Giants coach Leon Cameron has revealed the extent of damage dropping captain Stephen Coniglio had on his star player, stating the 27-year-old struggled to balance the captaincy role with others aspects in his first year as the club's leader.
Coniglio became the first skipper dropped from an AFL side since 1998, where John Worsfold was axed from his side's 22 to play in a final under Mick Malthouse.
Coniglio failed to impact the game as he normally would in 2020, with the gun onballer and the Giants facing a slump this season and missing out on the top eight.
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Speaking on SEN, Cameron said the decision to drop Coniglio was a tough but necessary call.
"That (dropping Coniglio) was a really hard decision and one that we didn't take lightly, especially at that time of year," Cameron said.
"Stephen's had some challenges throughout the year - his first year as captain.
"I think absorbing all that responsibility until you actually get in the role can be quite daunting and he'd be the first to admit that.
"Cogs had a lot on his plate and he probably had too much on his plate, which probably affected his footy.
"I just want him to get back to playing the footy that I know he can and I think he's going to be a fantastic captain."
Cameron revealed that a number of players have looked to identify certain mistakes from their season.
"You can hide from each other and go 'okay we'll see each other in two months and away we go again and we won't talk about that," he said.
"But myself and Cogs and our leadership group and a lot of our players that have stayed around Sydney have had some great dialogue about what we thought was right and what we thought we got probably wrong."
