Just 50 days away from the bright lights of the MCG, there's excitement in spades at Bomberland right now. 

The NEC Hangar has hosted a bunch of new faces through its doors building into 2026, and the Dons continue to put in the hard yards ahead of a potentially formative year for their young squad.

Senior leader Kyle Langford and emerging defender Jayden Nguyen each took to the mic after Wednesday’s Summer Series session to offer insights for the Club’s faithful around how pre-season is tracking from Tullamarine.

The new skipper

Langford on Andy McGrath: 

To be honest, Andy hasn’t changed.  

The way he leads now is how he’s been leading for the last four or five years, it’s almost like a reward for everything he’s done for the footy club. We’re a really connected (leadership) group that will support him through this. 

Nguyen on their bond: 

It’s been huge for me. Andy’s such a people person, as soon as I walked into the Club he had me under his arm.

To debut and play alongside him was a dream come true, he’s the perfect person for this leadership role.

Bouncing back from injury

Langford on pre-season programs:

With myself, I think I only missed one session so I’ve done the majority of training and haven’t missed a beat.

‘Rids’ (Jordan Ridley) is looking really good, I think it’s going to be a slow build-up for a while yet, it’s obviously a really long year.

(Mat Inness) is a breath of fresh air. For someone to come in, bit of change, almost reinvigorating the program, he brings a massive focus into high intensity running. Sessions aren’t as long but they’re definitely more intense in that top end. 

I went away to Aspetar (in Qatar) throughout the break and got good results, good feedback. A really good one-two combo (in Inness and Dave Regan) to overlook my program sets a really good base for the season. 

As long as I’m in the right program, my body will be fine, which gives me a lot of confidence moving forward. 

Training intensity

Nguyen on focus points, competition for spots:

The fans are super invested in what we’re building and hopefully we can bring them some success and joy this year.

The new high performance team are doing a load of work in making sure the boys are feeling healthy and able to our best foot forward on the track every single week. I really believe in what they’re building, it’s a two-way relationship and it’s only going to benefit both of us. 

Just the efficiency during training (is noticeable). You know what you’re going to get out of it, an emphasis we’ve been trying to build is being able to perform under fatigue.

Just with consistency, every training session, day-by-day, the more we’re around each other, I really believe this group’s going to do special things.

That (competition for spots) lifts up another level in training. Everyone wants to play round one but there’s only 23 on the field, so we’re just pushing each other to new levels. 

It’s the fun time of the year now, bit more match sim, the boys are loving it.

Roles, players to watch 

Langford on the forward line, his track standouts:

You’ll see me forward, one of the real positives for our team is we have a really flexible forward line and midfield group. I’ll be everywhere, all I want to do is win – I don’t care about the goals. As long as I can help the team, I’m pretty happy.

It’s been pretty even, there’s so many boys that have been able to step up in different roles. Obviously, we’re lacking that No.1 ruck at the moment so it’s been a really good opportunity for Blakiston and Vigo to get a crack in there, even Peter Wright and Archie May.  

I’m really excited for the year ahead of Nate Caddy. He’s just an incredible athlete and when he can put that into the AFL environment, I’m excited about the player he can become. 

‘Sharpy’ (Dyson Sharp’s) been really good inside, and ‘Faz’ (Jacob Farrow) off the half back flank has been really impressive.

Kako’s been awesome. His agility, his ground ball work at the front of stoppages has been absolutely elite, we’ve probably been crying out for that small forward role for the last few years and I think it’s his. 

Nguyen on keeping his form rolling: 

My role will be pretty similar to last year, matching up against the best small forwards every week.

I’m obviously looking to add my own attacking flair and join in the team offence – I think I’ve got the strengths to do so with my speed, agility, run and carry – I’m just looking to put those traits forward.

Expectations 

Langford on striving in 2026: 

Every year, we’re striving to play finals. We think we have a capable list for that but it’s a tough competition, so you never really know how it goes – if you miss four or five of your better players, it makes a big difference.

We just want to go out with our full strength side and give it a fair crack. I’m really confident if we can do that, I’d love to be there at the pointy end of the season.