Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Netball
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Full Noise by SN
📻 How to tune into Sport Nation
Bickley predicts 2026 Coleman winner
SEN • February 19th, 2026 12:48 pm
Mark Bickley has predicted which tall forwards he believes will kick the most goals in 2026.
The two-time Adelaide premiership captain has listed the 10 players in order of who will bag the most majors, including his 2026 Coleman Medal prediction.
“A couple of years ago people were lamenting where all the tall forwards have gone,” Bickley said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“But we’ve seen a renaissance led by Riley Thilthorpe and Sam Darcy. There’s some great tall forwards in the competition at the moment.
“This is what I think this year in term of goals from tall forwards.”
See his list below:
10. Logan Morris (Brisbane)
“He kicked 53 goals last year, I think he can go better.
“He’s still developing his game but Brisbane will get plenty of ball inside their forward 50.”
9. Nick Larkey (North Melbourne)
“He kicked 41 goals last year but missed some games with injury.
“North Melbourne weren’t great as a side last year and didn’t give him many opportunities.
“I think North will be better this year so he can build on that.”
8. Aaron Naughton (Western Bulldogs)
“Naughton kicked 60 goals last year, remembering Sam Darcy missed a whole heap of footy so he did carry that forward line.
“He actually enjoyed it more when Darcy was playing.”
7. Jesse Hogan (GWS)
“He is a goal kicking machine. Performed really well in the Origin match.
“Hogan kicked 46 last year in an injury-interrupted season. I just haven’t quite got the confidence in him that I had the year before.
“The emergence of Aaron Cadman will start to take a little bit of shine away from Hogan which is a good thing for the Giants.”
6. Mitch Georgiades (Port Adelaide)
“He kicked 58 goals last year. I think he’ll go somewhere close to replicating that.
“He’ll probably get a bit more attention. It will be dependent on how Port Adelaide performs.”
5. Ben King (Gold Coast)
“71 goals by the end of the finals.
“Gold Coast will be strong so he’ll get opportunities but the emergence of some of the other tall forwards like Walter, Read, Ugle-Hagan means he might not get the ball directed to him as often.”
4. Riley Thilthorpe (Adelaide)
“He kicked 55 home and away goals for 60 total. He had a bit of flat patch during the season.
“He can better that number.”
3. Sam Darcy (Western Bulldogs)
“He may well be the best player in the competition but with the forward line they have I just don’t know if he’s going to kick 80 goals.
“He kicked 48 goals last year and was injured for a big portion.
“But if you’ve got Naughton, Darcy, Jordan Croft, you might have Cody Weightman and Rhlyee West.
“He could kick 60+ goals.”
2. Jeremy Cameron (Geelong)
“I know Shannon Neale is emerging but the way Geelong plays by funnelling the ball through Cameron…
“He kicked 88 goals last year. I think Geelong will be solid, I’m not sure if they’ll make the Grand Final.
“But he’s a super player and just the way he plays, I think his number will have a 7 in front of it. He’ll get 70+.”
1. Charlie Curnow (Sydney)
“This is a leap of faith because he only kicked 32 goals last year from 18 games.
“I’ve got him as the Coleman Medallist this year. I think he can kick 80+ goals.
“There’s not a whole lot of forwards taking the gloss off him. They’ve got unbelievable ball users and it’s a smaller ground.
“He can kick it 50+ metres from inside the centre square. I think Sydney will have a cracking year and Curnow has got a point to prove.”
