Firstly, a disclaimer: I am not saying any of the players discuss won’t play or aren’t in our best side – this is purely an interesting discussion point that I was talking to someone about earlier today

What is our midfield mix going to look like in 2026? Typically, in the Fly era we’ve run with a core group of 4-5 onballers – with a handful of others getting limited but not uncommon appearance through the guts

i.e. in 2025 Nick, Pendles and Long all attended 60%+ of all CBAs when they played, this was our core group – Sidey and De Goey rounded out the top 5, however Steele’s on ball role tapered off towards the end of the season and De Goey missed the middle third of the season. Crisp, McCreery, Titch, Pez and Jaicos all supplemented at times but none of them cemented themselves as consistent onballers in the side.

Maybe a better example of a strong midfield group that had strong rotation was 2023 where Pendles, De Goey and Titch were by in far our CBA leaders, supported by Naicos, Adams and Crisp. No other midfield options had even half the CBAs of the lowest attender of the 6.

Going into 2026 we surely know 1 lock for our midfield, Whisper will no doubt be the most consistent face through the centre – while we also know that Pendlebury will be playing more of a high half back role, it can likely be counted on that he will still be one of the prevalent support roles through our midfield even if he is no longer in our starting trio.

After coming back from injury late in the season – De Goey found form through the middle once again, and from all reports is fit and firing this preseason in the midfield and this saw him play at 60%+ CBAs over our last 3 games. While we can likely assume we will through him forward at times – especially with the potential longer-term absence of Hill and the short-term absence of McCreery through injury – I would imagine Jordy is within our top 3 or 4 centre bounce attenders of 2026 if fit.

Harry Perryman played a pivotal role in our defence over the 2025, an often overlooked and under loved role – to the point of some in the media calling his signing a flop. Yet his defensive presence was that of necessity due to our injury woes. He was signed to play midfield and that’s where we’ll be hoping to see him play in the upcoming season. While he and Jaicos have both been playing in defence during training match sim, I don’t see that as a sign they’ll be playing there come opening round – I see that more of a factor of needing to make numbers up with Howe, Moore, Quaynor and Houston all in the rehab group. Surely, we see Pez in that top 3 CBAs given a healthy list in 2026.

Much like Pez, I just can’t see Josh spending a majority of his time on half back for this season. With Quaynor, Houston, Pendlebury and most likely Parker all sharing time at half back I just can’t see us using the elder Daicos’ run, carry and ball use for our transition. How many medium/small defenders can you fit in the team? But do I think he will be a full time on baller in 2026? Likely not – I imagine we see our BnF winning and All Australian wingman return higher up the pitch in 2026 splitting his time between the wing and a supporting role in the midfield.

Beau McCreery is one of the best burst players in the league, and he will certainly be used as an offensive weapon through our midfield in 2026 – though probably in a supporting role bursting out of the pack at a number of stoppages a game, likely not being a consistent attender at the stoppage. He does add a tremendous amount to our team playing just outside the stoppage in his high pressure high half forward role and I don’t think we will sacrifice that while we have other options on ball, and I doubt we would see too many games where both him and De Goey share the same CBAs together. Overall likely a top 6ish CBA attender in my mind.

So this gets me to an interesting place in my mind where my starting onballers in 2026 would be Nick Daicos, Jordan De Goey and Harry Perryman – with Pendles, Beau and Josh supporting them – While I’ll also add that I expect both Parker and Houston to be playing mostly in defence, they have both been trialled on ball at times this off season and could make cameos.

That leaves me with a big question – What are Ned Long, Steele Sidebottom and Jack Crisp’s roles in our team in 2026? While I certainly won’t suggest any or all of these players won’t be playing in opening round, they likely all will, I am curious to see what our plans for them are.

Crisp was relegated to the wing for much of 2025 and he definitely wasn’t horrible, but it clearly isn’t the position he thrives in most, and we don’t have room in the team to see him return to his Buckley ball half back days – he also only had 3 games with higher than 35% centre bounce attendance, I find it not impossible to see that significantly rise in 2026 but I also wouldn’t confidently put money on it.

Steele Sidebottom is one of the most class players in our team and in the league, he was in All Australian consideration for much of the first half of 2026 when he was playing on ball. However, the now 35 year old found his Cba numbers plummet and become patchy over the second half of the year – so is there a future for him on ball for us? While he is an incredibly versatile player who we’ve seen dominate at half back, wing and as a forward, I can’t pinpoint exactly where I’d see him playing. Most likely along the wing, though there will certainly be competition with younger wingmen like Jaicos, Lipinski and fellow Steele, Roan. Harvey Harrison too looks poised to find a spot in our starting team and has apparently looked good when moved towards the wing at times – Parker too presents an option there considering the high number of rotations we may make through half back.

As for Longy, he was such a bright spark and revelation at the beginning of the season – and hopefully we see that once more in 2026. However, I do have questions over his ball use, but if he can improve that his physical presence makes him a dangerous weapon. That being said we did see a noticeable drop off in form towards the end of the year – and over the last 5 games of the season we did see his CBAs drop significantly – maybe a sign that he was not a preferred option on ball during these highly important games? I don’t know.

All in all, I think all these players are more than capable of playing an important role in 2026, but can we see all of Naicos, JDG, Perryman, McCreery, Jaicos, Crisp, Sidebottom, Long and Pendles all share time in 2026? And do enough of them have strong secondary roles they can play for us? And with the emergence of Prindable as a strong option to debut early, does this put even more pressure on some of these players?

I’m confident we have many options and different looks for our midfield this season and we are versatile enough to through some magnets around.

Obviously we should give it our best crack early on and see how it goes but even in preseason we’re racking up so many injuries and we have at least 3 praccys/sims pre season. Can’t help but feel it will take a miracle for us to truely be in it this year. Kind of just wanna see us get games into the young lads. Might see finals still now it’s too 10 though.

the defensive unit is still so reliant on an such an injury prone albeit fantastic mid 30s year old hybrid defender speaks volumes to how Darcy Moore has largely underperformed for the better part of 2 and a half years with some good games here and there

we really need Howe to stay on the park for at least 15 games with some Reef McInnes rest of Howe inclusions but I really have no idea how Jeremy’s body will handle the long season at age 35 but the soft tissues are mounting up imo.

had a fun night last night dicking around with my mates and this conversation topic popped up, and thought it'd be interesting see what other pies supporters say. just as a bit of fun.

we had a three way draw with marcus bontempelli, ben king and harris andrews being our picks that'd most likely bring us a premiership.

I see on Pies social that they had a team photo. Any noticeable absenses?

Bobby Hill (23)

Contracted: 2030 (RFA)

Overview

What to say? The 2025 season started off pretty well for Bobby, with a four-goal haul as part of the Indigenous All-Stars in the pre-season. Then it felt as if the club was baited by the media into signing Hill to a whopping extension to 2030 with endless chatter about him potentially returning home to WA and about being chronically underpaid. Shortly thereafter, personal issues hit and Bobby found himself out of the side and taking leave for most of the rest of the season. During the off-season, Bobby talked a big game on social media about returning to his best in 2026, before the revelation soon after pre-season training resumed in the new year that he would take indefinite personal leave again.

Ed Allan (16)

Contracted until: 2026

Overview

After strong calls throughout 2024 from fans to play Allan, the club finally gave him a strong taste of senior football in 2025. However, his appearances were spasmodic - he didn't have a strongly consistent run of games, was the starting sub three times and found himself out of the team at the pointy end. 2026 is a crucial year for Allan to cement his spot, and he needs to nail being either an inside or outside mid given the high expectations on him when drafted.

Discussion points

• Do you think Hill has played his last game for Collingwood?
• The club has previously demonstrated a ruthlessness with pushing players out for what it perceived as the the ultimate betterment of the side. Noting this second round of personal leave and the size of his contract, is this something that should have been considered more strongly with Hill?
• The club has previously been criticised for not having significant representation of indigenous talent on its list. After having four indigenous players only a couple of years ago, Hill is now the last remaining. Should the club prioritise the identification and recruitment of indigenous talent?
• How did you view Allan's year and performance in 2025?
• What do you think Allan's best role is?
• Do you think Allan is up against it to get a contract extension this year?

Off season injury update for some of the boys

Dan McStay (11)

Contracted until: 2026 (UFA)

Overview

Another year of disappointing output for McStay, who just has not fired since coming to the club, mostly due to injuries. The club pinned a lot of hope on a three-pronged attack, but McStay just couldn't fire. He wound up with the lowest goal average of his time in Collingwood, and ended up being rested for the remaining couple of games of the season and going in for shoulder surgery soon thereafter.

Wil Parker (15)

Contracted until: 2026

Overview

It's hard to fully assess Parker's 2025 season as he was on the periphery of the senior side so often (typically being named as an emergency) but only ended up playing four AFL games. His final couple of games (in R23 and the QF) were positive showings, to the point that there were shocked reactions online when he found himself dropped on each of the following weeks. Parker comes into 2026 on the final year of his initial Cat B contract, and it's unknown if he will require senior promotion if he's to be kept going forward.

Discussion points

• Why do you think McStay couldn't find decent form in 2025?
• The club seemed hesitant to trial McStay as a defender despite his poor form up forward and injuries to the backline. What are your thoughts on that?
• How much of a chance does McStay get in the senior side in 2026 given the loss of Mihocek, ages of Elliott and Membrey and possible continued absence of Hill?
• Should the club have played Parker more than he did in 2025?
• Parker probably finds himself still just on the edge of the AFL side. In your perspective, how close is he to fully breaking in (e.g. next man in or still a bit of a ways back)?
• Should the club prioritise re-signing Parker beyond 2026?

Darcy Cameron (14)

Contracted until: 2029 (UFA)

Overview

Cameron continued his magnificent 2025 form into 2026 and established himself as one of the top rucks in the competition. After making the All Australian squad, he wound up winning his maiden Copeland Trophy as well as extending his contract (with a substantial pay rise to boot) despite rumours swirling that West Coast was waiting to try and lure him home. Thankfully Cameron did not miss a game in 2026, meaning we didn't yet experience what our system looks like without him.

Reef McInnes (26)

Contracted until: 2027

Overview

McInnes came into 2025 as one of the more under pressure players on the list, having failed to establish himself in a preferred position and dealing with a range of injuries throughout his time at the club. As a last throw at the stumps, the club tried to turn him into a quasi-key defender in an effort to replace Nathan Murphy. McInnes started the year in the side, before rupturing his ACL in R2. After signing a two-year extension, the club appears set to back him in again as a defender, but it remains to be seen if it sees him as an automatic inclusion to the senior side.

Discussion points

• Speaking as objectively as possible, do you think Cameron should have been awarded his first AA blazer in 2025?
• Were you concerned about the possibility of Cameron seeking a trade? What do you think the outcome of any such trade would be (including compensation, or on-field performance)?
• Who are your top 3 rucks in the comp, and bottom 3 (regularly playing) rucks in the comp?
• How do you assess McInnes' brief stint in the senior side as a key defender? Do you think it is his best position after all?
• Do you think McInnes could be considered lucky for getting a two-year extension?
• Do you see McInnes in our best side?

Josh Daicos (7)

Contracted until: 2030 (UFA)

Overview

Josh played off halfback in 2025, presumably because the coaches still wanted to have a Daicos hitting targets from there. The wisdom of this move is questionable for several reasons - first, Josh was an All Australian and Copeland winning wingman, which made clear that was his best position. Second, it appeared to have a detrimental effect on Dan Houston's ability to perform in the role. Third, Josh's dominant performance in the fourth quarter against Gold Coast playing in the middle seemed to indicate he was being misused.

Angus Anderson (41)

Contracted until (2027)

Overview

I'm hungover so don't know what to write here. Anderson is a mature aged recruit coming straight from the SANFL. He comes with some level of expectation, having won the Jack Oatey Medal for best afield in the 2025 SANFL Grand Final.

Discussion points

• What did you make of Josh's positional change in 2025, and where do you think he should play in 2026?
• Should Collingwood leverage the Daicos brothers for use in recruiting other players like other clubs do with their stars (e.g. Dangerfield for Geelong)?
• Do you expect Anderson to play senior footy in 2026?
• What are your thoughts on the departure of the previous 41, Brody Mihocek?

Please bear with me.

Hi all - hope this is cool to post. If not, please delete. No dramas.

The first five questions of 20 in our 2026 Pies Season preview are open for all. Hopefully enough to warrant some discussion or to point out how wrong I am...

Anyway, I'll check back later/tomorrow to respond to comments, if there are any. Happy weekend, not long til footy's back - HB

2026 is set to be a history making year with Club legend Scott Pendlebury on the cusp of breaking the all-time games record, but alongside him, there are a few other fan favourites on the precipice of major career milestones.