Toast Kevin Sheedy Medal 2022

[Giant Strides]

Congratulations Sam, a fantastic double for an outstanding year!

 

[BarryAglett]

Congratulations Sam, a fantastic double for an outstanding year!

Good on him.

 

[Giant Strides]

All-Australian defender tops skipper to claim Giants' best

Sam Taylor's sensational season recognised with GWS best and fairest win

www.afl.com.au

SAM TAYLOR'S sensational season for Greater Western Sydney has been capped off with his first Kevin Sheedy Medal as the Giants' club champion for 2022 in a glitzy awards ceremony on Friday.

Two days after claiming his first All-Australian blazer, the star defender's career-best campaign was given further recognition as he romped away to claim the honour with 156 votes, some 48 votes clear of co-captain Stephen Coniglio in second place. Taylor featured in every game for the Giants in 2022 and excelled to such a level that he was named at centre half-back in the All-Australian team despite the Giants finishing 16th with only six wins for the season.

The 23-year-old, who told AFL.com.au earlier this season that he 'wants to be the best back in the game', put himself firmly in that discussion by finishing the year equal second for intercept marks, outright second for spoils and ninth in contested marks across the competition. His breakout campaign also comes just two seasons after he was sidelined for almost an entire year with septic arthritis which saw him lose eight kilograms and be forced to re-build his body again.

"We've always known he's an incredibly hard-working and skilful player, but what he’s been able to achieve this season is nothing short of remarkable, particularly given the amount of work our backline had to do," said Giants General Manager of Football Jason McCartney

Jason Mccartney

Age

50

Ht

191cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.1

3star

HB

3.5

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.8

3star

No current season stats available

D

10.0

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

4.2

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

0.6

3star

. "Sam has rare competitiveness, even by professional footballers’ standards. This season we've seen him step up to lead the backline and his growth and maturity has been fantastic to watch." Earmarked as a future captain of the Giants, Taylor took the lead in round 18 of the Sheedy Medal count and cruised to victory with a flawless final six weeks of the season.

Coniglio's second-placed finish rubber stamps his return to the elite level of the competition, as the 28-year-old bounced back from two injury-riddled seasons to average 25 disposals a game and kick 17 goals.

Despite being managed out of the side amid a form slump in the second half of the year, gun on-baller Tom Green

12

Tom Green

Age

23

Ht

192cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

4star

CL

2.8

4star

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

3star

CL

2.8

4star

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

4star

CL

2.8

5star

finished 3rd on 104 votes ahead of Harry Himmelberg who flourished in a mid-season move into defence to finish fourth.

Star forward Jesse Hogan

23

Jesse Hogan

Age

29

Ht

196cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.0

4star

K

9.3

4star

HB

5.7

4star

M

6.4

5star

T

1.4

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

10.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

4.3

3star

M

5.3

5star

T

0.0

1star

G

0.0

1star

D

13.0

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

4.0

3star

M

6.4

5star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.8

5star

put together his best season and goal return since 2018 with 35 majors to finish fifth in the count.

 

[GWS Goose]

Well deserved

 

[Giant Strides]

 

[Giant Strides]

 

[BarryAglett]

Wow. Taylor won by a huge margin.
Ward still in the top 10 is significant.

 

[Giant Strides]

Wow. Taylor won by a huge margin.
Ward still in the top 10 is significant.

I couldn't be bothered to go back and look at past KSM counts, but I'd be surprised if there was any bigger difference between 1st and 2nd. We know that Sam was superb in those last few games, but even so, I was surprised at how much the margin extended from the previous snapshot.

Ward was solid throughout the year, which the fans saw given our own board MVP voting. Still a useful member of the squad. Still, I expect it will be 1 year deals only from here on.

 

[Giant Pete]

Shame there’s no opportunity for speeches from departing players.

 

[Hendo_21]

Weird that halfway through the year people were saying Taylor was having a down year and wasn't as good as had been previously and he just won BnF by a wide margin! Little bit surprised Green polled as well as he did, had a hot start but sort of got moved around a bit (and dropped) in the back half of the year and thought he cooled off but what a great year, hopefully we can see his first month of form continued on throughout the whole year.

 

[captainMyCaptain]

 

[Hendo_21]

Not paying him at all feels really weird and almost a bit exploitive, but great to see Leon was well recieved and still gets on with everyone. So easy for a coaches tenure ending to become sour and toxic but really feels it ended about as well as it could've.

 

[Giant Gutsache]

Not paying him at all feels really weird and almost a bit exploitive, but great to see Leon was well recieved and still gets on with everyone. So easy for a coaches tenure ending to become sour and toxic but really feels it ended about as well as it could've.

Happening earlier in season gave time for the wounds to heal.
Great that Leon was there.

 

[The Kings Ransom]

OK, just for later comparison, here's how the GWS board voted the players this year:

View attachment 1491826

Official ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GWS board

Taylor	Coniglio
Coniglio	Taylor
Green	Green
Himmelberg	Kelly
Hogan	Hogan
Perryman	Greene
Greene	Cumming
Kelly	Himmelberg
Cumming	Ward
Ward	Perryman

Well done guys, almost spot on!

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Well done to Taylor this kid is a Gun and so disappointed Richmond went with Higgins & Coleman Jones in that draft over Taylor
out of curiosity is there a extended list past top 10 ? where did TT finish

 

[Giant Strides]

Well done to Taylor this kid is a Gun and so disappointed Richmond went with Higgins & Coleman Jones in that draft over Taylor
out of curiosity is there a extended list past top 10 ? where did TT finish

Was a cut-price coverage this year ... they normally stream it, and tweet the top 20, but did neither (that I could see) this year. Perhaps Callums_Guns who attended might have seen where he finished?

He was 7th after 9 rounds, but that was when he missed several games, and admittedly took a few games to get back to speed. I'd expect he would have been early in that next block.

 

[Giant Strides]

Official ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GWS board

Taylor	Coniglio
Coniglio	Taylor
Green	Green
Himmelberg	Kelly
Hogan	Hogan
Perryman	Greene
Greene	Cumming
Kelly	Himmelberg
Cumming	Ward
Ward	Perryman

Well done guys, almost spot on!

Ha ha, that's an interesting comparison. Exactly right with the top 10. Most close to right position, but some swapped positions - the biggest difference was Kelly to Himmelberg (exact swap of positions) being 4 apart.

Our voting methodology is quite different to the club's approach, so we'll tend to push down the "quiet achievers" who go about their job (hence Taylor, HH & Perryman slightly higher by the coaches), but very interesting how close we actually were!

 

[Callums_Guns]

Was a cut-price coverage this year ... they normally stream it, and tweet the top 20, but did neither (that I could see) this year. Perhaps Callums_Guns who attended might have seen where he finished?

He was 7th after 9 rounds, but that was when he missed several games, and admittedly took a few games to get back to speed. I'd expect he would have been early in that next block.

Hopefully the club provides full count on the website tomorrow

Approx. placings Taranto 15th, Hamilton 28th and Hopper 29th

 

[The Kings Ransom]

Ha ha, that's an interesting comparison. Exactly right with the top 10. Most close to right position, but some swapped positions - the biggest difference was Kelly to Himmelberg (exact swap of positions) being 4 apart.

Our voting methodology is quite different to the club's approach, so we'll tend to push down the "quiet achievers" who go about their job (hence Taylor, HH & Perryman slightly higher by the coaches), but very interesting how close we actually were!

Same as ours.

Official voting
Holman 9th
Rankine 10th

Which baffles me a bit as Rankine was awarded coaches votes in 8 games this year and Holman in 0.


We had Rankine 3rd and Holman 17th

Probably the same as you guys but being best on ground in a win, particularly early in the season will always get more votes than the guy who is the 4th or 5th best Sun on the ground in 5 or 6 games.

 

[Giant Strides]