a pass mark for me is not to be bored ****less watching us play

hopefully Kingy can coach the team to move the ball with purpose and drive and some semblance of competence. and would be great to see us deliver the ball into an open forward line

I still think that we can win 8-12 games in ‘26 despite losing CP5, CO13 and Judd04. Trent Rivers and Jack Steele to minimise CO13 loss, Changkuoth Jiath14 and Andy Moniz-Wakefield45 to nullify the McVee loss.

Tracca for mine is the biggest hole = Kozzie36, Jv7, Windsor6, Lagford4, Culley13, need someone to really step it up with score assists, goals, etc.

losing Bowsa17 is a real setback but have Lindsay5, Taylor19 to assist here, I’m also in agreement that we need all our senior players including Brody Mihocek to play near their best if we are to improve on ‘25. We have to much talent both potential and kinetic to just fade away, I’m tipping Steven King and team to provide the lift for us all.

Sorry this is so long winded.

3 hours ago, Macca said:

In terms of wins, who knows? Anywhere from 6 to 12 wins depending on any number of factors

Much like winning, losing can be a habit so if we don't win games, we can lose confidence and lose the will to win

This is where King's coaching is all-important. He and the FD have to take a realistic approach. As do the supporters

I believe our main area of concern is the development of many of the players (old & new) And having a healthy list is also A1 important

The development of the new game plan with a good dose of patience thrown in is another important facet

I still believe that it's our senior players who need to lift and be accountable

Because if that doesn't happen, up ahead is a major rebuild. Of course, we're in a rebuild of sorts by default anyway, but we're not bereft of talent

A rebuild of sorts with a revamped FD, some added experience (or veterans), along with a few mature age types and a good sprinkling of youth

I'm reasonably confident that we'll advance forward to point where we can attack 2027 with gusto. This year is all about development

💯

Pass mark is making finals

Anything less is a fail

My expectation is that we will fail, but I also didn’t think we’d make finals in 2021

6 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Sportsbet has us at $3.50 to make the 10 along with Carlton. Only Eagles, North, Tigers and Bombers outside that.

Unless someone's in the inner sanctum of all 18 clubs it's almost like poker hands round a table. Someone starting with 3 jacks can feel really confident while someone with a pair of 3s knows they might win and someone with a nothing hand knows they'll probably lose - but at that time no one knows more than a small part of the whole picture . As players get some new cards and then reveal their hands the original predictions can turn out to be way off. Right now we probably do deserve to be 3.50 or 4.00 but come October and we might be marvelling at , say, Langford coming third in the Brownlow and Latrelle being the recruit of the year and JVR kicking 45 goals -everyone would in hindsight say 3.50 was a gift!

I already said before this thread was resurrected what i really want to see is improvements and good foundations built. But i certainly can imagine us being a surprise packet. Over and over 3 or 4 teams go back into the 8 each season. It's so regular I'd almost bet my life savings that in 2026 that 3 or more teams return to the final 8 (let alone 10). The 3.50 will be irrelevant by May (whether shortening or lengthening.)

Edited Thursday at 11:283 days by Go Ds

2 hours ago, BDA said:

a pass mark for me is not to be bored ****less watching us play

hopefully Kingy can coach the team to move the ball with purpose and drive and some semblance of competence. and would be great to see us deliver the ball into an open forward line

At times last year we showed we could move the ball quickly and effectively but not often enough. The trading in of CJ and Miohcheck as well as drafting in Latrelle indicates where we’re heading.

I think we can beat North, Eagles, Bombers, Tigers, Carlton, Saints, Pies & Port.

I don’t buy into it takes multiple years to learn a gameplan but it does take time for new players to gel. Miohcheck, Steele, CJ and Latrelle are the ones most likely to debut early for us. I think once we get some continuity we are every chance to upset a team or two this season.

Pass mark is finishing 8-10 on the ladder. Then we go into wildcard weekend with a nothing to lose approach.

13 hours ago, Nate said:

I'd like 8 wins, but just want to see some cohesion on the field. And some accurate kicking at goal 😁

This is where I sit as well. 8 or 9 wins would be nice while stopping the repeated nonsense of losing games despite more scoring shots.

Hopefully King brings some offensive efficiency to the club.

Given we’re 8-21 (27%) from our last 29 games, I can’t entertain the idea of a top 10 finals birth this year like some others have.

At the very best, we have a 2020 like season (with a slightly worse W/L) where we potentially start the season slowly after a terrible end to 2019, but build nicely in the second half and carry that momentum into the following year.

Edited Thursday at 18:172 days by Bring-Back-Powell

I'm more confident in the list than most - I think we have players that will embrace new roles, responsibility and game style and surprise us.

Having said that, with significant list turnover, coaching changes and playing style changes, I think the first half of the season will be pretty much a write off and I am expecting to see threads like "Time to go Kingy?", "Maybe Goody was the right guy" and "Petracca = God" etc on here at the half-way mark. When everyone has given up hope for 2026, I think we'll start to bank a few wins and come home with a wet sail to scrape into the final 10.

Obviously I hope we start strong and continue it but most teams that have had the kind of personell (on and off the field) that we have normally take a bit of time to get things to click.

17 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

This is where I sit as well. 8 or 9 wins would be nice while stopping the repeated nonsense of losing games despite more scoring shots.

Hopefully King brings some offensive efficiency to the club.

Given we’re 8-21 (27%) from our last 29 games, I can’t entertain the idea of a top 10 finals birth this year like some others have.

At the very best, we have a 2020 like season (with a slightly worse W/L) where we potentially start the season slowly after a terrible end to 2019, but build nicely in the second half and carry that momentum into the following year.

Hawthorn was 8-19 in their 27 games leading into 2024, in which they started 0-5, before making finals.

Brisbane won 17 games in four complete seasons (2015-18) before making top 4 in 2019 (and not missing finals since).

Sydney was 13-26 in their 39 games leading into 2021, in which they made finals.

It can turn quickly.

Are we perhaps a Bailey Humphries should of a top 8 spot?

He would certainly fill the hole in our midfield group, we can dream.😴

I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

The lack of consistently exceptional players is a huge worry. Petracca could butcher it, but he did a lot well and he did it most weeks. Oliver, too, although not for several years.

Max is possibly the only one left, and he's approaching 35.

I'm very optimistic about Pickett and the progress he's made, but even I don't think he's the consistent star we need him to be.

May was top-level but isn't anymore.

This all points to the possibility of winning few games.

But the list isn't a complete disaster. It's tattered without being buggered - Mihocek, Steele, Jiath and Heath all seem like solid pick ups to me, who may not be stunning upgrades on what came before but fill clear holes. I'd be surprised if we looked back in three years and considered them in the same league as Hunter, Billings, Schache and Sharp. Having said that, I don't expect any (except maybe Heath) to be essential members of the team after this year. I'd want a player like Steele to be much more Daniel Cross than Brent Moloney. By that, I mean, I'd want him to be the player you love in your team, but who isn't a five-year midfield lock. If that happens either we've failed to find the midfielders we so desperately need to replace Petracca and Oliver or he's miraculously returned to his brilliant form as a 25 and 26 year old.

I think the big variable is what King can change and how quickly. Usually I'd be cautious about predicting some meteoric rise just based on a new coach, but in hindsight we hadn't just become stale under Goodwin, we'd become sclerotic. I have a feeling our players will love playing with a bit more freedom and who knows how much difference that might make.

And closely linked to this is who, if anyone, suddenly steps up - either thanks to King's coaching or confidence or by claiming a role once made impossible because of Goodwin's dedication to a pretty unchanging 25-odd players. Or just through natural progress. Could Rivers be a better-than-solid centre bounce midfielder? Is Langford as good as we all think and can he be influential so early in his career? Same with his fellow super draftee, Lindsay? Is there a Jai Newcombe from-nowhere story on the list - Culley? Kentfield? Latrelle Pickett?

By the middle of last year it was painfully obvious to me the mantra of "we're so close" was complete nonsense. And that was desperately disappointing just four years after a flag.

I think we're a long way from a premiership now, but not necessarily a long way from being a solid team again.

Sorry. Talk about being on the fence.

On 05/12/2025 at 11:38, Wodja said:

I just want us to beat effing Collingwood

Nice, but I no longer accept that as a good season, just a great game.

12th or higher would be nice.

No real reason to think we will end much higher.

12th would probably put Essendon below us.

Equalling the Bulldogs would be great but I see them around 8-10

On 09/01/2026 at 12:21, titan_uranus said:

Hawthorn was 8-19 in their 27 games leading into 2024, in which they started 0-5, before making finals.

Brisbane won 17 games in four complete seasons (2015-18) before making top 4 in 2019 (and not missing finals since).

Sydney was 13-26 in their 39 games leading into 2021, in which they made finals.

It can turn quickly.

Except that it usually doesn't. Those are outliers. Go through all the sides with poor win-loss ratios over the last 10 years (you went back to 2015), and see how things turned out.

But even in what you've cited you're cherry picking. e.g., Hawthorn. You omitted the 5 long seasons before 2024 when they lost more games than they won. It actually took them 6 seasons to make finals again after 2018, hardly a case of "it can turn quickly".

Always great to be optimistic, but let's be realistic here.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by bing181

I'm keeping my hopes very low. Too many times over my life we've had a new coach entering a new year only to be brought back to reality by a flogging in the first round that pretty much sets the tone for the whole year.

On 05/12/2025 at 10:35, GS_1905 said:

Not finishing bottom 4, is the pass mark. But then i want a good draft pick perhaps to go after Butters or Humphries.

We wont get either as we are NOT a destination club!

On 05/12/2025 at 10:30, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I think we can finish between 8-10.

Agree, anything above that would be a wonderful achievement. We have had a large number of changes since the end of the 2025 season.

Can we beat and finish above Carlton?

Like us they have lost two marquee players and traded in a few "old soldiers"

On 09/01/2026 at 22:21, titan_uranus said:

Hawthorn was 8-19 in their 27 games leading into 2024, in which they started 0-5, before making finals.

Brisbane won 17 games in four complete seasons (2015-18) before making top 4 in 2019 (and not missing finals since).

Sydney was 13-26 in their 39 games leading into 2021, in which they made finals.

It can turn quickly.

5 hours ago, bing181 said:

Except that it usually doesn't. Those are outliers. Go through all the sides with poor win-loss ratios over the last 10 years (you went back to 2015), and see how things turned out.

But even in what you've cited you're cherry picking. e.g., Hawthorn. You omitted the 5 long seasons before 2024 when they lost more games than they won. It actually took them 6 seasons to make finals again after 2018, hardly a case of "it can turn quickly".

Always great to be optimistic, but let's be realistic here.

.....it doesn't turn quickly. It takes about 10 years from top to bottom to back near top.

The examples quoted: Hawthorn last won the Premiership in 2015. 10 years until they were challenging again.

Brisbane down the bottom in 2015-18, ..5-7 years until they got back to challenging.

Richmond last won a Premiership in 2020. 5 years later they are wallowing at the bottom.

It is the nature of things when you are successful and win Premierships. You don't get good players at the draft to replace those good players who got you to the top. It takes 4-5 years even when you get enough of them, to develop the those individuals to top level.

Some teams get "kissed" with good father sons, or "academy" selections, which keeps them in the mix for longer, such as Brisbane with 2 Ashcrofts, Fletcher and Starcevich in their latest Premiership side. Or the Dogs with Liberatore, O'Donnell, Darcy, West, Ward, Hunter, Cordy. Sadly we have had only Jack Viney in the past 60 years to play regular senior football.

We have just started to put together the talent to challenge again, but it takes time....it is not something which turns quickly.

On 08/01/2026 at 12:03, titan_uranus said:

We won 7 games in 2025 with Trac and Oliver.

We lose Trac. We “cover” Oliver to an extent with Steele. We gain in some other areas (Mihocek and CJ, another (full) pre-season for Langford and Lindsay). We also get to see what the rest of the list does when freed from whatever the previous administration had hanging over them.

With all that said, I don’t see us making finals but I’d be more surprised at us winning 6 games or fewer as I would at us winning 10+ games.

Yep, I think we'll win 8-12 games. A wide margin perhaps, but we still have some very solid senior players who will hold up their end of the bargain, and then some emerging stars and some x factor unpredictability (game style and personnel).

8 is the floor, with x factor providing a possible ceiling of 12 wins.

Not sure on “pass mark” but vindication would be to finish higher than the Suns.

That would be glorious

On 05/12/2025 at 09:00, Demonland said:

What's your Pass Mark for the Dees in 2026?

10th- 11th

Harvey Langford top 10 in the Brownlow

2 players to be AA (Max Gawn of course and 🤔)

21 hours ago, darkhorse72 said:

Nice, but I no longer accept that as a good season, just a great game.

Indeed! They can beat us every year if each is a virtual remake of 2021