4 hours ago, #11-TonyAnderson said:

And TMac?

...we have 12 players who are over 29 this season. 10 of those will probably play in the first round and for most of the season.

May, Melksham, TMac, Gawn, Viney, Salem, Langdon, Lever, Steele, Mihochek........ with Campbell & McAdam not in first 23.

Average age of list is a rubbish statistic. As others have pointed out, every teams average is within a small range. And it is the same every year.

The relevant stat is your best 23 age. Our situation is not pretty, as from the list above, most are key position players, all who played most of the games last year and we finished 14th. ....

This is a rebuild and it will take a couple of seasons.

Edited Sunday at 01:093 days by george_on_the_outer

16 hours ago, chookrat said:

Add Tmac and May who likely wont play much AFL next year.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Then you have Tom Campbell on the list still he's 34 never played a senior game in red and blue.

All this malarkey is always very subjective.

Our 28-30 players that will play a majority of the year especially the core of the group will be young.

Best 25 (young players under 25 that have played senior AFL) off the top of my head.

Backs- Disco, Bowser, Howesy, Andy Moniz Wakefield, Rivers/mid all under 25.

Mids- Lindsay, Kolt, Langers, Culley, Windsor, K. Pickett/fwd, Rivers/def all under 25

Forwards, Roo, Jeffo(has alot of work to do), Chandler, Sparrow.

15 players under 25 in best 25 in 2026.

We are relying on our existing development of our under 25 players and a couple of the draftees to kick on in 26.

(Players that need to be a decent run at AFL level under 25)

Big Kent/Fwd, Laurie/mid, Adams/def, Max Heath/Ruck/fwd +2025 players drafted in.

Edited Sunday at 01:543 days by YesitwasaWin4theAges

42 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

BTW who are top 5 these days. Gawn, Pickett ???

Gawn, Pickett, Langford and Windsor.

I guess we have to wait to see who makes up the top 5

52 minutes ago, Wrecker46 said:

Gawn, Pickett, Langford and Windsor.

Interesting that you include Windsor and no fifth player. Must say I have a similar problem. Langford in the top 5 as a first year player is rather damning but I can't disagree.

At the end of ‘25 Oliver was ranked 2 and Tracc 4, McVee 18th. So without those 3 our top 10 would have been.

1 - Gawn, 2 - Salem. 3 - Bowey, 4 - May, 5 - Rivers, 6 - Kozzie, 7 - Culley, 8 - Viney, 9 - Langdon, 10 - TMac.

For ‘26 I am going for Top 12 -

Max, Rivers, Kozzie, Langford, Culley, Bowey, Salem, Langford, Chin, Turner, Fritsch, Steele

13-24

Mihocek, Lindsay, Lever, Windsor, Sparrow, Vines, Langdon, Tholstrup, Taylor, Pickett, TMac, Heath.

Just now, DeeZone said:

At the end of ‘25 Oliver was ranked 2 and Tracc 4, McVee 18th. So without those 3 our top 10 would have been.

1 - Gawn, 2 - Salem. 3 - Bowey, 4 - May, 5 - Rivers, 6 - Kozzie, 7 - Culley, 8 - Viney, 9 - Langdon, 10 - TMac.

For ‘26 I am going for Top 12 -

Max, Rivers, Kozzie, Langford, Culley, Bowey, Salem, Langford, Chin, Turner, Fritsch, Steele

13-24

Mihocek, Lindsay, Lever, Windsor, Sparrow, Vines, Langdon, Tholstrup, Taylor, Pickett, JvR, Heath.

With Kentfield, Onley, Mathews, Sharpe, TMac and May possible fast risers if and when needed.

55 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Interesting that you include Windsor and no fifth player. Must say I have a similar problem. Langford in the top 5 as a first year player is rather damning but I can't disagree.

Langford did some incredible things in his first year, it don’t know if it’s damning if he turns into a superstar and it looks like he could

I would have liked to put Chandler at number 5 but I have no idea what King has planned for him.

CJ or Steele could easily end up in there but I guess only time will tell.

If cuz Koz does we will be a lot better than anyone expects next year

23 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

  26 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

At the end of ‘25 Oliver was ranked 2 and Tracc 4, McVee 18th. So without those 3 our top 10 would have been.

28 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

I missed CJ??

Petty is underrated.

9 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

An interesting but irrelevant table in itself.

As others have said it's all about the age of your best group of five (1-5, 5-10 10-15 etc)

Collingwood have Pendlebury, Sidebottom and the former MFC fellow in their top ten and they had Mihochek. That's why they're exposed.

We have Gawn and now Mihochek in our top ten. Viney and Salem are in the 10-15 group. I see Melksham, May and TMac as depth this year and would put them in the 20-25 group.

BTW who are top 5 these days. Gawn, Pickett ???

Honestly if a grand final side was all 21 or all 35 I wouldn't write them off solely off that fact. There's usually an element of truth to stats like this. But I doubt in 2 or 3 years time any club suddenly realises they should've acted now re their list's age. Every thirty-something player and his coaches would be conscious of his football 'mortality'.

Damning on Carlton. To be that experienced without reward suggests a lot of paddling without going anywhere.

On 06/12/2025 at 19:25, chookrat said:

Add Tmac and May who likely wont play much AFL next year.

Yep, few really pumping up the age numbers here. Need experience around to help the kids grow and flourish.

On 07/12/2025 at 12:05, george_on_the_outer said:

The relevant stat is your best 23 age. Our situation is not pretty, as from the list above, most are key position players, all who played most of the games last year and we finished 14th. ....

The talls especially are an area where we can and probably will get younger on field this year and certainly both on the ground and on the list next year have a far better outlook.

Disco is in our best 23 already, Petty should be and the footy department have signaled their intentions to give Jed Adams opportunity. And Lever is 4 years younger than May and T Mc.

The forward line does get older with Mihocek but we should start to wean our reliance on Melksham and provide ample games for all 3 of JVR, Kentfield and Jeffo across the year. AJ has to win himself further years on the list as well.

Heath should take over from Campbell as the number 2 after this year too.

May, McDonald, Melk, Campbell all retire after this year and get replaced by some young talls and suddenly our age profile is looking much better.

Our biggest gap is in that 24-28 age group, but I reckon we’ll look to bolster that via trade and free agency over the next few years

Show some improvement and draft strongly again next year, and we should be able to top up the list and start contending from 28 onwards

Edited Monday at 05:542 days by demoncat

On 07/12/2025 at 15:42, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Petty is underrated.

Particularly as a defender.

If Mihocek gets and stays fir then there will be no more need for the Petty forward experiment, though he remains a valuable swingman.

Average age: 24.7 (eighth oldest)
Average games: 72.6 (10th most experienced)
Most games: Taylor Walker (301)
Players with 100-plus games: 11
Players with less than 50 games: 18

Average age: 25.3 (equal third oldest)
Average games: 88.6 (third most experienced)
Most games: Dayne Zorko (304)
Players with 100-plus games: 15
Players with less than 50 games: 19

Average age: 24.9 (sixth oldest)
Average games: 79.3 (fifth most experienced)
Most games: Nick Haynes (234)
Players with 100-plus games: 15
Players with less than 50 games: 22

Average age: 25.6 (oldest)
Average games: 94.7 (most experienced)
Most games: Scott Pendlebury (425)
Players with 100-plus games: 18
Players with less than 50 games: 22

Average age: 23.6 (17th oldest)
Average games: 57.7 (17th most experienced)
Most games: Zach Merrett (251)
Players with 100-plus games: 13
Players with less than 50 games: 25

Average age: 24.3 (equal 10th oldest)
Average games: 67.2 (13th most experienced)
Most games: Jaeger O'Meara (200)
Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 19

Average age: 25.3 (equal third oldest)
Average games: 89.3 (second most experienced)
Most games: Patrick Dangerfield (360)
Players with 100-plus games: 19
Players with less than 50 games: 21

Average age: 24.1 (equal 14th oldest)
Average games: 63.9 (15th most experienced)
Most games: Touk Miller (214)
Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 25

Average age: 24.3 (equal 10th oldest)
Average games: 77 (seventh most experienced)
Most games: Toby Greene (261)
Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 22

Average age: 24.3 (equal 10th oldest)
Average games: 71.4 (12th most experienced)
Most games: Jack Gunston (283)
Players with 100-plus games: 13
Players with less than 50 games: 20

Average age: 25.4 (second oldest)
Average games: 79 (sixth most experienced)
Most games: Steven May (251)
Players with 100-plus games: 15
Players with less than 50 games: 23

Average age: 24.1 (equal 14th oldest)
Average games: 72 (11th most experienced)
Most games: Jack Darling (320)
Players with 100-plus games: 12
Players with less than 50 games: 24

Average age: 24.4 (ninth oldest)
Average games: 64.9 (14th most experienced)
Most games: Ollie Wines (273)
Players with 100-plus games: 12
Players with less than 50 games: 21

Average age: 23.8 (16th oldest)
Average games: 58.7 (16th most experienced)
Most games: Nick Vlastuin (255) 
Players with 100-plus games: 9
Players with less than 50 games: 29

Average age: 24.2 (13th oldest)
Average games: 74.4 (eighth most experienced)
Most games: Brad Hill (277)
Players with 100-plus games: 13
Players with less than 50 games: 19

Average age: 25 (fifth oldest)
Average games: 84.9 (fourth most experienced)
Most games: Dane Rampe (272)
Players with 100-plus games: 18
Players with less than 50 games: 20

Average age: 23.5 (18th oldest)
Average games: 54.1 (18th most experienced)
Most games: Jamie Cripps (272)
Players with 100-plus games: 9
Players with less than 50 games: 29

Average age: 24.8 (seventh oldest)
Average games: 73.4 (ninth most experienced)
Most games: Adam Treloar and Marcus Bontempelli (258)
Players with 100-plus games: 11
Players with less than 50 games: 23

		Average age of list at Opening Round, 2026	Ranking at OR, 2025
1	Collingwood	25.6	Oldest
2	Melbourne	25.4	Equal fifth oldest
=3	Brisbane	25.3	Second oldest
=3	Geelong	25.3	Fourth oldest
5	Sydney	25	Equal fifth oldest
6	Carlton	24.9	Eighth oldest
7	Western Bulldogs	24.8	Third oldest
8	Adelaide	24.7	Seventh oldest
9	Port Adelaide	24.4	12th oldest
=10	Fremantle	24.3	11th oldest
=10	Greater Western Sydney	24.3	13th oldest
=10	Hawthorn	24.3	10th oldest
13	St Kilda	24.2	Equal 14th oldest
=14	Gold Coast	24.1	Ninth oldest
=14	North Melbourne	24.1	18th oldest
16	Richmond	23.8	16th oldest
17	Essendon	23.6	Equal 14th oldest
18	West Coast	23.5	17th oldest

 

		Average number of games played on list, 2026	Ranking at OR, 2025
1	Collingwood	94.7	Most experienced
2	Geelong	89.3	Third most experienced
3	Brisbane	88.6	Second most experienced
4	Sydney	84.9	Fourth most experienced
5	Carlton	79.3	Eighth most experienced
6	Melbourne	79	Sixth most experienced
7	Greater Western Sydney	77	12th most experienced
8	St Kilda	74.4	14th most experienced
9	Western Bulldogs	73.4	Fifth most experienced
10	Adelaide	72.6	13th most experienced
11	North Melbourne	72	16th most experienced
12	Hawthorn	71.4	Seventh most experienced
13	Fremantle	67.2	15th most experienced
14	Port Adelaide	64.9	10th most experienced
15	Gold Coast	63.9	Ninth most experienced
16	Richmond	58.7	18th most experienced
17	Essendon	57.7	11th most experienced
18	West Coast	54.1	17th most experienced

Is it wrong to say that we have an aging list?

When you lack in the 23 to 28 y.o category then you're either aging or inexperienced.

On 07/12/2025 at 11:51, Diamond_Jim said:

BTW who are top 5 these days. Gawn, Pickett ???

Really interesting question. The fact it's so difficult to answer with any certainty doesn't strike me as a good thing.

On the subject of the thread, I'd be incredibly disappointed if we lost games this year playing an old and experienced team. We should be pumping games into the under 25s.