6. Adelaide

“It’s definitely not ideal, is it?” Darcy Fogarty said in the days following Izak Rankine’s homophobic slur. And no, it wasn’t. It wasn’t ideal for his AFLW colleagues. It wasn’t ideal for the people running things. It wasn’t ideal for Rankine himself. And it wasn’t ideal for his team, who’d spilled into the rooms after the round 23 win over Collingwood on top of the footballing world. It was a party atmosphere that night, the celebration of a club that had secured a double chance, broken a hoodoo, and finally believed it belonged with the best. What could possibly go wrong?

But then the whispers started. So much energy and time was spent whittling down the sentence, protecting their player, placating the LGBTQ+ community, shuttling him off to Rome, begging for closure, and reminding everyone that they had two home finals and a premiership to win. After three weeks of this, Collingwood arrived in South Australia like a crew of hired assassins. In the qualifying final they probed for Adelaide’s soft spots and they found them.

Those soft spots are where the questions remain – their midfield depth, their rucks, and their wings. They had a favourable draw and a good run with injuries last year too, and they’re already up against it on that front. But they have a sound defence and they have enough star power to contend again.

5. Hawthorn

Temperamentally, tactically and structurally, the Hawks are a study of evenness and basic footballing competence. There’s no enigma, and nothing self-sabotaging about them. In the way they’ve built their list, and even the way they move the ball, they’re a study in patience, in nous, and in common sense. And they’re a team with backbone, a team that can get back in games when they’re about to be overrun. The elimination final win over GWS was a classic example of that.

They were bazookered by Patrick Dangerfield on preliminary final night, and there was no shame in that. The question now is whether they can actually get better, or whether they’ve already maximised every morsel of potential. The midfield looks very light on without Will Day. I suspect they’ll be the competition’s audit – the team that shows the other 17 clubs exactly where they stand. But I’m not convinced they have the depth and class to take the next step.

4. Fremantle

It seems like there’s an industry-wide impatience with Fremantle, an expectation that they should be better than what they are, that they have a premiership list and that it should all be coming together now. It comes from media and the club itself. But they’re a team with flaws. They have young players in key roles who are still learning, and who are still a bit unsteady under extreme pressure.

They remind me a lot of the Chris Scott sides that preceded his second flag. They’re stacked with talent, but irregular around the margins. They can be creeping and cautious, and invite criticism because of that. But when they release the handbrake, they inflict significant damage and prompt the inevitable, “Why can’t you play like that all the time?”

There’s a lot to admire about them. They’re a team that’s prepared to dig in, and they’re especially good on the road and when they’ve been written off. I really hope this coach, this playing list and this supporter base get their flag and I reckon they eventually can.

3. Gold Coast

“We don’t get much,” Damien Hardwick said last year. Mate, you don’t get a bad run. He and his club have been given a lot of leg ups. He inherited some crack players and to his credit he’s moulded them into a serious team. Like his great Richmond teams, this Suns side play that up-tempo football.

One of his biggest challenges will be figuring out what to do with all that talent. His Tigers sides were defined not by Dustin Martin or Alex Rance, but by their role players. When players like Jason Castagna left, the system broke down. This time, he has a lot more raw talent – especially the taller forwards and midfield jets. Figuring out how to utilise them will be the hard part. He won those flags with a couple of solar talents and 20 players who had what he called “role discipline”. Managing and finding an appropriate role for so many high draft picks, Norm Smith, Coleman and Brownlow medallists will present challenges.

It’s a good problem to have though. Their draw is a lot tougher this year. But anything less than a preliminary final would be a disappointment.

2. Sydney

Sydney’s 2025 was exactly the sort of season teams coming off a grand final belting often have. They were a frustrated, inconsistent and ill-disciplined at times, a team still reeling from losing another grand final and adapting to a new coach. They played some excellent football, but it tended to come in half-hour bursts and was blighted by slow starts and tardy goalkicking. By the time they’d figured it out, it was far too late. The competition had splintered in two and they were the best of the also rans.

For sheer talent, their top six or so players probably rank above any other side. At training over summer, Errol Gulden, Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Charlie Curnow all looked like they’d been designed in a footy lab. When they’re fit, synced, and slaloming through the middle of the SCG with that crowd of theirs in festive mode, life as a Sydney footballer seems like a ball of fun. They have that Sydney swagger. But none of them have a premiership and most of them have poor grand finals to atone for. I still think they’re the team best placed to take on Brisbane.

1. Brisbane

It’s entirely possible that we haven’t seen the best of this team. Eight of their premiership side were 23 or under, three of them were teenagers, and quite a few of them are already stars of the competition.

There’s a patience to them – not just in individual passages, in quarters and in games, but throughout entire seasons. They conserve, test, probe, and pounce. They know when to coast, when to dig in, and when to unleash. With the season never being longer, they’re important qualities to have.

In 2025, once they got the game on their terms, it was a remorseless advance. It started from the back. Their defenders have cool heads, soft eyes, and zero doubt. Further afield, they’d kick the ball in pentagons and parallelograms – 15 metres, 55 metres, sideways, diagonal, straight down the middle – all invariably inch perfect.

Everything about them suggests they can go on with it – their depth, their balance of ages, heights, roles and risk appetites. The challenge now is to establish themselves as one of the greatest teams we’ve ever seen.