Things you are looking forward to in 2025

[Dazza]

For mine I think 2025 will be a transitional year. I'm looking forward to seeing the reigns being handed over to the younger guys.

I'm hoping Darcy kicks on, Busslinger debuts and shows promise, Sanders cements a spot on merit, Freijah continues his development and Jamarra kicks a little straighter.

I'd love Garcia + West to cement a spot also.

I'm not expecting much next season and probably think it might be Bevo's last year as coach. Hopefully the team can prove me wrong.

What are you looking forward to most next year?

[Sedat]

A premiership. Our best is good enough, our game style stacks up with the latest trends in the game, and we have an abundance of young and established talent.

We should be striving to achieve the ultimate goal in 2025.

[GVGjr]

Good thread Dazza.
I'm looking forward seeing further development and progress with our 2nd and 3rd year players.
I'm also intrigued with what Matthew Kennedy might bring us.
Sanders, Croft, Frejiah along Busslinger and Gallagher should play a big part in our future.

[chef]

Sam Darcy becoming the most damaging player in the league.

[josie]

Premiership, Bont wins Brownlow, Sanders becomes a gun, Marra & Darcy & Naughts 1, 2, 3 in Coleman & English surprises us with his ruck competitiveness.

That’s all I ask…(said in Alan Patridge’s singing voice).

[1eyedog]

Top 4. Mostly on Bevo he needs a big year and a good start.

[azabob]

Premiership, Bont wins Brownlow, Sanders becomes a gun, Marra & Darcy & Naughts 1, 2, 3 in Coleman & English surprises us with his ruck competitiveness.

That’s all I ask…(said in Alan Patridge’s singing voice).

Glad to see you are realistic josie!!

[ledge]

Darcy and Freijah player wise.
A better structure up forward where our forwards stop competing against each other and our mids can hit them .. and accuracy in front of goal !

[jeemak]

Organic growth in players who were either given opportunities earlier than they might have or in positions unfamiliar to them is what I'll be looking for. If we get that and improvement from our tall forwards we take another step forward and that means aspirations for top six again.

I'd like to say top four, but there's eighteen teams and a banged up fixture, so being in the top 33% of those teams (let alone the top 22% of them) is going to be tough as other teams will improve.

A little bit like 2015 to 2016 and 2019/2020 to 2021 this year transitioning into next feels like a refresh and we usually do quite well coming out of them.

A lot rides on veterans Duryea, Jones, Libba and Treloar. If they can stay fit and in decent touch we're probably going to be reasonable. English needs to get back to his best, and should if he has an uninterrupted preseason.

[kruder]

Was Rory Lobb the best defender in the AFL in the last 6 weeks of the year? He was one of the few that showed up against the Hoks and for anyone at the ground that night I'm sure they went away with an enhanced perception of Rory.

Can he continue to impact in a such a key role in 2025? Will sides play him differently now the secret is out? It's going to be interesting to see.

I think there is no reason why Ed Richards isn't a All Australian by the end of the year, he has it all and I would love for him to play well in a final also just a little question mark over his last two.

I thought we played some of our best football under Bevo in a along time in the second half of the year, I'm genuinely optimistic at what the group can achieve.

Just one question I have is that will Adz and Libba be starting inside mids by the end of the year?

[Dazza]

Was Rory Lobb the best defender in the AFL in the last 6 weeks of the year? He was one of the few that showed up against the Hoks and for anyone at the ground that night I'm sure they went away with an enhanced perception of Rory.

Can he continue to impact in a such a key role in 2025? Will sides play him differently now the secret is out? It's going to be interesting to see.

I think there is no reason why Ed Richards isn't a All Australian by the end of the year, he has it all and I would love for him to play well in a final also just a little question mark over his last two.

I thought we played some of our best football under Bevo in a along time in the second half of the year, I'm genuinely optimistic at what the group can achieve.

Just one question I have is that will Adz and Libba be starting inside mids by the end of the year?

Lobb and Richards will be good to watch next year. Both with a pre season under their belts in new positions.

I feel like Libba is surprisingly durable. Adz always seems to get a few 'old man' issues over the year. If JJ can stay on the park we'll improve too although I'd kind of prefer if Freijah took his spot permanently.

[jDogs]

I am looking forward to:

- Learning who we pick up in the SSP who will go on to play every game for the year
- Learning who will be the player who starts the year in a new position
- A new jumper without the silly toilet lid collar and a much improved away guernsey
- Seeing Sanders' physical development over the preseason in particular

[mjp]

For mine I think 2025 will be a transitional year.

Yeah - not me.

Top 2 in defence and attack in 2024.

Addition by subtraction with Jacko and Caleb. I'm worried about depth but depth only matters when it matters...

Grand Final here we come.

[Mantis]

I feel like Libba is surprisingly durable. Adz always seems to get a few 'old man' issues over the year. If JJ can stay on the park we'll improve too although I'd kind of prefer if Freijah took his spot permanently.

Libba might be durable but he looked awfully slow against Hawthorn, and these days if you can't run, you can't play.

For the benefit of the team I hope the likes of Garcia and Sanders move past Libba quickly, with Libba making them earn it.

[whythelongface]

Yeah - not me.

Top 2 in defence and attack in 2024.

Addition by subtraction with Jacko and Caleb. I'm worried about depth but depth only matters when it matters...

Grand Final here we come.

Agree. We should be in the window over the next couple of years. We just need some of our younger mids to take the next step up. Thus am really looking forward to Sanders, Gags, Garcia along with one or two of our draftees stepping up. Also looking forward to the long awaited debut of the Buss.

[Eastdog]

Agree. We should be in the window over the next couple of years. We just need some of our younger mids to take the next step up. Thus am really looking forward to Sanders, Gags, Garcia along with one or two of our draftees stepping up. Also looking forward to the long awaited debut of the Buss.

Yep me too. Hoping these guys can step up for us. Sanders, Gallagher and Garcia showed they have potential and keen to see them progress further on it.

Sanders will get better. The game against Geelong down in Geelong in the wet was a great game by him.

Gags I think was much better earlier on in season 2024

Garcia showed lots of good signs.

Looking forward also to see what Kennedy brings us.

We need a good strong start to season 2025 and our first game at game at Marvel against North Melbourne hopefully starts that off.

[jeemak]

Libba might be durable but he looked awfully slow against Hawthorn, and these days if you can't run, you can't play.

For the benefit of the team I hope the likes of Garcia and Sanders move past Libba quickly, with Libba making them earn it.

Not for me to be telling a guy he shouldn't be risking his health to earn another five hundred gorillas to wrap up his career, but I'm surprised he's going again given his concussion history.

[ReLoad]

Beating hawthorn.

That’s all.

[Sedat]

Yeah - not me.

Top 2 in defence and attack in 2024.

Addition by subtraction with Jacko and Caleb. I'm worried about depth but depth only matters when it matters...

Grand Final here we come.
Matt Kennedy counters the depth issue to an extent (not fully, but like you said it's not an issue until it is).

I also don't understand the negativity at the moment - we should be aiming for the stars in 2025. We might not get there but we should die trying.

[Eastdog]

Sam Darcy becoming the most damaging player in the league.

He was already putting the fear in opposition defenders.

Still lots more development to come.

[Dazza]

Matt Kennedy counters the depth issue to an extent (not fully, but like you said it's not an issue until it is).

I also don't understand the negativity at the moment - we should be aiming for the stars in 2025. We might not get there but we should die trying.

I feel like we'll take a bit of a step backwards next year. I think losing Daniel and Macrae does hurt a bit in the short term but I also think it was probably the right call to move them on. I think it's a higher probability we miss the 8 than make top 4 next year.

Happy to be proven wrong of course.

[MrMahatma]

I'm looking forward to finishing top of the ladder.

I'm EXPECTING top 4. Our back half of the year was seriously good footy. The final was the mother of all bed-shittings and that sucks. Like the one we lost to Freo a couple of years ago. Just thought the team had more in the tank.

We need to be in the mix in the next 1-3 years. Our midfield and defence need to transition personnel (I think we already have most of what we need) in that period if we're to continue to threaten after that. No reason we shouldn't be looking at 2025 as year 1 of a dynasty.

[mighty_west]

Top 4 has to be our benchmark and see what happens from there, obviously luck is needed with injuries along the way especially the back end of the season, but i'll look forward to us becoming one of the better sides in the comp with really no excuses.

Also Sanders with another Pre season and JF too, Busslinger to not only debut but hopefully cement his spot given it will be his 3rd season, and i'm not sure i'm 100% trusting Liam Jones, likewise Libba, both looked like they were really slowing down by the end of the season so really important for the likes of Kennedy to come in and play consistent footy, Sanders and Garcia, even Westy and Cody to spend time in the middle.

Also really (hoping) looking forward to Timmy English getting back to his best, now both he and club have committed and really back himself for another AA season or something similar, last season was piss poor and simply not good enough for someone with his experience now, he needs to either dominate or at least hold his own against ANY other ruckman in the comp, yes even big Sweeta, it's ok to go around finding the pill around the ground but he needs to be strong in the contests to give his mids the best chance.

[my plums]

I'm looking forward to no more games when you can tell in the first 10 minutes that we are off. Fingers crossed.

[Flamethrower]

A full season of Rory Lobb alongside Liam Jones in the backline acting like traffic cops telling the oppo "thou shalt not pass", and holding teams to an average of 30 points per game.

A synergistic forward line with Darce, JUH and Astro working together like a well-oiled machine, and a mosquito fleet buzzing around them roving the packs and locking the ball into our forward 50 until we add yet another 6 pointer.

A midfield with the highest workrate in the land, to the point where the oppo swear we have 10 more players on the park.

[merantau]

I'm looking to always kicking more goals than points.

[soupman]

Not for me to be telling a guy he shouldn't be risking his health to earn another five hundred gorillas to wrap up his career, but I'm surprised he's going again given his concussion history.

Anthony Scott to me is the riskier one. He's doing the same for probably $150ish pa. And it isn't like if he does well there's a huge pay day coming, his next contract would be at absolute best $250ish.

[soupman]

I feel like we'll take a bit of a step backwards next year. I think losing Daniel and Macrae does hurt a bit in the short term but I also think it was probably the right call to move them on. I think it's a higher probability we miss the 8 than make top 4 next year.

Happy to be proven wrong of course.

I think Kennedy will match the output of one of them, so not too worried about that aspect. Really neither really moved the needle at any point this year.

I think top 4 is the goal, bur with fixture anomalies top 6 is acceptable. Prelim would be a proper success, win a final the minimum.

Think the hardest part as others have said is managing the decline of the old guys like Jones and Libba, and whether the young guys coming through can adequately lessen that blow.

[jeemak]

Anthony Scott to me is the riskier one. He's doing the same for probably $150ish pa. And it isn't like if he does well there's a huge pay day coming, his next contract would be at absolute best $250ish.

I guess with Tom having a flag under his belt, a B&F as well and a position in the league that's not challenged then it probably makes it a bit sillier to me. Having said that, he may have pissed a bit of coin up against the wall in his twenties prior to becoming a 'family man' so may be playing catch up in his own way.

With Scott I kind of get the hustle and the need to prove he can keep going. Not sure how many jobs he's going to get that pay him $150K to $200K plus, while at the same time doing something he loves. Interesting comparison though, given their respective ages aren't that far apart.