Yarra Valley Water InFocus 2026 | Noble Park

By Christopher Kourtis.

Noble Park are not patting themselves on the back after an impressive season – they’re coming back stronger and are ready to break down the doors to finals footy.

The Bulls were five wins closer to a finals campaign than they were in 2024, missing out on percentage alone after a win-and-you’re-in Round 18 loss to South Croydon. 

Senior coach Steve Hughes knows that his side still has work to do despite their improvement in 2025.

“We were good enough in the back half of the season… we’ve just got to be able to build that chemistry and lean into what our game plan is and be able to execute it,” Hughes said. 

The Bulls have said goodbye to some of their own over the off-season, as small forward Joshua Stern returns to Sydney and veteran Joshua Tour retires. The biggest out, however, lies in ex-AFL player Brad Crouch, who makes his way to the Ballarat Football Netball Club.

For coach Hughes it’s not so much the quantity of departures, but rather the quality.

“[Stern and Tour were] two key players for us along with Crouchy (Brad Crouch), so they’re obviously really difficult to replace”.

Noble Park haven’t wasted time licking their wounds though and have recruited well themselves. 

Talented youngster Adem Sulemani joins from Rowville alongside ex-VFL listed Will Kennedy, headlining a group of five announced incomings.

Midfielder Nick Eynaud joins from NSW as forward Sam Glyde makes the trip from Canberra. Ollie Knockles will also call Pat Wright Snr Oval home in 2026 – the hard running half-forward/wing is one of many that are looking set for a strong campaign. 

“[Knockles] won our first time trial and won it pretty comfortably as well,” Hughes said.

“The likes of Bodey Lambert, Harley Fairbank… those couple are in the vicinity of, sort of 50 to 60 senior games, so we’d expect natural progression from them after a really good preseason so far.” 

The Bulls have also looked internally to address some of their shortcomings. The side finished with the seventh rated offence and eighth rated defence, which Hughes attributes to a lack of height across the lines.

“The competition is pretty well aware that we lack a bit of height,” he explained.

“[Patrick Montgomery has] had a really good preseason so far… Daniel Knapper… Jack Murray… we may have an opportunity to play all three possibly, which should help with that height issue”. 

Noble Park have every opportunity to get off to a hot start in the upcoming season. After hosting Rowville in their season opener, the Bulls play four sides that finished below them in the next five weeks: South Belgrave (Round 2), Doncaster East (Round 4), Vermont (Round 5) and Berwick (Round 6).

Getting that run right is coach Hughes’ top priority, as he understands that those results will build the foundation for the rest of the season. 

“Our primary goal at the moment is the first four to six weeks – get a reasonable amount of wins on the board and then you’re into the season, and you can kind of plan from there”.