Today GWS tomorrow Hawthorn

B: Cumming, Davis, Haynes

HB: Whitfield, Taylor, Ash

C: Kelly, Coniglio, Perryman

HF: Greene, Hogan, Lloyd

F: Bedford, Cadman, Himmelberg

FOLL: Preuss, Ward, Green

IC: Daniels, O'Halloran, Kennedy, Buckley

Reserves

B: Fleeton, Aleer, Fahey

HB: Wehr, Keefe, Idun

C: McMullin, Jones, Hamilton

HF: Angwin, Riccardi, Stone

F: Peatling, Gruzewski, Derksen

FOLL: Flynn, Callaghan, Rowston

IC: Briggs, Maden, Gilbee, Brown

Reasonable side, will win their share of games. Need to see how Kingsley wants them to play, need to stay healthy. 

Lost more players again. No spirit no leadership. 

Could sneak into finals but unlikely

They still have a good list despite coughing up so many players, Cadman and Hogan make them more dangerous and agree they should be there about come September.!!

Bedford has ripped his hamstring tendon and will miss at least the first month of the season

I don’t rate them. Will not play finals.

I can't see where they will improve. Will finish between 10th and 14th.

I probably see more of the Giants than a lot of Melbourne supporters being based here in Canberra.  The trouble is they look like a good side on paper, but they just aren't delivering the goods.  A regular criticism I've seen from a few unkindly suggest (but perhaps not unfairly) that they seem to play without spirit.   The joke I have with a GWS supporting friend is me asking him who kicked three goals in the 2019 GF - I made the point in the Best 44 for Sydney that a bad GF loss can leave some pretty deep psychological scars - and I think that's what we're seeing with the Giants. After 'that' loss they've finished 10th, 6th (the dead cat bounce), and 16th.  They've well and truly dropped off the perch.

I don't consider GWS a contender, but I think like West Coast that their best might be good enough to push them close to a spot in the eight.  The big question mark is can they sustain it for long enough to do that - and I'm saying no they probably can't.  There's simply too much to do - They need Phil Davis to play more than he has in the last two years (11&5 matches), but his injury history suggests he's cooked.  Himmelberg looked good in defence, but Kingsley wants him to play forward to address the problems there, and players like Riccardi and Buckley that looked good back in 2021 seem to be lost in no man's land.  Then there's the likes of Kelly and Whitfield - what Giants supporters wouldn't give for them to have even 10% of Toby's competitiveness.  

If you take a short term look at history you'd think they won't miss Hopper and Taranto, but if you take a closer look and realise they only played 7 & 16 games respectively and then look at 2021 when they finished 3rd and 4th in the B&F and the Giants finished 6th you'll realise they leave a massive hole that they simply won't be able plug this season. They'll miss Toby Bedford too, because there were high hopes he'd deliver more than Bobby Hill managed to do in his 41 game, 34 goal time at the Giants.  It means that they'll have to cycle plenty of youth and NQRs through the side and I think that points to a similar position on the ladder to last year. 

It was time for Leon to go, and McVeigh found that it was probably easier being an assistant than working out how to turn  a team of individual performers into a cohesive footy team pulling in the same direction.  Maybe Adam Kingsley is that man, but it won't be in 2023. 

 

Edited February 20, 20232 yr by grazman

On 12/8/2022 at 12:47 AM, WERRIDEE said:

Today GWS tomorrow Hawthorn

B: Cumming, Idun, Haynes

HB: Whitfield, Taylor, Ash

C: Kelly, Coniglio, Perryman

HF: Greene, Hogan, Lloyd

F: Bedford, Himmelberg, Daniels

FOLL: Flynn, Ward, Green

IC: Riccardi, Callaghan, Wehr, Aleer

Reserves

B: Fleeton, Davis, Fahey

HB: Buckley, Keefe, Kennedy

C: McMullin, Jones, Hamilton

HF: Angwin, Cadman, Stone

F: Peatling, Gruzewski, Derksen

FOLL: Preuss, O'Halloran, Rowston

IC: Briggs, Maden, Gilbee, Brown

Revised best 44 for GWS