STRAP yourselves in, footy fans - Damian Barrett's Sliding Doors is back in full swing for 2026. 

With the 2026 Toyota AFL Premiership Season underway, Damo's got plenty of thoughts about all 18 clubs - and the AFL.

So what is he saying about your team? What's he saying about the AFL? You can't say that, Damo, can you? Check it out below.

>> ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND OPINION FROM DAMIAN BARRETT

IF ...

last season ended disastrously for the Crows with failure to win even one quarter of the eight which comprised the qualifying and semi-finals on their home deck ...

THEN ...

they've got a daunting opening four matches of 2026. Minus Rankine, Pies at the MCG first-up, followed by the Bulldogs, Cats and Dockers. A 2-2 start would be OK.

IF ..

Daniel Annable is to get his first AFL match against Sydney on Saturday night after a lot of injury and suspension-created vacancies ...

THEN ...

like a couple of Ashcrofts and a Fletcher before him, such is his prodigious talent that he may never again be left out of the senior team.

IF ...

when it's all said and done this game is about wins and losses ...

THEN ...

the Blues can celebrate. Somehow got the W against the Tigers despite just one goal – in time-on of the final quarter - after half-time.  No idea what to make of it. But loved Jagga's post-match interview on Channel 7. Others might be jaded about the Blues' plight. He radiated positivity in ticking off a kid's dream in winning a game at the 'G. Gotta love the innocence of youth.

IF ...

Fly has reached a Grand Final as well as two prelims in his four seasons as Collingwood coach ...

THEN ...

he still doesn't get enough credit for his footy nous. And after being prepared in the pre-season to publicly declare he would make subtle changes to his systems-based strategy, he delivered first-up in Opening Round. He found, as he declared, a way to retain his tried and true system but also get more of the football to Houston. And he also opted for a tagger, with Perryman shutting out Wanganeen-Milera. Keen to see the next phase of change against the Crows.

IF ...

Zach Merrett needs to do one thing this season ...

THEN ...

it is this: stop doing media. Sorry Zach, I just don't believe a word you utter into a microphone. I haven't been able to keep up with your drastically changing views on the Bombers in the past three years. You love them. You hate them. You want to stay. You are desperate to escape. Just play footy this year. You do that outstandingly well and when it's all said and done, that will speak louder for you than anything directed into the airwaves.

IF ...

I've tipped the Dockers to reach the 2026 Grand Final ...

THEN ...

I expect to see them hitting the ground running, beginning round one against Geelong. Don't have to win, but can't let the Cats toy with them early, as happened in the corresponding game last year.

IF ...

we were to learn in the future that the Cats had conceded their Opening Round match against Gold Coast long before it had even started ...

THEN ...

that wouldn't surprise me, given the highly un-Geelong manner in which the team played. Looked unusually disinterested, even, at times. This mighty club has missed finals just twice in the past 19 seasons. With Danger and Jez back, very keen to see its response on Saturday, at home against the Dockers.

IF ...

the secret has long been out on Wil Powell ...

THEN ...

it's possible he's still getting better, nine seasons into his AFL career. There are many bigger names and profiles at the Suns, but only few with more footy smarts.

IF ...

the Giants have done a whole lot right since entering the AFL in 2012 ...

THEN ...

providing a home for recycled players, some on second, third, and even last chances, is right up there on the list of achievements. Jesse Hogan the standout. Shane Mumford, Heath Shaw, Matt De Boer also. More recently, Jake Stringer and now Clayton Oliver, who was brilliant last weekend against Hawthorn, after three very troubled seasons at Melbourne.

IF ...

the serious charge in Arizona has disappeared and all Mugshot Moore is now dealing with is a trespassing allegation involving use of a scissor lift ...

THEN ...

maybe all he was trying to do was elevate his leadership game. Or reach new heights with his training. Or step up to new responsibilities. Or get a better view of the Grand Canyon. When it's all said and done, and whatever the reason for his little jaunt in a scissor lift, and as far as transgressions during overseas jaunts go, this is now at the minor end. Moore has enough credits in the Hawthorn bank to be allowed to quickly move on from this.

IF ...

Kozzy plays ...

THEN ...

the Demons are a sneaky chance to get a first-up win under Steven King. Been in Darwin this week for family reasons. Hope he's good to go against St Kilda on Sunday, alongside cousin Latrelle.

IF ...

I said on another platform last week that North's pass mark for the season was 11 wins ...

THEN ...

I stand by it. And that's still a losing season, by the way, for those scoffing. The 2026 season is overdue time for Clarko to win, particularly with the assistance from the AFL fixturing department. Five of the first six matches, even by North standards, loom as winnable.

IF ...

the footy industry is already conceding that Zak Butters' next contract will surpass Nas's $2 million a year ...

THEN ...

I'd be reassessing. I wouldn't be paying anywhere near that for a guy who managed just one goal in 2025. The true midfield greats kick goals, and that will be his challenge in 2026.

IF ...

I've given Tom Lynch a heap of love over 16 years in the AFL system ...

THEN ...

it's only fair that I blame him for the Tigers' loss on Thursday night at the 'G. Two goals, seven behinds. Ouch. 

IF ...

the Saints have financially looked after Nas ...

THEN ...

the next step is to physically look after him. There simply wasn't enough protection for Wanganeen-Milera when tagged by Perryman in Opening Round. Saints saw firsthand how Maynard and De Goey regularly belted into Garcia as he was trying to tag Nick Daicos. Maynards don't grow on trees, but the Saints need to cultivate one.

IF ...

Logan McDonald had more than a few butter fingers moments in the season opener against Carlton ...

THEN ...

it was understandable. Hadn't played since the 2024 Grand Final, due to an ankle injury. Was good to see him back, as he will be a very important part of Dean Cox's plans.

IF ...

the Eagles keep the deficit to less than 75 points against Gold Coast on Sunday night ...

THEN ...

I will be pleasantly surprised. Another confronting season lies ahead.

IF ...

I've already watched the Bailey Williams goal at least 73 times ...

THEN ...

I'll be up to 100 viewings by close of today. The burning of Oscar Allen, the near-impossible boundary-line bounce to get around Harris Andrews and then not just one, but two, shimmies around the very agile Darcy Wilmot. Seeing the air sucked out of Darcy Gardiner as he realises the ball kicked over his head has indeed been slammed through the big sticks caps it off. This goal somehow gets better with each viewing and is somewhere in conversations about best goals ever.

AND THIS ONE'S FOR THE AFL

IF ...

I've been a critic of the AFL's Illicit Drugs Policy since its inception 20 years ago ...

THEN ...

I like what I'm hearing regarding the changes to it, which will be announced soon. As Brian Roe, the then-Australian athletics team's head anti-doping officer for the Sydney Olympics, very accurately predicted back in 2009: "A player has more chance of getting money out of a Nigerian email scam than he has of being caught under this policy." In my eyes, it has always been a drugs code of conduct, not a drugs policy, which traditionally in world sport seeks to catch, publicly-out and then severely punish transgressors (which the AFL has with performance enhancing drugs via its alignment with WADA). I understand and respect the AFL's IDP was always a "medical model". But I also know of players regularly using it to "excuse" and hide behind other behaviours. The changes to the AFL system are expected to remove the "strikes" component to the "policy", which is right because there never has been, nor will there ever be, a player "outed" under this policy/code of conduct.