On SEN on Monday morning G W was asking Simmo ? How teams would go in the first 6 games.

Melbourne will win 1 and lose 5.

So will Collingwood

Given Simmos recent track record coaching at West Coast l’ll take that as a sign we will start 5-1

St kilda mcg

Dockers optus

Carlton mcg (away)

Suns mcg

Bombers adelaide (gather)

Lions mcg

Out of those- bombers win. Flip a coin for saints carlton and suns. Dockers and lions unlikely you would have to say.

Could be 1-5, more likely 2-4 or 3-3 less likely better

4-2 with K. Pickett 3 best on grounds.

He’s probably right. Likely to be 1-5 or 2-4.

Anything more than that and we’re flying and will be giving finals a shake.

29 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

St kilda mcg

Dockers optus

Carlton mcg (away)

Suns mcg

Bombers adelaide (gather)

Lions mcg

Out of those- bombers win. Flip a coin for saints carlton and suns. Dockers and lions unlikely you would have to say.

Could be 1-5, more likely 2-4 or 3-3 less likely better

Winnable games are definitely Carlton, Bombers and Suns.

Saints have been hyped to the sky but we were 46 points up on them at 3/4 time last time we played........

I d be delighted with 3-3

57 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

St kilda mcg

Dockers optus

Carlton mcg (away)

Suns mcg

Bombers adelaide (gather)

Lions mcg

Out of those- bombers win. Flip a coin for saints carlton and suns. Dockers and lions unlikely you would have to say.

Could be 1-5, more likely 2-4 or 3-3 less likely better

Of those the GCS and Brisbane are the team I'd least want to come up against. The others are a bit flakey and I think we will win our fair share against middle table sides.

After being 0-5 last year we were 7-9 for the rest with a percentage of 107

We aren't that bad

Ignore the media

On Sportsbet you can get Dee’s to go 0-6 at $10.50

Wouldn’t hurt for Saints to lose a few against Pies.

I’d be staggered if we beat Fremantle or Brisbane. We also shouldn’t get close to GC, but that’s in Melbourne where maybe we get a leg up. IMO they’re three genuine flag contenders.

The other three - St Kilda, Carlton and Essendon - should all be considered winnable (at worst).

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

After being 0-5 last year we were 7-9 for the rest with a percentage of 107

We aren't that bad

Ignore the media

It was 7-11 actually (not sure of percentage). 4 of the wins were vs West Coast, Richmond and North, too.

On the other hand, 5 of the 11 losses were by less than 10 points. Only 2 of the losses were by more than 30 (Hawthorn twice, one of which was level at 3QT).

2-4 in the first 6 rounds would be a good result due to the difficulty of the fixture. We apparently have the 7th hardest fixture in the first 6 rounds.

afl.com.au

Every club's early fixture ranked, from toughest to easiest

Which clubs are expected to have an easy start to 2026, and who is set to struggle? We take a deep dive into the fixture of all 18 clubs

Hoping to start 2-4 and keep that pace going for an 8 to 9 win season. A win every second or third week and avoid the long losing streaks of 2025.

Edited March 3Mar 3 by Bring-Back-Powell

25 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I’d be staggered if we beat Fremantle or Brisbane. We also shouldn’t get close to GC, but that’s in Melbourne where maybe we get a leg up. IMO they’re three genuine flag contenders.

The other three - St Kilda, Carlton and Essendon - should all be considered winnable (at worst).

I'm still scarred from last year though with that loss against GWS. They played opening week, we didn't. They were slightly sharper and fitter and stole the win from us. Hoping that does not happen again with the Saints.

8 minutes ago, roy11 said:

I'm still scarred from last year though with that loss against GWS. They played opening week, we didn't. They were slightly sharper and fitter and stole the win from us. Hoping that does not happen again with the Saints.

That was a blaring red signal that our last 2 minute drills and on field leadership was missing. It played out many times over the season. We learned nothing.

14 hours ago, Dingo said:

On SEN on Monday morning G W was asking Simmo ? How teams would go in the first 6 games.

Melbourne will win 1 and lose 5.

So will Collingwood

Not a controversial take. We have a tough draw. If we win two of our first six we’d be doing very well.

2 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

That was a blaring red signal that our last 2 minute drills and on field leadership was missing. It played out many times over the season. We learned nothing.

This is where Mihocek and Steele will come in handy.

18 minutes ago, roy11 said:

I'm still scarred from last year though with that loss against GWS. They played opening week, we didn't. They were slightly sharper and fitter and stole the win from us. Hoping that does not happen again with the Saints.

Like many other games of recent years, the GWS win was a leadership vacuum issue; not so much GWS playing in OR.

Max was taken off the ground late in 4th qtr. Their makeshift ruckman then marked i50 and goaled virtually on the siren.

While Max and Viney are very fine leaders in the trenches and lead by example there isn't much footy IQ or tactical nous there.

fwiw. I reckon we will be 3-3 or with a bit of luck 4-2.

Edited March 3Mar 3 by Lucifers Hero

34 minutes ago, roy11 said:

I'm still scarred from last year though with that loss against GWS. They played opening week, we didn't. They were slightly sharper and fitter and stole the win from us. Hoping that does not happen again with the Saints.

I'm hating the fact certain teams get a proper hit out then play a team cold second up. Every team playing open round should have a bye rd2 IMHO.

14 minutes ago, demonzz said:

I'm hating the fact certain teams get a proper hit out then play a team cold second up. Every team playing open round should have a bye rd2 IMHO.

Or just play other teams who played OR.

We will do what Melbourne does. We will beat Lions, Freo and the Suns and lose to Blues, Bombers and Saints.

Just now, GS_1905 said:

We will do what Melbourne does. We will beat Lions, Freo and the Suns and lose to Blues, Bombers and Saints.

I'm definitely not pencilling in the Bombers game after our last two encounters with them in Adelaide, that's for sure.

i think our weakness is the midfield. Lions, Suns and Freo could really get a hold of us in the that area

if we win 2 of 3 from the other games i'll be more than happy

ultimately this is about seeing progress and development of the young players and a game plan that is fit for purpose. They'll be bumps along the way. Us supporters need to stay the course and not get to focused purely on wins and losses

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Like many other games of recent years, the GWS win was a leadership vacuum issue; not so much GWS playing in OR.

Max was taken off the ground late in 4th qtr. Their makeshift ruckman then marked i50 and goaled virtually on the siren.

Agree with the first point.

We played damn well that afternoon and for the most part you could not perceive any opening round advantage that GWS may have had. We just continually fail in the dying minutes of tight games for one reason or another. In that game nobody had the leadership sense to tell Aidan Johnson to burn as much clock as possible and then chip it to a teammate to burn even more clock, rather than take a low percentage set shot on a tight angle that was likely going to miss with a minute or so left.

I'm not sure whether Max was taken off the ground late in the 4th quarter but he was certainly on when Keefe (of all people) took a mark on him and nailed the winner.