Fuelled by the growth and learnings of the season that was, Essendon co-captain Steph Cain is entering the off-season with clear goals and intentions for 2026.
Having dealt with adversity early in her career, the influential and driven leader, alongside co-captain Bonnie Toogood, guided the team through what was a turbulent season.
Reaching an incredible 75 game milestone at the beginning of the 2025 AFLW season, the Dons midfielder brings experience and maturity to the young side.
Honest and open about the year that was, Cain shares her thoughts on where the team currently sits, and the opportunities that lay ahead.
Cain on… the year that was
There’s probably a lens of disappointment in the sense that we clearly didn't get out what we wanted from the season, in terms of making finals and being a stronger team than the year before.
During the season there were some challenges in terms of our ball movement and connection at times on field.
In saying that, we have a really strong belief in the people within our program, and we're continuing to set really good foundations to work off for the years to come.
Cain on… individual performance
I'd obviously like to impact games a little bit more than I have and there were moments there that kind of fell away. I know within myself I didn’t have the best year, but I still managed to be consistent in my performance.
Having confidence in my ability to shift from an inside player to an outside player is one of my big strengths, and knowing that my defensive craft and what I do to help out the team from a defensive perspective to try and get the ball going our way was something that was really positive and didn't drop away.
Cain on… leading a young group
We've got a number of young players, and we rely on some of them in terms of what we want them to contribute to the group.
They're like sponges and when I think about what that group looks like, Amy Gaylor is clearly the one leading that way being a second-year player.
She's a sponge in her own right, but she's also such a great person to have in-depth conversations with in terms of what we're doing as a group, how we can get better, her own leadership and how we can all impact and continue to build.
That young core will be better off for the year that they've had. You learn a lot through adversity and learn a lot through consecutive losses about yourself, how you can review and how you continue to get better.
There'll be some good things to come from that rough patch.
Cain on… fighting ‘till the very end
There was never a sense of wanting to just lie down and roll over from the group at all, and even through that eight-game losing streak, we still were trying to attack reviewing what our weeks look like and the next game with some real purpose.
So, I think to be able to turn that into a win on the final game of the season probably was a massive relief to know that the work that we were doing paid off.
(Sydney v Essendon – Round 12) wasn't a fantastic game of football, but I think what we saw was the actual grunt and want to continue to work through the contest and show up for each other.
It was probably a game where there was a number of changes positionally, and asking people to play different roles, and those players stood up to the task and got to work.
Cain on… performing against top sides
We want to be playing the top teams because we want to be up there.
I think the fixture naturally, because we don't play every team once, will always be a little bit different, but the reality is that we need to be versing those top sides and really performing.
So, you can always learn different things from versing those teams.
We want to be versing them to make sure that we're heading in the right direction.
Cain on… the off-season
I think this next couple of weeks will still be really important as a leader to make sure that we're reviewing the right way and delving into what our group, program and leadership needs, and how I can continue to get better whilst it's still front of mind.
That’s my priority at the moment. And then just having an actual break, taking a bit of time and then get back into work and really start to build what 2026 looks like.
