Honeyball takes a look at the likely best 23 for Adelaide ahead of the 2026 AFL season, noting ins and outs, key injuries, plus a look at relevant AFL Fantasy and SuperCoach players.
We’ve used quotes from Crows coach Matthew Nicks’ chat on afl.com.au’s Your Coach podcast to offer additional insight on relevant players.
Ins: Callum Ah Chee (Pre-Season Draft), Indy Cotton (Category B rookie), Archie Ludowyke (No.50 draft pick), Finnbar Maley (trade, North Melbourne), Mitchell Marsh (No.22 draft pick)
Outs: Chris Burgess (delisted), Matt Crouch (retired), Karl Gallagher (delisted), Lachlan Murphy (delisted), Harry Schoenberg (delisted), Brodie Smith (retired), Kieran Strachan (delisted)
Key injuries: Sid Draper (groin), Callum Ah Chee (hamstring), Izak Rankine (suspension), Daniel Curtin (knee), Mark Keane (ankle)
Predicted Round One 23
B: Max Michalanney, Jordon Butts, Josh Worrell
HB: Mitch Hinge, Nick Murray, Rory Laird
C: Isaac Cumming, Jordan Dawson, Brayden Cook
HF: Alex Neal-Bullen, Riley Thilthorpe, Callum Ah Chee*
F: Taylor Walker, Darcy Fogarty, Ben Keays
Foll: Lachlan McAndrew, James Peatling, Jake Soligo
I/C: Josh Rachele, Sam Berry/Izak Rankine**, Wayne Milera, Luke Pedlar, Luke Nankervis
*injury cloud
**Rankine suspended for Round 1
Relevant Players
Lachlan McAndrew
Matthew Nicks: “He’s a warrior, he loves the contest and he’s got some real strengths, some real weapons with what he brings. One is his height, and the fact he’s a really good jumper, so he’s working really well with our mids at the moment.
“The rules they’ve brought in give and advantage to the jumpers and the really tall rucks. We’re battling it out at the moment, we’ve got Lachie McAndrew, 210cm tall and jumps through the roof and we’ve got Reilly O’Brien who’s been one of the strong ruckmen of the competition with the rules as they were.”
Brayden Cook
Nicks on half-back role: “Brayden Cook’s a very good ball user with a beautiful kick, a good decision maker. There’s two components to that position. There’s a defensive part. We defend as a team as a whole and I use (Dayne) Zorko as an example. He’s a great player, a great decision maker and player and he has a great team around him in the way they defend it allows him to do what he does in offence. There’s no doubt he helps them move the footy. We’re looking at that.”
Indy Cotton
Nicks: “We’re really excited about Indy. He’s got a basketball background. He already looks really balanced and moves well. We’ve trialled Indy in a couple of different spots – half-forward, just to let him loose and attack the game, and then over the last week we’ve put him to half-back and he looks really comfortable. Let’s under promise there and hope he can make his mark.”
Izak Rankine
Nicks: “I think he’s really confident. It’s minor so he’ll now go to work. He was already out on the track today moving, so with that you put a timeline on it and you have an expectation that he’ll be OK for Round 1. The challenge with that is now maybe not getting to play these practice matches over the next two weeks, and we’ve got to be mindful of that, so it’ll probably be coming into that week that we make that decision.”
Josh Rachele
Nicks: “Josh is a power athlete. He’s speed and power. He plays his best footy in that style. We want to get him in there and then give him a spell then get him back in there.”
Sid Draper
Nicks: “He’s a high draft pick and an exciting player and everyone wants to know where he’s at. He’s one of those guys that we just want to really harden him up and get his body balanced out. He’s a Formula One engine – and I want to be respectful – in a Sigma body. We’ve got him to a point where he’s really well balanced.”
Jordan Dawson, Charlie Edwards
