This is from The Mongrel Punt -

https://themongrelpunt.com/afl-season-2026/2026/01/29/2026-melbourne-season-preview-the-big-questions/

It asks a number of questions about the club’s 2026 season. Only five are visible behind the firewall so if anyone can summarize the rest of the story, it would be much appreciated.

Almost tempted to pay to reveal what’s behind the paywall , but I won’t .

I was almost lost after the first paragraph with the reference to our impressive back line, but the remainder of the ‘free’ bits were very insightful and enlightening

I had no idea Kozzie was only a few possessions away from being in the 20 possession 2 goal club. Hasn’t been achieved since 2011.

Unsure of why - but archive.md works if you put in the URL.

It’s not working for me right now as I type for unknown reasons

Will bypass the paywall.

Very detailed analysis questions 1-5, would appreciate questions 6-15 if someone can post it.😁👍

24 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Very detailed analysis questions 1-5, would appreciate questions 6-15 if someone can post it.😁👍

Surely someone with no money concerns can pucker up for the rest of us 😂

The Mongrel is usually on the money but not sure if this is correct...

"Turner started out as a forward, but was wisely moved to defence"

...didn't Turner come to us as a defender?

12 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I had no idea Kozzie was only a few possessions away from being in the 20 possession 2 goal club. Hasn’t been achieved since 2011.

It was basically the only reason I was watching in the latter part of the season. He was on track but dipped in possession numbers late unfortunately. Still, shows how much of a big jump he made last year when up around the ball whilst still maintaining a high goal count!

12 hours ago, rjay said:

The Mongrel is usually on the money but not sure if this is correct...

"Turner started out as a forward, but was wisely moved to defence"

...didn't Turner come to us as a defender?

Didn’t he say the same about Petty, and I’m sure he was being touted as a Half Back Flanker when he was drafted.

Loved the bit about the wolf climbing the hill. Our future depends on the progression on our younger players - we have high expectations for Windsor, Langford and Lindsay but I think if players like JVR, Rivers and Sparrow can go up a level we might just be ok.

13 hours ago, rjay said:

The Mongrel is usually on the money but not sure if this is correct...

"Turner started out as a forward, but was wisely moved to defence"

...didn't Turner come to us as a defender?

I would say you're correct.

Turner played his first 3 AFL games as a defender. One in his 2022 debut on Kings B'day and two late season 2023 games. He played well in round 24 2023 V Sydney and was arguably unlucky to be dropped for the Pies final the following week.

Then in 2024 he played his first game of the year as a forward on Anzac eve and kicked 3, and we all thought "hello, have we got a forward here?"

I would like to see him up forward as he is such a lovely exponent of the set shot, and can kick it a mile.

2 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

It was basically the only reason I was watching in the latter part of the season. He was on track but dipped in possession numbers late unfortunately. Still, shows how much of a big jump he made last year when up around the ball whilst still maintaining a high goal count!

Yeah he cooled down a bit in the last month and couldn't manage a 20 and 2 game in his last 5 which cost him.

His form between the Sydney game (round 11) and Carlton game (round 20) was off the charts and certainly cemented his AA spot.

3 games where he kicked 5 and had 20+ is disgustingly good.

Kozzie is the number 1 on my list of things to look forward to in 2026 and it's not even close.

If anyone can post the latter bits... marvee 👍

Reading what I could did prompt the little grey cells.... particularly about 2 things but they in turn nudge a 3rd.

The writer was a little surprised that Windsor is progressing well now through the middle. Strangely I'm not. Recent vision seems to indicate he's more than ready and ought to do well. We'll need it.

2nd.. The Langdon conundrum. A valid insight. Im wondering if we didn't see Langers as a negator purely as a result of the footy brains trust running out of methods to curtail oppositions ? I much prefer seeing Ed in full flight. He can be a very good and dangerous user of the ball.

This then leads to how King will instruct our game. Are we going to back ourselves play an attacking style and make them.worry more about us... or go all negative Nancy?

Without wanting to dredge up much this is i think where we started to come unstuck. The brains trust ran out of ideas or ability to keep OUR game flowing so we concentrated on stymiing them !!

What I've seen so far suggests we'll attack games...

I'm truly very dubious about stats . The notion that Kozzie doesn't seem to rate 'high' on defensive tackling to me is bordering on illogic. He is elite in attack... his role is to attack not defend. You invariably only tackle as a forward if they have the ball. This isn't the reality of Kozzie imho.

Im happy for him to have 3-4 goals ... 3 to 4 assists ans sfa tackles. I.e... the opposition is trying to get him and thats the way we want it 😉

To all,

please do not cut and paste the member only section from Mongrel Punt which is behind the pay firewall.

It puts Demonland at potential copyright risk.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by george_on_the_outer

Sorry ..i realised a little late. I assume you can paraphrase the article ?

I’ll post Question 6 and if It breaches anything I guess you’ll remove ?

6 basically covered the loss of Oliver &

Trac. Whilst acknowledging they were our 2 best midfielders…the arrival of Rivers ..Langford & Windsor plus Viney will offer a diff look. Also said they were both dreadful with ball in hand so feels it’s a win/win situation..

Have just seen WB have announced their new leadership group. Highly likely Maxy will lead us once again this year, just wondering if anyone knows when our leadership group will be announced?

Next Kalani White. Discussed how he is “heir apparent” to Max & has some super attributes but will take time. Max has to do it all for as long as he can ..get another AA blazer. Thinks Heath is a good pickup

And this from FoxSports (rather than start a new thread with all these different Season Previews). Hard to argue with:

The Demons were a properly bad team at the start of the season, but after their 0-5 start when Simon Goodwin and his coaching staff made some tweaks, they were simply average. They lost just three games by more than 20 points, and had some very solid wins including knocking off Brisbane in Brisbane.

Now, how much does the fact that they were an OK team by the end of the season matter when you’re projecting forward? Well, that’s the impossible question to answer… but it feels unlikely losing Petracca and Oliver is going to make them immediately better.

Just remember when you’re doing your predicted ladder that they weren’t what their record says they were; they’re not a seven-win team that’s getting worse, they’re a nine or 10-win team that’s likely taking another step backwards in their first year under a new coach.

We don’t think we’ll actually tip the Demons to rise above 14th this year, but the case can absolutely be made based on these numbers. Even if they play worse, just getting luckier in 2026 could see them pinch an extra win or two and ‘improve’.

Interesting that 4 of his first 5 points centered around experienced players (Windsor was the other)

Kozzie, Disco, Checkers & Langdon all need to perform well if we're to win games ... along with at least another dozen others that have been around long enough now to have reasonable expectations attached to their output

As for the youngsters, (and that includes Windsor & Kolt) we need to be patient. Players need at least 3 years in the AFL system these days such is the gap between AFL & Under 18 footy. But I'd say more like 4 years

Some make the transition quite quickly, but they are often the standout A graders (usually mids)