25 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

There are a lot of variables that have been raised and countered whether we rise or fall further, winning 7 and losing 6 by less than 10 points in ‘25. The loss of Tracc, Clarry and Fudd have been countered to a high degree CJ = Fudd, Steele/Culley/Langford = Clarry

Rivers/Windsor/Vines/Kolt = Tracc?

Mihocek and Heath immediately improve our list, XT, Trelly, Mathews, White and Onley provide upgrades to our list as well.

Tracc is the 5th highest ranked player for score involvements in the league and difficult to replace, so we need to rely on game plan to help negate his loss. Also a lot of our youngsters were a bit in awe of our two former champs with good reason, however with them no longer here, I expect that a number of players will now be given the responsibility to step up and replace them. I personally expect Dees to be a better side in ‘26, barring serious injuries winning 9-12 games. We top up again at the end of ‘26 and hit the ground running in ‘27 and beyond.

Agree with your synopsis, the plus to me is that we may now have a coach who is not overly loyal to a few players and may not be afraid to make changes during a match, should things not work to his liking. Some players may get an extended run of games to prove themselves rather than come in for 1 or 2 games as the sub and them dumped the following week never to be seen again during the season. Not expecting finals next year, but an improvement on the 6 close losses in season 2025, which Petracca and Oliver both played in, and Kossie playing in the first round, next season may make next season worth watching. We may finish in the middle bracket next year, here's hoping. Just my opinion.

30 minutes ago, kallangurdemon said:

Sadly its going to be a long long season ,very much like the Neeld years .

Well kallangurdemon, for a lot of us here on Demonland we only have to go back to 1997 when we finished stone motherless Last, 4 wins, 18 losses 66%.

Come 1998 - Enter Neale Daniher, Jeff White, Travis Johnstone and quite a few other youngsters and their more mature teammates and guess what happened K. We won 14, lost 8 and finished 4th.

Not that I am expecting such a turnaround But the Neeld days are over and long gone our level of leadership and talent is superior and our Want is greater. Try not to be so pessimistic or you will miss the Fun of the Chase, along with the rest of us.❤️💙