One of many wildest residence and away seasons in AFL historical past is within the books, with the highest eight lastly settled.
It took till the ultimate recreation of the season to find out the precise make-up of the groups nonetheless in premiership rivalry, with Carlton squeaking in regardless of Blues followers having their hearts ripped out of their chests simply hours earlier than Fremantle was overwhelmed by Port Adelaide.
Because the eight groups within the finals put together to chart their journey in the direction of that at some point in September, spare a thought for the remaining 10 who now return to the drafting board.
Whereas the sensation of lacking out on the finals could also be uncooked for the likes of Fremantle or Collingwood, different groups decrease down on the ladder have identified their destiny for months.
Nonetheless, here is a look at what every membership who missed the eight can do over the summer time to get nearer to creating it in 2025.
Collingwood: ninth, 12 wins, 9 losses, two attracts, 102.5%
It was a weird outdated season for the reigning premiers from begin to end.
After dropping simply 5 video games en-route to their sixteenth premiership final yr, Collingwood stumbled out of the gate with three straight losses in 2024.
The gradual begin was adopted by a blistering run via the center of the season the place the Pies rose as much as third on the ladder, solely to finally drop out of the eight. Collingwood completed the season profitable 4 of its final 5 matches, with a lot of these coming in typical last-minute trend.
The excellent news if you happen to’re a Pies fan is that this was a season really wrecked by accidents. Craig McRae’s facet operated with a makeshift ahead line for a lot of the season, ending the season with two key gamers ahead of the footy — Brody Mihocek and Jordan De Goey — sidelined, alongside Tom Mitchell, who by no means acquired entering into 2024.
Collingwood should discover a technique to get youthful round Nick Daicos as he comes into his prime years. (AFL Photographs by way of Getty Photographs: Michael Wilson)
Collingwood nonetheless has arguably one of the best participant within the competitors in Nick Daicos, and the horrifying factor for the remainder of the competitors is that Daicos, nonetheless simply 21 years outdated, is nowhere close to his peak.
Daicos is likely to be the AFL’s greatest younger participant, however he is surrounded by some outdated heads that the Pies want to determine methods to substitute within the years to return. Scott Pendlebury continues to be wonderful, but it surely’s barely worrying how reliant the Magpies are on the 36-year-old, who will likely be 37 by the point the 2025 season kicks off.
Sadly for Collingwood, that process is made slightly more durable by advantage of their first-round decide on this yr’s draft being in Fremantle’s arms after final yr’s Lachie Schultz commerce.
Collingwood additionally by no means actually recovered by Nathan Murphy’s retirement because of concussions on the eve of the season. Discovering the same defender to Murphy is important to unlocking skipper Darcy Moore, who at his greatest can flip defence into assault instantly.
Fremantle: Tenth, 12 wins, 9 losses, two attracts, 111.9%
Non-Victorian groups have been complaining about Victorian bias all yr lengthy, however Fremantle can depend itself fortunate for not being a Melbourne-based crew proper now.
Whereas all the main focus has been on Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood’s collapses on the again finish of the season, Fremantle quietly dropped from third after Spherical 20 to Tenth within the house of a month.
It is exhausting to know what Justin Longmuir will make of this season. At instances, his facet appeared like real premiership fancies, specifically once they thrashed Melbourne in Alice Springs in Might. Nevertheless, at different instances, the Dockers had some actual deer within the headlights sort moments.
Sadly for Freo, a number of of those moments got here up once they might ill-afford them within the remaining recreation of the season towards Port Adelaide.
Needing a house win to succeed in the highest eight, the Dockers blew inside 50 entry after inside 50 entry and a few of their greatest gamers fumbled the ball in broad open areas prefer it was a moist bar of cleaning soap within the bathe.
A shattered Andrew Brayshaw shares an embrace with Fremantle teammate Caleb Serong after the loss to Port Adelaide. (Getty Photographs: Paul Kane)
The Dockers aren’t far off. They’re maybe essentially the most credentialed Tenth-placed crew in AFL historical past, and the secret for Longmuir over the low season will likely be composure.
Freo has an elite midfield with the likes of Caleb Serong and Andy Brayshaw, and a ahead line that can proceed to get increasingly potent as Jye Amiss and Josh Treacy collect expertise, however the connection between the 2 departments is lacking.
Fortunately for Fremantle, the proper connector is obtainable and more likely to be eager on becoming a member of them this summer time — Richmond’s Shai Bolton.
Bolton, a WA native, has proven a capability to toggle between the ahead line and midfield seamlessly in his time with the Tigers and would add the contact of sophistication Fremantle is presently lacking.
The Dockers personal two first-round picks, and could be smart to ship the pair to Punt Street in trade for the gifted 25-year-old.
Essendon: eleventh, 11 wins, 11 losses, one draw, 93.5%
Essendon’s finish of season document is the proper indicator of the place this group is — mired in mediocrity.
The Bombers have received 11 video games in each of Brad Scott’s first two years on the helm, and now could be the time for the Essendon coach to take a stranglehold of this checklist.
Scott and the Bombers brains belief should be ruthless with a number of checklist calls, understanding that the crew may want take a step again at first to take a step ahead, as Hawthorn has executed so fantastically this yr. Followers will likely be OK with the Hawthorn route as a result of they’re executed with being middling.
The outdated guard is formally gone at Bomberland, with membership legend Kevin Sheedy stepping down from the board and long-time recruiting boss Adrian Dodoro additionally stepping down after over 20 years answerable for Essendon’s checklist.
Essendon is but to reward Jake Stringer with the multi-year contract extension he needs. (AAP: James Ross)
Scott and Dodoro’s alternative Matt Rosa should be in lock-step over which gamers they imagine will likely be round for the membership’s subsequent profitable remaining.
Sitting close to the highest of the checklist of gamers to decide on is Jake Stringer, who’s out of contract.
The 30-year-old’s total numbers make for nice studying, together with his 42 targets his highest output since becoming a member of Essendon, however like the remainder of the crew, Stringer blows cold and hot far too usually.
The mercurial ahead usually fattens up towards weaker opponents, and may be nowhere to be seen at instances towards more durable groups.
If the Bombers don’t re-sign Stringer, different groups will come calling and he can positively present worth in a state of affairs the place he isn’t relied upon as usually as he’s at Essendon.
St Kilda: twelfth, 11 wins, 12 losses, 99.4%
The Saints are one other crew that ended up enjoying nicely above its ladder place in the direction of the tip of the season.
St Kilda completed the house and away season by profitable 4 of its final 5 video games and appeared to essentially lean into the thought of being the ‘Grinch’ and ruining different groups’ finals aspirations.
Ross Lyon is onto one thing right here as a result of his crew has out of the blue discovered an identification and it is one thing they should roll with into 2025. Do not simply wait till your season is cooked to start out being a thorn in your opponent’s facet, do it from the bounce.
Nevertheless, sitting atop of St Kilda’s checklist of priorities needs to be getting Max King match and firing after one other season ruined by accidents for the star ahead.
Since kicking a career-high 52 targets in 2022, King has managed only a mixed 23 video games over the past two seasons.
St Kilda should discover a technique to get Max King match and firing in 2025. (AAP: Julian Smith)
If the Saints can get the point of interest of their ahead line on the park in King, they’ve out of the blue acquired the items to encompass him with following a pair of robust seasons from the younger ahead duo of Cooper Sharman and Anthony Caminiti.
The Saints have loads of expertise across the park. Rowan Marshall continued to indicate he is among the AFL’s premier ruckmen, whereas Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera took a leap after averaging a career-high 25.7 disposals per recreation.
St Kilda may even be inspired by the tip of the season 19-year-old midfielder Mattaes Phillipou had.
After spending a big chunk of the season enjoying within the VFL, Phillipou returned to the AFL set-up and posted 4 straight video games of 20 or extra disposals whereas kicking a purpose a recreation. He is acquired star potential written throughout him and is one participant the Saints should stick with.
Gold Coast Suns: thirteenth, 11 wins, 12 losses, 99.1%
Damien Hardwick mentioned it greatest after a irritating loss within the again finish of the season — it’s time for the Gold Coast Suns to develop up.
After being cellar-dwellers for a lot of their existence, the Suns have gotten far too content material with honourable losses or ending within the prime half of the underside 10 groups within the competitors.
That’s not what Hardwick, a three-time premiership-winning coach, is in Queensland to realize.
The Suns received only one recreation on the highway this season — a one-point win over Essendon in Spherical 22 the place the Bombers self-destructed and Mac Andrew kicked a game-winning purpose after the siren.
The Suns’ win over Essendon was certainly one of solely two highway wins for the season for the Gold Coast. (Getty Photographs: Jonathan DiMaggio)
It is all nicely and good making your house floor a fortress — and the Suns have by and enormous executed this — however the subsequent step of their improvement is taking that success and translating it to the highway.
The Suns of yesteryear might have been overmatched with opponents when it comes to pure expertise, however this should not be the case anymore. It is a crew that’s filled with excessive finish draft picks, and it is time for the likes of Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Ben King to take a stranglehold of the competitors.
It’s fascinating to check the Suns to the AFL’s different enlargement crew from the 2010s, the GWS Giants. Each groups struggled early, however since breaking via and making the finals in 2016, the Giants have set a ruthless customary of excellence on the membership.
If the Suns can get equally severe, they have sufficient expertise on their checklist to interrupt via and have sustained interval of success just like the Giants have.
Melbourne: 14th, 11 wins, 12 losses, 98.5%
There is no two methods about it — the 2024 season is a definite disappointment for the Demons, who have been some consultants’ pre-season premiership decide.
The Demons sat inside the highest 4 after Spherical 11, after which extremely dropped six spots to Tenth after dropping in Spherical 12 and by no means recovered.
Melbourne’s season was just about a write-off after Christian Petracca’s season-ending accidents on King’s Birthday, and it was alarming how the lack of a single participant tilted the crew’s fortunes a lot.
The Demons’ prime goal within the low season needs to be getting Petracca re-invested within the membership amid studies that he’s contemplating transferring on.
Max Gawn often is the membership’s captain and nonetheless top-of-the-line gamers within the competitors, however Petracca is the crew’s greatest participant and no quantity of draft property or younger gamers that the membership might ask for in a commerce for him will be capable of substitute what the 28-year-old brings to the desk.
Melbourne should discover a technique to maintain Christian Petracca on the membership. (AAP: Joel Carrett)
When the Demons received the flag in 2021, the ahead line consisted of the likes of Ben Brown, Tom McDonald and Luke Jackson flanking Bayley Fritsch and Kysaiah Pickett. Of that group, solely McDonald will stay on the membership in 2025 and he’s in defence.
Jacob van Rooyen loved one other robust season, kicking 30 targets from 21 video games, and the Demons will hope for an additional leap from him in his third season subsequent yr.
Carlton ahead Harry McKay has been floated as a possible commerce chip that might curiosity Melbourne in a Petracca commerce. Might he and van Rooyen work collectively to type a potent ahead combo?
Like Collingwood with Nathan Murphy, the Demons have been pressured to play catch-up as soon as Angus Brayshaw was pressured into retirement because of concussion. Brayshaw’s retirement and Petracca’s harm allowed the Demons to get some invaluable midfield reps into the likes of Trent Rivers, one thing that the membership may gain advantage from within the years to return.
There may be additionally an enormous choice on what to do with Clayton Oliver. Can the three-time All-Australian midfielder return to his absolute best? Or is it time for each events to go their separate methods?
Adelaide Crows: fifteenth, eight wins, 14 losses, one draw, 99.1%
{That a} crew with the quantity of expertise Adelaide has can end fifteenth tells you all about how stacked the competitors is.
You set this Crows crew into an period the place there wasn’t as a lot expertise within the AFL they usually is likely to be a prime 4 facet, however this is not an period missing for high quality.
After coming desperately shut to creating the highest eight final yr, the Crows stumbled out of the gates this yr and by no means actually recovered.
Regardless of ending Tenth final yr, the Crows have been the AFL’s highest-scoring crew, however misplaced their spark on that finish of the soccer this season. Discovering the reply to why that occurred will likely be coach Matthew Nicks’ prime precedence within the low season.
The reply to offensive drop-off may merely be the distinction in Taylor Walker’s manufacturing. After booting a career-high 76 targets in 2023, Walker managed simply 29 targets in 18 appearances this season.
Adelaide should determine what to do with veteran ahead Taylor Walker. (Getty Photographs: Sarah Reed)
The previous membership captain is out of contract and at 34, it’d simply be time for the 2 sides to half methods, as a result of Adelaide has some ready-made replacements.
Darcy Fogarty loved his greatest season as a professional, kicking 41 targets in 23 video games, and absolutely it’s time for him to imagine prime canine standing in Adelaide’s ahead line.
Adelaide may even be inspired by the shape proven by the No.2 decide from the 2020 draft, Riley Thilthorpe, who kicked 15 targets in seven appearances after returning to the facet.
Izak Rankine dabbled in some added midfield time this season, averaging a career-high 18 disposals and three.7 clearances per recreation, and 2025 is likely to be the season the place Nicks absolutely unleashes him as some extent of distinction in Adelaide’s engine room.
West Coast Eagles: sixteenth, 5 wins, 18 losses, 68.1%
West Coast’s main goal for this low season will likely be discovering its subsequent full-time senior coach.
Since Adam Simpson left, a lot of candidates — Dean Cox, Jaymie Graham, Daniel Giansiracusa to call a number of — have pulled their title out of the working for the job.
It is left interim Eagles coach Jarrad Schofield because the most certainly man to imagine the full-time function subsequent season and past.
The excellent news for the Eagles is Schofield has carried out nicely since taking on from Simpson, however we have seen the interim coach bump earlier than that does not essentially result in success as we have seen up to now with different interim coaches getting the full-time gig.
The whole lot for the Eagles over the subsequent few years begins and ends with Harley Reid. (Getty Photographs: Paul Kane)
West Coast is enhancing yr on yr, albeit at snail’s tempo. They’ve gone from two wins in 2022, to 3 in 2023 and 5 in 2024.
Harley Reid rising as a professional star was the most important win out of West Coast’s season, however the Eagles additionally had two members within the prolonged All-Australian squad in Jeremy McGovern and a revitalised Jake Waterman, who kicked a career-best 53 targets this season after kicking a complete of 51 targets within the 4 seasons prior.
If the Eagles can get a full season out of Oscar Allen in 2025 and extra inner enchancment from the likes of Reid and Reuben Ginbey, they might doubtlessly attain double figures in wins.
Regardless of their lowly document, the Eagles turned a weirdly difficult fixture for some golf equipment in Perth. Making Perth Stadium a tricky place to win at is step one on the roadmap to changing into professional as soon as once more.
North Melbourne: seventeenth, three wins, 20 losses, 63.5%
It’s excessive time for the Kangaroos to start out climbing up the ladder in 2025.
Overlook double-figure win totals, the Kangaroos have not registered 5 wins in a season since 2019. Rebuilding or not, this crew has far an excessive amount of expertise on its checklist to be profitable three video games in a season.
Atop of North’s checklist of priorities ought to be getting star midfiedler Luke Davies-Uniacke to comply with an extension, with the 25-year-old popping out of contract on the finish of 2025.
Davies-Uniacke has change into some of the prolific midfielders within the competitors regardless of enjoying in a poor facet. He completed the 2024 season rating within the prime 5 for whole centre clearances and inside the highest 10 inside 50s and contested possessions.
Rival golf equipment are anticipated to return exhausting for Luke Davies-Uniacke this summer time. (Getty Photographs: Dylan Burns)
Lock in Davies-Uniacke and proceed to construct round him, Harry Sheezel, Colby McKercher and George Wardlaw, and the Kangaroos are out of the blue cooking with gasoline.
Tapping right down to them can be one of many league’s greatest younger ruckmen in Tristan Xerri, who was rewarded with an All-Australian squad look after averaging 17.9 disposals, 34.5 hit-outs and 6.6 clearances per recreation in 2024.
Alastair Clarkson has been vocal about needing to encompass his younger core with some expertise across the park and will probably be fascinating to see how exhausting the Kangaroos buy groceries.
Might somebody like Dylan Shiel, who’s extensively anticipated to go away Essendon be an interesting proposition for North Melbourne? Maybe they will add Nick Haynes to bolster their backline. These are the sorts of choices the Kangaroos ought to think about, as a result of it’s excessive time for this soccer membership to start out profitable once more.
Richmond: 18th, two wins, 21 losses, 63.7%
It’s exhausting to imagine Richmond finds itself backside of the ladder simply seven years after the primary of three premierships in 4 seasons.
The retirements of Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Marlion Pickett this yr coming off the again of Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin’s final yr really signify the tip of a golden period for the Tigers.
Richmond ought to be in full-blown draft asset acquisition mode as a result of this appears to be like prefer it is likely to be the beginning of a prolonged rebuild.
The Tigers presently maintain the highest decide on this yr’s draft, and can possible go into the draft with a minimum of one other if each Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli are traded this summer time.
It’s the finish of an period at Richmond with Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Marlion Pickett all retiring. (Getty Photographs: AFL Photographs/Dylan Burns)
Any hope of Richmond being a reliable facet over the previous few years has been killed off by Tom Lynch enjoying a mixed eight video games within the final two seasons, and with the 31-year-old out of contract on the finish of subsequent season, it could possibly be the proper time to discover a commerce for him as nicely.
Veteran midfielder Dion Prestia is with out a contract for 2025 and it will be no shock to see him stroll to a different membership this summer time. Liam Baker and Jack Graham are one other pair but to determine whether or not they may stay at Richmond subsequent season.
Richmond will hope to get a full season from the likes of Josh Gibcus and Jacob Hopper together with the continued improvement of kids similar to Tom Brown, Rhyan Mansell and Seth Campbell in 2025.
