We had a pretty balanced list....probably just needed a bit of run. Then a Key forward, an athletic ruck/ forward and a key defender gave us the old 'finger' and walked out the door. They left. They turned their back on us. We can debate who or what was responsible for that... It wouldn't have been close to being all on Austin.
Austin's draft/trade strategy through much of 2025 would not have been geared to replacing Curnow and Silvagni. He probably would have accepted he couldn't match the DeKoning offer. He was thrown a curve with the departures, but handled it quite well. It took a bit of time, and it wasn't until towards the second half of the season we saw the fruits of some of those labours.
Few lists are complete. We're a work in progress, with some good youth coming through. Obviously though, there were some shortcomings identified in Austin's work, and it will be interesting to see the focus during this years trade and draft period. That may give us an indication of where Austin fell short of expectations.
Just a quick update. I have had no reply to the e-mail that I sent to EB1 Several members have tried to contact him through PM's with no response. Unless he returns to posting, it's a situation where we may never know the reason for his absence.
It might be an unpopular opinion, but we talk about making lots of changes after going 12 wins 1 draw and 3 losses (2 in the wet which was more a game plan situation than not) so im not seeing a massive need.
We could go into season 2027 adding not much but that forming in the first 10 weeks and finish top 4.
It's pretty much a given that winning a flag from position 7-10 is now just about impossible. The wild card has disadvantaged teams 7 and 8 (which was almost an impossible task anyway.)
So what's the goal for next year. Top 4 would be nice...but we'll set the starting height at Top 6. A week's rest and then pick off the wild-card winner.
I suspect there are a variety of emotions around this morning. There will be the bitter disappointment. There will be feelings of a wasted opportunity (close but no cigar), and there will also be the positive ‘looking to next year’ point of view.
Some of us will feel all of these things. It will mostly be based on our own expectations, both before the season, and once the season turned and we went on a winning run.
It’s a strange situation, but for me the end of the year doesn’t carry the same level of disappointment as it has in recent times. My own expectations pre-season were that we would finish in about the same position as 2025 and win a similar number of games. So, my expectations were pretty much met. You can’ be unhappy about that.
There are a few things that set us apart from 2025. - Any divisions of last year appear to have disappeared and it’s pretty much a united group. - We have had a reasonable run with injuries. - We’ve also had a bit of luck- if you look back at the season we’ve come up (and won) against some clubs when they’ve been down on form or missing key players. - We have bit of certainty around the coaching position and while that will pretty much depend on how Fraser goes... in the words of the prophet Jagger (no relation-different spelling)-“Time is on ‘his’ side.”
We’ve ended up playing finals, and that’s a real positive. Young players like Byrne may not have gone as well as they have in the regular season, but the experience will stand them in good stead, because they’ll have had that experience and be better prepared next time.
As Fraser has indicated consistently, we are far from the finished product. We still have some key positions to fill and replace.
It’s probably fair to say he was outcoached last night. They came well prepared. They’d obviously done a lot of work on our prime movers, and while not able to completely nullify them their output and effectiveness was much reduced. As a result of that our support players, that second tier group, didn’t get a smooth run and were probably found wanting in a number of cases.
For the younger ones they can file it away as ‘experience’ . For the older ones it’s probably a bit more of an issue, with decisions to be made on their futures. Those with contracts may be playing a fair bit of VFL next year, depending on our trading and drafting.
We missed Hayward and Haynes, but it’s doubtful they would have dramatically affected the result. The score probably flattered us to an extent given their inaccuracy. The weather may have played some small part in some of the skill execution. They pressured us well and as a result we saw a return to some of the hack kicks in defence and rushed disposals that resulted in turnovers. There were a couple of real clangers and brain fades that resulted in opposition goals.
Geelong aren’t a bad side, and you wouldn’t rule out the possibility that they will still be in it after next week’s game against Freo.
The next week or two may see us bidding farewell to quite a few of our older group…and possibly some young ones. The season may be over but the ‘interest’ will still be there for a few months as the wheeling and dealing begins.
One thing that is possibly changing, although we may not see it this trade period, is that we are likely a more attractive destination club than we were. It will be interesting to see what shakes out of the tree once every club’s season has ended.
So ‘all in all’ we probably end 2026 in a much better and more hopeful position than 2025, but there is still work to be done in list building, mastering the game style, and developing the youth.
Given the level of concern I've sent EB1 an e-mail using the e-mail address he registered with. Hopefully that e-mail address is still active as it probably dates back to when he registered on the current version of the site.
Seriously, over multiple interviews he seemed absolutely thrilled with the result and the performance of some of the youngsters, especially Dean. Even saw him having a deep and meaningful with Young. Didn't look like someone the least bit interested in moving to another club.
I think we're all at different stages of belief at the moment in terms of how far we can go in the current season.
The way I look at it is, any wins from this point on are a bonus. In fact any wins from the end of the home and away are a bonus. While the 'ride' is still going let's just enjoy it If it does come to an end at some stage in the next few weeks then hopefully we go down fighting but in any event 2026 has given us a lot to be pleased about... We've seen the development of some really good young players and some of our older guys have recaptured some previous good form and enthusiasm. As Fraser keeps saying though, we're not the finished product, and there are still things we need to work on.
While not officially reecognised as it's national bird the one most associated with Canada is the "Common Loon". Perhaps they can trade one Common Loon for another.
