PART FOUR: THE OLD TIMERS AND THE YOUNG GUNS
We’re moving our way through the (potential) 2025 bottom ten, and like the last installment, we’re taking a look at two clubs on opposite ends of the spectrum. One that you can make a case for being the most successful club in the competition’s history, and the other that you….can’t.
But both have high expectations for this season and beyond. Both are desperate to feature in September action but for very different reasons. One wants a taste before their old guard falls away, the other just wants a seat at the big boy table. How far can one club’s older brigade carry them, and how long until the other club’s young brigade does the same?
List Analysis Part Four, Collingwood and Gold Coast.
COLLINGWOOD:
2025 Best 23:
B: Isaac Quaynor, Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard
HB: Dan Houston, Billy Frampton, Harry Perryman
C: Josh Daicos, Jack Crisp, Patrick Lipinski
HF: Jordan De Goey, Brody Mihocek, Bobby Hill
F: Tim Membrey, Daniel McStay, Jamie Elliott
RK: Darcy Cameron, Nick Daicos, Tom Mitchell
INT: Steele Sidebottom, Beau McCreery, Scott Pendlebury, Lachie Schultz, Ed Allan (sub)
ANALYSIS:
It feels like it’s now or never for the Magpies. Armed with one of the oldest lists we’ve ever seen, Collingwood faltered in 2024 after climbing the mountain just a year prior. You could argue that the Pies season was doomed from Grand Final Day 2023, since it meant that all these veterans were starting the next season behind the eight-ball. This prophecy became reality, as Collingwood’s premiership defence never got off the ground.
Those veterans are now a year older, and while they’ve had more time to get ready for 2025 than 2024, the consensus is that an exodus is coming very soon, and if this group doesn’t snag another premiership in the next year or two, it’ll feel like a waste.
Collingwood’s key defence is both one of its biggest assets and one of its toughest questions. There’s no doubt that on his best day, skipper Darcy Moore is one of the best key defenders in the competition. Moore can do it all, equally capable of blanketing the opposition’s best forward while able to use his deceptive leg speed to rebound from defence. But last season, Moore missed his mate, Nathan Murphy, more than any of us expected.
Murphy’s premature retirement meant that journeyman Billy Frampton had to step up in a big way, and while he had his moments, it’s clear that the second key defensive position is a weak spot in the Magpies’ best 23. Charlie Dean has also had some nice moments, and for a 23-year-old rookie, I think he is worth persisting with, but he is still raw and developing. In the reserves, Jakob Ryan and Joel Cochran are a long way off, meaning that so much, maybe even too much, falls to Moore to control the backline.
Once Nick Daicos made the full-time move into the midfield (and don’t worry, we’ll get to him), Collingwood identified the need to bring more elite talent to the half-back line. Enter Dan Houston and Harry Perryman. A two-time All-Australian, Houston is the bigger name of the two, but don’t underestimate the role Perryman will play, not only at half-back but floating through the midfield and wing, as well.
Houston and Perryman will get the first crack at the two half-back positions, and as expected, mainstays Brayden Maynard and Isaac Quaynor round out the back six. Inside the four walls of the Westpac Centre, Maynard is adored. Outside those same four walls, he is despised. That alone tells you how important Maynard is to the structure of this defence. Quaynor on the other hand, is loved by all, and his beautiful foot skills and leg speed make him the perfect rebounding option for Craig McRae. Oleg Markov and Jeremy Howe provide veteran experience should they be required, and youngsters will hopefully be given some opportunities to show they can step up sometime in the future.
When Brodie Grundy went down with a season-ending injury early in 2022, everyone associated with Collingwood developed a sudden drooping of their collective shoulders. But if, way back then, you’d told them not to worry, that this was the best thing that could’ve happened, not even the ‘Press Red for Ed’ level diehards would’ve believed you.
Yet here we are, with the ultra-consistent, yet still somehow underrated Darcy Cameron quietly dominating, as only he can. But while Cameron is in career-best form and one of the first players selected every week, it’s what is underneath him that is concerning. See, Cameron doesn’t have his own version of Darcy Cameron that Grundy had. 2025 Darcy Cameron has youngsters Oscar Steene and Illiro Smit as backups. Both are still very raw and while Steene is more ready than Smit, asking him to carry the division is too much too soon.
The need for Collingwood’s midfield to regenerate itself was very evident last season, as aside from the Daicos brothers, the Magpies’ most important midfielders were, and still are, all over 30 years old. Scott Pendlebury has passed 400 games, Steele Sidebottom is edging closer to 350, Jack Crisp has played a staggering 237 matches without a miss, and still, this trio appears vital to the Pies’ midfield rotation.
Tom Mitchell and Patrick Lipinski are the two most experienced rotational players. Ed Allan, Finlay Macrae, Lachie Sullivan, Ned Long and Will Hayes have all shown glimpses. Still, it feels like all should’ve been exposed longer and sooner than they were because the Magpies will have a very hard time replacing their veterans if they haven’t given their successors enough time to properly develop.
But thank goodness for Josh and Nick Daicos. Without them, I don’t know where this team would be. Collingwood has a duo that will carry this club for a decade in these two generational talents. While Nick has been incredible since day one, and Josh took a little longer to find his feet, both are in career-best form, and I can see many All-Australian jackets in both men’s futures.
Sometimes in life, you are given a precious gift without doing much of anything. This is the story of Collingwood’s acquisition of Tim Membrey. A consistent mainstay in St Kilda’s forward line for the better part of a decade, the Saints inexplicably decided that Membrey was no longer required, and the Magpies swooped, adding a 35-40 goal player to a forward line that, like the other positions, faces many questions.
Because let’s face it, there can be an argument made that every single player in Collingwood’s forward half is either injury-prone, the wrong side of 30, or both. Brody Mihocek won five leading goal-kicker medals from 2019 to 2023 before suffering numerous injuries in 2024. Mason Cox is as inconsistent as they come, and at 33 years of age (34 in March), time is quickly running out. Dan McStay was a consistent, bullocking centre-half forward at Brisbane, but let’s be honest, goal-kicking was never his strong suit, and he now has a reconstructed knee to deal with as well.
The other two forward line mainstays, Jordan De Goey and Jamie Elliott, can turn a game on its head when they are fit and firing, but the problem is that they just haven’t been on the park enough. De Goey missed ten games in 2024, and Elliott missed eight, but in 2023, both had close to career-best seasons.
On the periphery, Beau McCreery is a crowd favourite; Bobby Hill is an excitement machine in career-best form; Lachie Schultz took a while to get going but ended the year consistently; and Reef McInnes, Ash Johnson, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Harvey Harrison have shown enough to suggest that in a fully functioning forward line, they can all play a vital role in support.
But as we keep saying, time seems to be running out for this group of players, and it feels like if they don’t lift another premiership trophy in the next two seasons, not only will it be a waste of the talent assembled, but the drop-off will be swift and seismic.
GOLD COAST:
2025 Best 23:
B: Mac Andrew, Sam Collins, Bodhi Uwland
HB: Daniel Rioli, Charlie Ballard, Wil Powell
C: Touk Miller, Sam Flanders, Sam Clohesy
HF: Malcolm Rosas, Jed Walter, Ben Long
F: Bailey Humphrey, Ben King, Ben Ainsworth
RK: Jarrod Witts, Noah Anderson, Matt Rowell
INT: Nick Holman, Lachie Weller, Alex Davies, Will Graham, John Noble (sub)
ANALYSIS:
It’s a question that has been asked every season. And every year, the question gets asked with increasing venom.
Is this the year?
Is this when Gold Coast finally steps out of their own shadow and takes the AFL world by storm? How much longer do we all have to wait before this club does something about their irrelevancy?
Try as they might, the Suns have never managed to get over the hump of finals football in their 14-season existence. They always seem to invent reasons/excuses as to why they didn’t make it that particular year. They’ve got all the tools on the field, and it seems there’s enough stability and experience in the coaches’ box and administration office that the Suns can finally break the hoodoo. But as Dimma said last season, they’ve got to ‘grow the f**k up’, and this group hasn’t yet proven they’re capable of doing exactly that.
You can mount a strong argument that Gold Coast’s key defensive duo is up there with the best in the competition. Yet, for all their hard work in the backline, Sam Collins and Charlie Ballard rarely get the outside recognition they deserve. Both came to the club in somewhat unconventional circumstances, with Collins coming in via the state-league concessions in 2018 and Ballard’s draft pick being part of the controversial Lachie Weller trade in 2017. Collins is the beast – the pure, old-school, dour defender whose first job is to stop the opposition’s best big forward. Ballard takes the second banana and uses his marking ability to cut off threats before they get to the drop zone. It’s a one-two punch that is so effective, that it allows perhaps the most talented player on the list, Mac Andrew, to enjoy free rein, marking and rebounding whatever and whenever he can. Key defensive depth will be tested should an injury occur, with Caleb Graham and rookie Cooper Bell the only other options on the list.
In the mid-range, and thanks to some shrewd off-season recruiting, the Suns are now blessed with an over-abundance of smooth-moving, lethal-kicking half-back flankers. Reigning Tigers’ best & fairest, Daniel Rioli has instantly become the best of the bunch, and his experience on the big stage will undoubtedly be a key asset. This experience is also a big reason the Suns brought John Noble into the club, and although he doesn’t have the on-field accolades of some of his teammates, a change of scenery and increased leadership will do him a world of good.
Because of his excellent field kicking, Alex Sexton was transformed from an under-performing forward into a reliable defensive rebounder. Despite only playing 15 matches, it was somewhat of a career year for the 31-year-old, averaging just a fraction under 20 disposals. Jy Farrar is still developing, but his athleticism could make him an excellent rebounding defender somewhere down the line. Connor Budarick and Sean Lemmens are the ultra-underrated duo that always seem to get the job done with a minimum of fuss, and Bodhi Uwland made significant strides in his second season, and will no doubt continue the upward trajectory once he gets more experience under his belt.
In the quartet of Sam Flanders, Sam Clohesy, Will Graham, and Wil Powell, the Suns have a surplus of the same type of player. This isn’t meant as a criticism of any of them because all play a vital role. All can play as half-back accumulators, and all have spent long stretches of games in the middle. Of these four, Flanders plays the most midfield time, Clohesy has made the wing his own, and Powell and Graham will spend more time on the half-back line.
As expected, Co-captain Jarrod Witts has a stranglehold on the number one ruck spot, and so he should, given his standing in the competition. But at 32, time is running out for the towering Witts, whose body began to feel the effects of constant ruck contest battering. But they needn’t have worried because while Witts is still a walk-up starter and one of the Suns’ most important players when fit, waiting in the wings is the heir apparent, and in his five appearances in 2024, Ned Moyle proved that he is ready to compete at the top level. The Suns have enormous hopes for Ethan Read, who has shown plenty of glimpses through many stints in the rehabilitation ward, and draftee Max Knobel will be given a lot of time to develop in the VFL.
Gold Coast’s midfield, on paper at least, is nothing short of elite. Former captain Touk Miller leads the charge and has long been the Suns’ most valuable player. But a dynamic duo, drafted six years ago, has now fully taken over from Miller, and both have announced themselves as Gold Coast’s next leaders in command. In Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, the Suns have all bases covered. Rowell is the in-and-under bull, a contested ball-winning, tackling machine who regularly puts his body on the line for his team. Then there’s best mate Anderson, the taller of the duo, a more regular outside distributor with excellent field kicking skills, and who can take a contested overhead mark when needed.
On the periphery, the Suns have beautifully skilled Lachie Weller, a bodyguard in Nick Holman, the evergreen David Swallow, speed and power in Alex Davies, and rotational talent in Joel Jeffrey, Tom Berry, Brayden Fiorini and recently signed VFL star Ben Jepson. There is more than enough top-end talent and handy depth pieces for Gold Coast’s midfield to, like the rest of its team, take the next step. But despite this abundance of talent, for whatever reason, we just haven’t seen it enough. And that needs to change, quickly.
You might disagree, and we will discuss this further in a future instalment, but Jack Lukosius’s departure leaves a bigger hole in the Suns’ forward line than many people realise. We know what Ben King can do at his best. He has passed 40 goals on three occasions in his five seasons (he missed 2022 with an ACL injury), and when he is properly motivated, he is a huge handful for any opposition defender.
But the second banana is now going to be Jed Walter. While there is massive potential for Walter to grow into one of the best key forwards in the competition, the reality is that Walter is only entering his second season. While he showed some good signs, it’s a big ask for Walter to become the 40+ goal forward as quickly as he will need to be. Elliott Himmelberg has crossed the border from South Australia and provides adequate coverage as a tall forward/ruck, and draftee Asher Eastham is a long-term project that will develop in the VFL.
Like every other position, Gold Coast’s small forward brigade is littered with talent. And it’s the diversity of that talent that, on its day, is nigh-on impossible to contain. Ben Ainsworth brings consistency and is a player who rarely plays a bad game as a defensive forward-mid who can still bob up with a couple of goals. Bailey Humphrey still has the potential to be anything in this league, and the comparisons to Dustin Martin still linger, such is his talent.
Malcolm Rosas is the high half-forward who uses his speed to cut through an opposition’s defences and deliver the key forwards ample ball. Lloyd Johnston is a still-raw excitement machine, who I maintain with a little more development, will become a cult figure in Queensland. Leo Lombard has had massive raps on him for years as he progressed through the academy, and word is an early season debut is almost a formality. Ben Long plays above his height and can float in front of a pack to take a contested grab. Jake Rogers showed some good signs in his debut season, and draftee Lachlan Gulbin will be given time to work on his game in the VFL.
We’ve spent so long heaping plenty of praise on this list, but the reality is that despite all the talent this club possesses, and it’s been that way for a while, this is a group that has been “consistently inconsistent” and finds new ways of disappointing its supporter group time and time again. It’s been too long now. Just make the finals. Do it. Prove your detractors wrong.
These are arguably two of the hardest teams to get a read on. Given all that we know about them, both could make substantial jumps from their 2024 seasons. They could also just as easily fall away but for very different reasons. But can either team be trusted? Can Collingwood’s old guard hold up enough, or can their young talent step up? Can the Suns finally break through the barrier, whether that’s physical or mental, to make their presence felt on the big stage?
With both teams, I’m just not sure.
MATT OMAN’S PROJECTED 2025 LADDER
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11 – Gold Coast
12 – Collingwood
13 – Western Bulldogs
14 – North Melbourne
15 – Essendon
16 – West Coast
17 – St Kilda
18 – Richmond
