Honeyball takes a look at the likely best 23 for the Western Bulldogs ahead of the 2026 AFL season, noting ins and outs, key injuries, plus a look at relevant AFL Fantasy and SuperCoach players.
Ins: Connor Budarick (trade, Gold Coast), Lachie Carmichael (No.21 draft pick), Will Darcy (No.60 draft pick, father-son), Louis Emmett (No.27 draft pick)
Outs: Taylor Duryea (retired), Jason Johannisen (delisted), Liam Jones (retired), Caleb Poulter (delisted), Anthony Scott (delisted), Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (trade, Gold Coast)
Key Injuries: Riley Garcia (hamstring), Adam Treloar (calf), Ryley Sanders (concussion), Ryan Gardner (groin), Cody Weightman (knee)
Likely Round One 23
B: B.Dale, B.Khamis, R.Lobb
HB: C.Budarick, J.O’Donnell, L.Bramble
C: S.Davidson, M.Bontempelli, B.Williams
HF: C.Hynes, S.Darcy, J.Freijah
F: J.Croft, A.Naughton, T.Liberatore
Foll: T.English, M.Kennedy, E.Richards
I/C: M.Sellwood, O.Baker, R.West, A.Jones, L.Jaques
Relevant Players
Lachie Jaques
Dogs coach Luke Beveridge: “Lachie Jaques, the boy from down Geelong way, was close to making his debut last year but we just didn’t have room for him. He’s developed and progressed in a physical and maturity sense. He’s a backman at the moment but he can play a bit of wing, he’s got great awareness and game sense.”
Michael Sellwood
Beveridge: “Sellwood is from WA, he comes from a pretty large family – I think he’s got nine brothers and sisters so the whole family might take a jumbo jet from WA to Brisbane. He’s a really strong, competitive defender that plays in that higher-to-middle area of defence.”
Connor Budarick
Beveridge: “Budarick is the other one who’s playing his first game for the Club. He comes to us from the Gold Coast Suns – he was born in Adelaide but spent his youth playing in the NSW/QLD area, and was also captain of the Under-18s Allies team.
“When we went after Connor, we knew that he was a good character, he wasn’t playing in the backline where we’re going to play him on Saturday night, so that was an opportunity to wedge ourselves in there and convince him that this could be a good opportunity or the right club for him.”
Tim English, Marcus Bontempelli
