The Early Crow: What's working at your club early in 2026

The leaves are yet to turn, but for every club in the AFL – even the beleaguered Bombers – boxes have been ticked.

Our team look at every club to see what they got right so far in 2026.

Butts backed in

The Crows suffered a major loss before a ball was kicked, with key defender Mark Keane going down with a lower leg fracture during pre-season. A difficult hole to plug in theory, Adelaide’s faith in Jordon Butts has paid off tenfold, with the defender slotting back into the defensive unit with ease. He was superb on Sam Darcy in the Crows’ tight loss to the Bulldogs but will now have a two-week spell due to concussion protocols. Will the defence cope without him?

Jaiden Sciberras

Getting Charlie involved

It hadn’t been an ideal start for the Lions, but one player who started the season brilliantly is Charlie Cameron. While he enjoyed a dominant Grand Final with four goals, he wasn’t at his electric best in 2025, kicking 32 goals from 25 games. After three games he was averaging 13 disposals, up from the 9.6 he had in 2025. He was also averaging 2.7 goals. If he’s at his best, it won’t take long for things to click. Cameron was quiet against the Pies on Thursday night, but the Lions had a heap of other contributors.

Lachlan Geleit

Moves like Jagga

While there remains much concern on field, Carlton’s management and introduction of star youngster Jagga Smith has been nothing short of excellent. After rupturing his ACL during pre-season in 2025, Smith spent his entire debut campaign on the sidelines. However, having been eased back into the system, he has hardly missed a beat, exploding for 27, 32 and 25 disposals in his first three games at senior level – a credit to the Blues’ coaching and medical staff.

Jaiden Sciberras

Finally unlocking Houston

Collingwood vowed in the pre-season to get the ball in Dan Houston’s hands more, and that’s proven to be the case so far. The dual All-Australian had a down season in 2025, averaging just 16.9 touches. That average has boomed to 27.5 a game so far, with his elite kicking a treat to watch. He’s simply too good a player to not have a big impact, and the Magpies will hope this continues for the rest of 2026.

Lachlan Geleit

Caddy’s progress

Finding positives out of the Bombers’ start to the season is nearly impossible That said, handing Nate Caddy the keys to the forward 50 has paid off. With six goals – plus a miss from the goalsquare – through the first three games, Caddy’s development is tracking to plan and he’s one of the few progressions to date in 2026. The Bombers have missed on most draft picks in years past, but this looks like a nailed-on hit.

Jaiden Sciberras

The complete package

The Dockers might be the real deal. Following a tight loss to the Cats in Round 1, Fremantle looked polished across all aspects of the field as they comfortably recorded home wins over Melbourne in Round 2 and Richmond last weekend. There are stars across each line, highlighted by Luke Jackson, Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw winning the hard ball in the midfield, while Josh Treacy has been a colossus up forward. The Dockers are well set for a deep run into the finals, especially if Shai Bolton continues to win plenty of the pill.

Harry Cumming

Everything in order

Stability has been cornerstone of the Cats’ success in the past two decades, and that is continuing early into the season. With dual premiership coach Chris Scott signed until the end of 2029, Geelong has locked away a couple of key role players in forward Shaun Mannagh and defender Lawson Humphries. Mannagh will join his coach at GMHBA Stadium until the end of 2029 while Humphries extended his current deal with a two-year extension. On the field, the Cats are 2-1 thanks to two home wins.

Michael Lovett

Dimma’s attack; gold from Trac

Damien Hardwick’s attacking game style is on show for all to see early. The Suns piled on scores of 125, 131 and 128 in their opening three wins, all 50+ point results. The recruitment of Christian Petracca was going swimmingly until he injured his hamstring. He might already have six Brownlow Medal votes in his pocket to this point after outings of 34 touches and three goals, and 23 touches and four goals. Ben King has buried 16 goals from 18 kicks.

Andrew Slevison

Clarry’s clearance form

Having been brought in to bolster the midfield depth, Clayton Oliver has quickly found himself with a bigger role than initially thought. Following Tom Green’s season-ending ACL rupture, the former Demon has stepped up to the plate to fill the clearance void while the club navigates an injury crisis. In his first three games with his new club, Oliver has amassed 28 clearances, which has him No.1 in the AFL, while ranking elite in that category for the first time since 2023.

Nicholas Quinlan

The mids are alright

The doom and gloom prognostication surrounding the Hawks over summer was that the midfield was sub-par compared to other premiership aspirants, mainly due to the absence of Will Day and the free-agency departure of James Worpel. Three games in and the Hawks seem to be fine. The co-captaincy has done little to curb Jai Newcombe’s brilliance, Josh Ward and Cam Mackenzie have had a good couple of weeks, and bustling Conor Nash keeps doing what he does best. Add exciting cameos from Connor Macdonald, Nick Watson and Dylan Moore and the Hawks are in good shape until Day’s mid-season return.

Ashley Browne

Speed on the ball

For the first time in a while, the Demons are putting some speed on the ball. While it might mean conceding higher scores (107 in Round 1 and 118 in Round 2), Steven King’s young team looks far more dangerous with ball in hand. They won’t be playing on the last Saturday in September, but there are positive signs that they are up for the challenge and will threaten teams with their quick ball movement. That second half, and last quarter in particular, in the come-from-behind win over Carlton was breathtaking.

Harry Cumming

High-scoring Roos

North Melbourne has been threatening to breakout from its bottom four position, and there are promising signs that this could be the year. Most telling is North’s ability to score heavily. The Kangaroos have already kicked more than 90 points twice this season – they have only reached that mark 13 times since the start of 2020. If North can continue that early trend of high-scoring games, then a few more wins could be on the horizon for Alastair Clarkson’s men in 2026. Can make a big statement on Good Friday.

Connor Scanlon

Carr on the board early

Josh Carr is on the board! After losing its first game of the season against North Melbourne by 46 points, Port returned in impressive fashion, delivering a 63-point shellacking to Essendon at home. With the Power entering a new era, supporters should be pleased that Carr was able to claim his maiden win sooner than later, although as last Sunday’s two-point loss to West Coast illustrated, it will be a bumpy ride. Finals might be a stretch, but it’s early days.

Connor Scanlon

Best is more than competitive

The Tigers continue to be given a fair bit of leeway as the rebuild continues. They dominated Carlton in the second half and more than matched Gold Coast and Fremantle in the first half. However, things started to turn for the worse when Toby Nankervis and Tom Lynch went down against the Suns. They need to find a way to bridge the gap between their best and worst. That's the biggest issue, injuries aside, right now. Adem Yze’s team is winless but there have been positive signs.

Andrew Slevison

Recruits have added plenty

The boom recruits have been a contentious addition to St Kilda, but they are having an impact in an aspect of the Saints’ game that has let them down in recent years – clearances. Constantly described as slow and one-paced for years, the injection of Tom De Koning and Sam Flanders as well as the midfield development of Max Hall and Hugo Garcia (their leading clearance winner with 18) has seen the 14th-ranked clearance team last year win every tally so far in 2026. There were good signs from Liam Ryan who booted three against Brissie last time out.

Ethan Clark

It’s a must-have ticket

Non-stop entertainment – that’s what we’re getting from the newest version of the ‘Slingshot Swans’ in 2026. The single-quarter destructions of Carlton and an admittedly injury-ravaged Brisbane Lions are just the start of how a full-strength Sydney will be the hottest ticket in town. And if you’re worried about the League’s new ‘Three-Headed Monster’: while Charlie Curnow may not be hitting the scoreboard as critics expect, Joel Amartey and Logan McDonald are already more dangerous without the pressure of being the No.1 target. Isaac Heeney as the fourth key forward? Yes, please.

Brendan Rhodes

Mini's contested increase

Coming off a 1-22 record, there was a laundry list of adjustments required for the Eagles just to be competitive this season. But there are some positive signs for Andrew McQualter’s men in a small sample size. With a night-and-day difference in their ground-ball gets especially, they have gone from worst to equal-third in contested possessions (118.5 to 138.3). Not bad for a team whose contested-possession figures in 2025 went through the floor. Harley Reid is becoming the player we all hoped he would be. Two wins already is huge for the club.

Nicholas Quinlan

Unified defensive approach

The Bulldogs addressed their defensive frailties in the off-season, and it wasn’t through recruiting, Connor Budarick aside. Skipper Marcus Bontempelli told SEN in February that Luke Beveridge went about fixing ways to keep things tighter from a defensive viewpoint, with a more unified approach put in place. They leaked 106 points to the Lions in Opening Round, but won, and have been miserly since. The form of Buku Khamis as prime interceptor has been undeniable. The Bulldogs have lost nothing in attack with more 100+ scores.

Andrew Slevison