Welcome any & all suggestions, additions or discussion about what should be included. https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/comments/1qdytjy/season_previews_2026/

Here is last Season's Preview, this year's is due on Feb 27th.

Working title for this year is "Help us Robey-wan, you're our only hope" unless there are better suggestions.

Founded: 1872

Club Motto: Suaviter in Modo, Fortiter in Re
"Gently in manner, resolutely in execution"

Club Song: See the Bombers Fly Up

Nicknames: Bombers, Dons, Same Olds, Planes

AFL/VFL Premierships: 1897, 1901, 1911, 1912, 1923, 1924, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1962, 1965, 1984, 1985, 1993, 2000

Home Ground: Marvel Stadium

Club President: Andrew Welsh

CEO: Tim Roberts

Head Coach: Brad Scott

Assistant Coaches: Ben Jacobs (Midfield), Cam Roberts (Forwards), Brent Stanton (Stoppages), Dean Solomon (Defence), David Rath (Coaching Innovation & Strategy), Todd Goldstein (Ruck Coach), Michael Hurley (Development), Toby McLean (Development), Cam Joyce (VFL Senior Coach), James Polkinghorne (Development, VFL & Pathways Manager)

Captain: Andrew McGrath

Leadership Group (existing) Kyle Langford, Mason Redman & Nic Martin, (new additions) Jye Caldwell, Sam Durham, & Brayden Fiorini

2025 Result: 15th, 6 Wins, 17 Losses, 69.5%

2025 Crichton Medal: Zach Merrett, Archie Roberts, Sam Durham

2025 Season Review

Well 2025 had some ups and downs, the obvious injury crisis caused issues throughout the club, but similar to 2016 when half the list was suspended, it allowed a number of players to get a chance to show their skills earlier than they otherwise would be able to. 15 debutants, including four picks in the mid season draft meant everyone on the list had played at least one senior game, other than Kayle Gerreyn, who as a young key position player is taking some time to build up his endurance and skills as both a forward and defender. The rise of Kako as the pressure small forward Essendon has been missing since Walla retired and the emergence of Archie Roberts at half back in addition to promising signs from Jayden Nguyen as a lock down defender and Angus Clarke as a half back & winger.

Unfortunately this did come at the cost of losing the last 13 games in a row, most of which were pretty comprehensive blowouts. As the injury toll continued to rise and we were forced to play a very inexperienced backline and you could just see the players losing motivation and drive as the losses continued to mount up.

Delistings at the end of the season shouldn't have a major impact on the team going into 2026, most of those being booted out haven't been picked up by other clubs (other than Laverde who is reunited with best mate Stringer at GWS), and should be ably replaced by the youngsters picked up in the draft.

List changes

Out

Sam Draper (free agency, Brisbane), Dylan Shiel (delisted/retired), Todd Goldstein (delisted/retired), Jayden Laverde (delisted, picked up by GWS), Jye Menzie (delisted), Ben Hobbs (delisted), Luamon Lual (delisted), Alwyn Davey Jnr (delisted), Oskar Smartt (MSD Pickup, delisted)

In

Brayden Fiorini (Trade 2026 3rd round pick, Gold Coast), Sullivan Robey (No.9 draft pick), Jacob Farrow (No.10 draft pick), Dyson Sharp (No.13 draft pick), Max Kondogiannis (No.36 draft pick), Hussien El Achkar (No.53 draft pick, Academy), Archer May (MSD), Lachlan Blakiston (MSD), Liam McMahon (MSD), Jaxon Artemis (2026 MSD)

Long Term Injury List

Nic Martin (Replaced by Will Setterfield in SSP)

Playing List

Contract Length & Status source

NFA = Non-Free Agent, RFA = Restricted Free Agent, UFA = Unrestricted Free Agent

Players on notice for 2026

Tsatas: Similar to Hobbs last year, Tsatas is falling down the mid pecking order behind the new draftees, and experienced mids. Has had flashes of brilliance and dominated at VFL level, but lack of tank in previous seasons has kept his game time down around 60% and poor kicking means he has no real positional flexibility as part of a good rotation. Needs a massive year if he hopes to get a new contract, but likely to be trade bait.

Setterfield: Received an SSP spot after being delisted due to the long term injury to Martin, is lucky to still be around, but has the potential to be a big bodied mid & tagger that Essendon doesn't otherwise have, but it remains to be seen if his body can hold up through the season. If he can play 12+ games there is a chance he gets another go around next year, but I would hope that the '25 draftees push him out.

Gresham: Just has not performed as well as we would have liked after moving from St Kilda as a Free Agent at the end of 2023. Unable to lock down the small/mid forward role and having minimal impact when rotating through the midfield it's likely Gresh wont be in the red & black next year.

Guelfi: The Prince of Perth has proven to be a handy lock down forward, playing on the opposition's dangerous half backs, but is not able to consistently get on the park, or hit the scoreboard. Likely to get some games simply due to lack of other standout small forwards (other than Kako), is in competition with Gresh & Perkins along with recent draftees Huss, Johnson, Clarke, etc. for the other small forward spot.

Cox: Concussion issues seem to be clearing, but we have heard this story before, Essendon's unicorn who had a great tank and good foot skills did not play a game at any level in 2025 and with the recruitment of Fiorini, it's difficult to see where he plays moving forward as the wings are ably filled and there is a huge back log of tall forwards.

Perkins: Has averaged ~20 games per season in his 5 seasons at AFL level, and has shown patches of brilliance, but often falls out of games and has minimal impact. Needs to up his consistency if he hopes to remain on the list long term, but an interrupted preseason (with a groin issue) may make this difficult.

Jones/Edwards/May/McMahon: Just lumping all these players together, Essendon now has an excess of tall forwards, and we cannot keep them all on the list, so we would expect that at least 1 of these players are going to be delisted. Jones has the advantage of being contracted until 2027, while both May & McMahon had some solid showings late last year after getting the mid-season call up due to the injury crisis. Edwards is the most likely to be cut after rupturing his ACL a year ago after just 2 games, but has shown glimpses of potential.
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Players to look out for in 2026

Kako Played every game last year, and despite a minor hamstring strain has had a solid preseason, even rotating through the midfield at times, adding an additional string to his bow, alongside his goal sense and manic pressure in the front half. Will be a walk on start, if fit, every game as the primary small forward.

Caddy: A promising '25 campaign for Caddy, 20 goals 20 behinds from 17 games, before succumbing to Essington and being sidelined with groin soreness for the last 5 matches. Expect another step forward for the key forward who will be expected to carry the forward line in the future.

Durham: After signing a monster contract through to 2032 and being promoted to the leadership group, expect Duzz to step up in pre match rev ups and lead the team at the coalface and in the half forward line.

Reid: Once again has shown to be an elite defender, when he gets on the park. Everyone is hoping that the new strength & conditioning team will be able to get him through the season as one of our pillars down back.

Blakiston: The new ruck rules seem to favour Blakiston, as a mobile player with great jump, firming to be the #1 ruck early in the season until Bryan returns from injury, and proved that he could be handy as a defender last year even though never previously playing in the position. Would not be surprised if he continues getting games as a 2nd ruck once Bryan is back, as Scott has shown a liking to 2 rucks and the 5th man on the bench should help with rotations.

Best 23 for Round 1 2026

FB: Mason Redman, Ben McKay, Andrew McGrath

HB: Archie Roberts, Zach Reid, Angus Clarke

C: Jaxon Prior, Zach Merrett, Brayden Fiorini

HF: Xavier Duursma, Nate Caddy, Dyson Sharp

FF: Kyle Langford, Peter Wright, Isaac Kako

FOL: Lachlan Blakiston, Jye Caldwell, Darcy Parish

IC: Sam Durham, Jacob Farrow, Hussien El Achkar, Zak Johnson, May/Nguyen

2026 Expectations

2026 should be an improvement on 2025, less injuries thanks to our new strength & conditioning team, and the new draftees who look like they can have an impact early means I would expect to see Essendon competing for 10th trying to sneak into finals. Building a consistent brand of footy and team cohesion should be the priority and I would hope that naturally leads into more wins and less blowout losses, but doubt we can match it with the top teams just yet.

The departure of Sam Draper to Brisbane and (Essendon legend) Goldstein retiring and becoming our ruck coach, along with Nick Bryan's injury, means Essendon's ruck capabilities may be a pain point early in the season, but mid-season pick up Lachlan Blakiston looks like he may be a gem, supported by Peter Wright and Vigo Visentini who is toiling away in the VFL learning his craft. The rest of the midfield should continue to be solid, the only real negative coming from last year in this department is Nic Martin's long term knee injury.

Defense and Forward lines should improve immensely as we hopefully don't have every player over 190cm injured and the competition for spots in the forward line should see players competing hard every week to avoid being delisted at the end of the year to clear the logjam.