Last Season:
No club was rated higher than Greater Western Sydney ahead of the 2017 season. Boasting arguably the most talented list in the competition, the Giants possessed the perfect balance of experience, youth, attack and defence.
Many proclaimed this was a premiership side in the making, perhaps even a dynasty. But injuries struck the Giants harder than any club, which made it tough for them to build chemistry and continuity, two attributes that are chief for any premiership aspiring club.
Newly recruited Brett Deledio did not debut for the Giants until round 20 and never really got going, which was reflective of their season. The club that was being touted as the tsunami of the competition instead faced a tidal wave of injuries and failed to consistently duplicate their brilliant best form. They missed a total of 212 games through injury, which was the most in the league and 15 percent more than anyone else.
The Giants lost three of their final four matches by six goals or more and got whacked out of the finals by eventual premiers Richmond. It was not all doom and gloom as the Giants made it further through the season than ever before, but it did feel like a lost opportunity for a side with so much potential.
Off Season grade:
In: Aiden Bonar (Pick 11), Brent Daniels (Pick 27), Sam Taylor (Pick 28), Zac Giles Langdon (Pick 56), Nick Shipley (Pick 64), Dylan Buckley, Lachlan Keeffe
Out: Joel Patfull, Tom Downie, Steve Johnson, Tendai Mzungu, Devon Smith, Nathan Wilson, Matt Kennedy, Shane Mumford
Off season grade: D
The Giants have lost a host of key personnel in recent times, and this off-season may have been the most severe.
They lost a combined 465 games of experience through imposing ruckman Shane Mumford and mercurial forward Steve Johnson, though neither had great 2017 seasons and probably weren't in the best 22 in 2018.
The departure of running defender Nathan Wilson is compounded by an achilles injury to Zac Williams that will sideline him for an extensive period. Devon Smith is the most significant loss of them all, who was the Giants’ best pressure forward in 2017. This spells trouble for a team that struggle to defend and put pressure on the opposition in 2017.
Holes are beginning to appear in their list that previously did not, although the Giants have done as well as any club at regenerating themselves.
Defining period:
The Giants’ have one of the tougher draws in 2018 but you would back them in to win just about every home game other than a meeting with the Swans.
They play just three of last year’s top eight sides in the opening nine rounds of the season, including an Eagles side that are projected to drop off in 2018. If they are a true contender for the flag, the Giants would want to be at least 6-3 through this period.
After round nine, the Giants play Adelaide twice, including eight meetings with top eight sides from 2017. The run home is particularly fierce, where they play just one bottom six side from 2017 in the final nine rounds of the home and away season, including five travels. This appears to be the toughest run home of any side and we will see what this team is made of during this stretch.
Champion Data Suggests…
Don’t refer to the Giants as being the babies of the competition any more. In two years, they have gone from 17th for experience and age, to fifth and third respectively. They only have 21 players with under 50 games on their list – the fewest in the competition.
Overall the quality of the list ranks fourth behind Sydney, Port Adelaide and Adelaide. The midfield is the strength, ranking third in the competition. Lachie Whitfield and Tom Scully rank as two of the best wingmen in the competition, while Callan Ward, Dylan Shiel and Josh Kelly rank in the top 35% of the competition.
Add Stephen Coniglio to the list whose 2017 was riddled with injuries, plus the potential of Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper, and the midfield group still looks strong on paper despite many departures in recent years.
At the 2017 NAB AFL Draft the Giants added another potential star in Aiden Bonar. Before injuring his knee twice which required reconstructions, he was regarded as the best under 15s player in the country. His tackling will only get better and when he is a regular it should fix the Giants’ pressure problems.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths
The Giants are an elite clearance team, winning the count by 168 in the 2017 season. They did all this with their number one clearance player from 2016, Coniglio, missing two thirds of the season. With Coniglio out, Kelly took his role as a permanent inside midfielder and went to another level, earning his first All-Australian honour.
Kelly, Ward and Shiel all finished last season ranked in the top 30 players for clearances per match. These hard nuts fishing the ball out to smooth movers Scully and Whitfield on the outside creates one of the most dominant, high-functioning midfields in the game.
The Giants’ slingshot footy is also a trademark of their game, and they are one of the deadliest sides when they find space to operate in the forward half of the ground. Whitfield is expected to fill the vacant half back role that Kennedy and Williams have left, while Ryan Griffen is also expected to play as a rebounding defender.
It is critical for the Giants to maintain their high-powered running game, and they will need Heath Shaw to bounce back from a disappointing 2017 season as he often sets up their attack.
GWS also possess two of the best forwards in the competition in Toby Greene and Jeremy Cameron, who compliment each other perfectly. With these two lurking inside 50, along with Jonathon Patton and a reportedly rejuvenated Brett Deledio, the Giants have some serious firepower in attack that can kick big scores.
Weaknesses
The Giants’ game plan is based around their ability to force turnovers, but the forward line failed to apply that fanatical pressure in 2017. The Giants’ only forward with strong forward half pressure numbers was Smith, who has since left the club. The Giants’ next best pressure forward, Greene, would have ranked sixth at Richmond for forward half pressure points.
Adelaide and Richmond ranked first and second for creation of opposition turnovers in 2017, a category the Giants ranked 14th in, clearly the worst of last year’s finalists.
Their intercept marking down back also disappeared, where they ranked equal last in the competition last year with Gold Coast. This is a major drop off from the 2016, where they ranked second for intercept marking.
Intercept marking relies on pressure on the ball carrier, signalling there is a correlation between their lack of pressure and intercept marking (which in turn defends goals, and sends them into attack). Therefore, applying more pressure is the single most important thing GWS must correct in the 2018 season.
Finally, for all their clearance dominance, they scored from just 23.3 percent of their clearances, ranked 13th. This was most evident in their preliminary final loss to Richmond, where they won the clearance count by three, but were outscored from the source by 16 points.
Adding to it is that Mumford, who led the league in hitouts to advantage and tackles amongst ruckman, won’t be there this season. Rory Lobb is a worthy replacement but can’t reproduce Mumford’s brute work in the contest.
Prediction:
5th
The Giants have question marks over them as they enter the 2018 season with a bit of an identity crisis. It feels like it has been a while since we have seen this side gelled, playing good footy.
There is still plenty of upside, but other clubs have boosted their stocks in the off-season where the Giants’ are relying on internal improvement and significant emergence from their next raft of youngsters.
Do not count them out, as it would come as no surprise if the Giants came out firing in 2018 and finished top two. A premiership is well within their grasp.
It just seems there is enough doubt at this stage, with four other clubs better positioned for a serious flag tilt. After losing ample experience in the off-season and being without Williams for a vast portion of 2018, another injury riddled season could make it impossible for them to challenge the top four.
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