How far can Essendon progress in 2026?<\/p>\n
2025 was one to forget for the Bombers, slipping into the bottom four in what was a campaign riddled with injuries and debutants alike.<\/p>\n
Winning just six games, the side debuted a record 15 players across the season, blooding a generation of talent looking to make the most of their timely opportunities.<\/p>\n
And with a range of returning players, a handful of exciting draftees and the depth of AFL-ready youngsters, the Bombers should be in position to progress up the table.<\/p>\n
But how far can they go? Led by newly-appointed captain Andy McGrath and with wantaway superstar Zach Merrett remaining at the club, Josh Jenkins analysed both the floor and the ceiling of what Essendon can produce in 2026.<\/p>\n
Ceiling<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be a controversial ceiling, because they might break their finals drought by finishing in the play-in,\u201d Jenkins told SEN\u2019s The Run Home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is their ceiling. They aren\u2019t going north of the play-in. 8th, 9th, 10th.\u201d<\/p>\n
Floor<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of their better, or more influential six aren\u2019t going to be there. One is Sam Draper, who has gone to Brisbane. Who is going to start in the ruck in Round 1 is baffling to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cNic Martin is the other one. You\u2019re starting behind the eight ball already, (but) they surely can\u2019t cop an injury run like they had last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m low on Essendon \u2013 I just can\u2019t see enough needle-moving talent on that list. That\u2019s my main problem. I can probably only see three, maybe four players who can really move the needle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is Zach Merrett, and I\u2019m hopeful and pretty confident that he will play great footy. Nic Martin, who won\u2019t be there unfortunately. I think Zach Reid is a needle-moving key defender, provided his body stands up, and Nate Caddy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe this squad will go as far as the midfield version of Andy McGrath can take them. The last three or four weeks, and the fact that he is captain, I would like to see him around the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he falls into that problem that the defensive group has, where they kick it around, get big numbers and play their role but they don\u2019t necessarily help the team move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcGrath around the ball I like, we need to see regular footy with Jordan Ridley, and we need him to play with aggression, an intensity and a desire to move the ball quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cJye Caldwell, what\u2019s his ceiling? I like what he brings to the table, but is there a little bit more under the hood? Is there more improvement for him?<\/p>\n
\u201cSam Durham \u2013 we try not to get too caught up in stats, but I think Sam Durham\u2019s improvement will be 22 (disposals) a game to 26 a game \u2013 can he get there? If he can, then he can certainly be an A-Grade midfielder. I don\u2019t think he is an A-Grade midfielder yet, but they need him to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe, whether they finish ninth or 14th might be, in terms of these types of decisions \u2013 how do they go in the ruck? Who is playing there? Does Durham become an A-Grade midfielder? Those are the small things that Essendon are going to have to lean into next season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can honestly see them only winning six games (floor). They\u2019ve got a vulnerable defence aerially and on the ground, they\u2019ve got a solid but not sensational midfield, they\u2019ve got no ruckman, and where do the goals come from?<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t see the talent on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listen to the full discussion below:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How far can Essendon progress in 2026? 2025 was one to forget for the Bombers, slipping into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-420688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}