was 2022 and 2023 we played in a GF and that was the last game we lost.

We can't wallpaper over the cracks in the AFL team, they need to be resolved or we aren't going anywhere in a hurry.

 

[amaz199]

No.

 

[TheKanga]

The middle period when we kept teams to lower scores and then the win against Carlton at the G capped it off.
Although us falling asleep in the fourth in that game was a sign of our dogshit month to follow.

Yes it's an improvement albeit a very painfully slow one.
Need to be getting 8-10 wins minimum next year.

 

[koshari]

IMO you can only judge the season on the actual actions of the season that are not rooted in previous years decisions,

so given we were a cluster coming into the season the magnitude of "successes" is obviously tempered.

probably the verdict really wont be able to be cast until after the trade period but given we felt the need to resign ccj and bring in spargo its really looking like a fail to me.

wash rince repeat.

 

[TheNorthFan]

 

[BrownPaperBag]

The question is what do we need to achieve success

Let’s be honest we won 5 games three were against teams we all think are in a worse position than us and two of those wins were lucky as **** we hold on to this “we are in games for longer shit “ but far too many games we weren’t a realistic chance past the first quarter.

 

[rickety]

Nah, but there were good bits. FOS, RH and winning at the G.

 

[Gasometer]

Let’s be honest we won 5 games three were against teams we all think are in a worse position than us and two of those wins were lucky as **** we hold on to this “we are in games for longer shit “ but far too many games we weren’t a realistic chance past the first quarter.

…thanks but that has nothing to do with my question

 

[BrownPaperBag]

…thanks but that has nothing to do with my question

Winning games is how we measure success

 

[Gasometer]

Winning games is how we measure success

Huh? The question is how? What do we need to do to win?
Now I’m not going to go through the 68 things i think need to happen but the how is what matters

 

[kanga kanga kanga]

The question is what do we need to achieve success

a good lockdown fb would do us wonders.

 

[Only Forwards]

I’m not sure how this is really even a question.

There are some small glimmers that we are closer to the end than the start but nothing is assured.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

Successful in how a baby might begin walking. Sitting up, standing, taking a first step, walking consecutively and balancing are all milestones.

In 2025, we took our fourth or fifth step after beginning to walk without falling down (too many times).

But there were no real milestones of success. People can talk about specific stats, percentage, average opposition total scores over a six week period, a whole two and half wins more than 2024, but the reality is that we got flogged pretty continually for large sections of the year and we are still completely entrenched in the bottom 4, in a time in afl history where there has never been as distinctive a gap between the best 8-9 teams and everybody else.

 

[harper2bastinac]

By the low standards of the last 5 years yes, but by any other clubs (bar Richmond and wc) hell no