Jon Ralph’s 10 most exciting storylines across AFL season 2025

Can the Swans bounce back? Do Port send Ken off in style? Will the Pies be rewarded for bold trading? Here are the 10 storylines which JON RALPH is most invested in across 2025.

Art work for 10 things

Talk about a powder keg. The 2025 season awaits with all the usual anticipation for the mouth-watering football feats about to unfold before our eyes.

The kind of incidents that have you leaping off the couch – Tom Cruise style – in sheer joy or complete outrage. But even in the pressurised environment, this AFL season has more riding on it than any in recent memory. A list of coaches under pressure to retain their jobs, while some of footy’s biggest stars seemingly await trade requests if their seasons go awry. Then there are some finals chokers, who simply must rise when the pressure is at its fiercest.

Buckle up for the ride.

THE DEMONS DISSENTERS

Oh, the irony. Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca have Melbourne’s on-field future in their hands only months after both worked so hard to get out of the joint.

Petracca had some legitimate concerns with the medical treatment after his King’s Birthday lacerated spleen/rib injury, while Oliver’s issues have been self-inflicted. The Demons bungled the trade period and opened the door for Geelong to whisper sweet nothings into Oliver’s ear when it was clear his own club wasn’t ruling out a trade for their four-time best-and-fairest winner.

Christian Petracca. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images.

Clayton Oliver. Picture: James Worsfold/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

Then Melbourne had to shut down a trade when he actually fell in love with a move down the Princes Highway. So now the tension has ebbed over summer, what remains?

A pair of AFL megastars who are serving time before October trade requests?

Or two players totally invested in the kind of performance that would make them dual premiership players who might one day join football’s Hall of Fame as Demons immortals?

WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKEN HEARTED?

Grand final misery breaks some sides and galvanises others.

Geelong lost the unlosable grand final in 2008 but rebounded to win the 2009 flag, the Brisbane Lions went one better last year than in 2023, while Brendon Goddard said a string of close grand final misses had scarred the Saints by the time of the grand final replay against the Pies.

Swans players dejected after losing the 2024 decider. Picture: Phil Hillyard.

Yet another grand final embarrassment for Sydney probably cost John Longmire his job and required a seven-hour review.

Sydney will only know if that worked if it gets to the last day in September.

Talk about a high threshold for success, but anything less than a premiership will be seen as failure.

CHIPS-IN COLLINGWOOD

The Magpies are already the most talked about club in town.

Collingwood’s players can’t sneeze without it being front page news so anything they did after missing finals in 2024 was going to be front-page news.

Instead of going back to the draft they went all in on a pair of $800,000-plus defenders.

Are the Pies all-in on its crop of new recruits, including Dan Houston? Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

Dual All-Australian Dan Houston could be a game-changer, while Harry Perryman would need to match the pre-season buzz within the club over summer to justify his massive price tag.

Collingwood is box office every week as the club that fills the MCG stands and the Monday night review shows.

Now the stakes are even higher given the Pies’ investment in the now over the future.

THE JOY OF FOOTBALL

What the hell is “Hokball” anyway? Call it a vibe, a mood or a TikTok trend.

But there is no denying the absolute joy Hawthorn’s young brigade exude with their exuberant celebrations channelling the stars of world sport.

The traditionalists might want to throw their beer at the TV as the Hawks’ kids carry on like pork chops. And yet those Hawks – Nick Watson, Jack Ginnivan, Connor Macdonald and so many more – are having a ball.

Connor Macdonald, Jack Ginnivan and Nick Watson have been at the forefront of Hokball. Picture: Simon Sturzaker/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

The manner in which they play is as close to how you did it when you were a kid in the backyard dreaming of the big time.

So go on, stop being a grump and get with the program.

LUKE BEVERIDGE’S SAVIOUR

Luke Beveridge is under the pump after a miserable elimination final loss to Hawthorn last year.

He might have thought Jamarra Ugle-Hagan would save his season, but with his star forward AWOL for much of the summer it is a 208cm beanpole who is more than capable.

It’s not hyperbole to say that he could at some stage be the most important player in the game, even if the Brownlow Medal will never reward the talls.

Consider his stunning breakout in 2024.

Sam Darcy flies high against the Hawks. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images.

Playing most of the season as a 20-year-old (and entering the year with only seven games under his belt), Sam Darcy kicked 38 goals and took 46 contested marks while also spending his fair share of time in the ruck.

The son of Luke Darcy is a freak.

And there is a case to be made that a forward line with Aaron Naughton and Darcy has a better balance without Ugle-Hagan, although Cody Weightman’s continued absence through injury is a hammer blow.

THE CHALLENGERS

Footy’s new era of equalisation might not have hurt perennial contenders Sydney or Geelong but in the past 10 seasons we have had eight separate premiers.

Richmond won three of four flags in that time alongside 2018 premier West Coast and 2021 titleholder Melbourne, but those three teams last year finished in the bottom five on the ladder.

Put simply, picking the 2025 premier is a crapshoot.

Harry McKay. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images.

Patrick Dangerfield and Bailey Smith. Picture: Michael Klein

The Blues lack for nothing (two Coleman medallists, a dual Brownlow medallist), the Cats added Bailey Smith to a team that was 25 points up in last year’s preliminary final.

Reigning premier the Brisbane Lions lose Joe Daniher but would believe Will Ashcroft, his brother Levi, Kai Lohmann, Cam Rayner and Keidean Coleman will all make them significantly better.

Hawthorn is capable of anything; Port Adelaide might have the best trio of young mids in the league (Connor Rozee, Jason Horne-Francis and Zak Butters); Sydney was 13-1 in June last year.

Throw a blanket over the field.

Can Connor Rozee lead the Power to a premiership charge? Picture: Michael Klein

THE PRESSURE TEST

Everyone has a point to prove in football.

The stakes ratchet up in 2025 on those who talked it up and failed the test in 2024.

Damien Hardwick talked about finals then got progressively grumpier through the season and ended with egg on his face as the Suns lost seven of their last 11.

What has Adelaide young gun Josh Rachele got for us after the brash and bold forward ended the season in the SANFL?

Damien Hardwick will face pressure if the Suns underperform. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

Bailey Smith pulled the ripcord on the Dogs because they wouldn’t play him as a centre-square midfielder. He gets to prove if he has what it takes where the action is fiercest.

Justin Longmuir defended a risk-averse game plan all year and has the chance to show us the more up-tempo brand that will save his coaching tenure.

THE CHAMPIONS

Why do we spill so much blood, sweat and tears over the stars that strut their stuff every weekend?

Because the great champions can do things every weekend you have to see to believe.

Like Jeremy Cameron’s insane ability to snap a wet Sherrin 50m around the corner for goal with unerring accuracy.

Or Scott Pendlebury’s capacity to wiggle, jiggle and feint as a horde of rival players suddenly melt away and the master finds metres of space.

Or Nick Daicos running at full pace across 50m with a crew of pursuers in tow and somehow coming up with another goal of the year contender.

The champ in Dustin Martin is gone, but amid all the footy politics and weekly distractions these guys are really, really good.

CLARKO’S REVENGE

Under-estimating master coach Alastair Clarkson has been a cottage industry since the last of Hawthorn’s three flags in the 2013-15 run.

If he was keeping receipts he would have plenty of motivation.

The critics believed he gave up the world to top up with senior players (Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell) in a failed attempt to win a fifth flag, then sabotaged a succession plan with Sam Mitchell at Hawthorn.

Alastair Clarkson and the Roos will be a must-watch this season. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images.

Then at North Melbourne he was dragged into the long-running Hawthorn racism saga and when he was coaching, only won six of 38 games.

Finally he has the list at his disposal to prove the doubters wrong.

He played the long game by going back to the draft again and again, then secured Luke Parker, Jack Darling and Caleb Daniel from rival clubs.

Grab the popcorn.

The next chapter of coaching great Clarkson’s career will be must watch.

FATHER TIME REMAINS UNDEFEATED

In an ideal world Scott Pendlebury would play 25 games this year to hit 428 in total and draw within touching distance of Brent Harvey’s VFL/AFL record of 432 matches.

Patrick Dangerfield’s hamstrings will remain intact, Dayne Zorko will go back-to-back as an All-Australian and Todd Goldstein’s second season at Essendon will be a triumph.

How close will Scott Pendlebury go to Brent Harvey’s record? Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

But as of February, 99 players were about to start the season 30 or older and 33 were 33 or older.

For the likes of Travis Boak, Mitch Duncan, Michael Walters and Steele Sidebottom, who were all touch-and-go at stages last year to play on, the scrutiny will come quickly.

Can anyone secure a Cameron Ling or Shane Crawford-style premiership farewell?

Originally published as Jon Ralph’s 10 most exciting storylines across AFL season 2025