Analysis Giants captaincy - where to from here?

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There was a great deal of enthusiasm last year when Coniglio was announced as our first standalone captain, taking over from Ward and Davis.

But with two rounds to go, he now finds himself dropped on form after constant under-performance, and terrible inconsistency from the team. Something is clearly not working.

I remember watching Ward a few years ago during the pre-season game at BISP. When he was interchanged and came off, I noticed he wasn't happy about something and then spoke in a way that demanded attention. You could hear his authority and he was obeyed immediately.

There's no doubt Coniglio is admired because he's an outstanding person, but is that enough?

Who else would have what it takes? It has to be someone who not only commands respect from the playing group, but can carry the psychological weight of leadership.

It's a difficult question. Do we persist with Coniglio, or move back to Phil Davis? Or perhaps consider Josh Kelly?

Thoughts?
 
Its probably worth rehashing the story of how Cogs was only prepared to captain if he was the solo captain and maybe if that wasn't his mindset he would have handled this difficult year a bit better.

The move underlined just how acrimonious some relationships must have become at times in 2019 - a season that began for the Giants with an internally controversial and previously unreported player leadership process. In a complex and unusual captaincy decision Coniglio was voted in as co-captain with Phil Davis ahead of Callan Ward. But what followed - and Campbell appears to have shouldered the blame for this - was that Ward ultimately reassumed the role he has held since the birth of the club. This occurred because Coniglio would not share the captaincy. This was nothing against Davis but the younger man did not want to act as co-captain.
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www.theage.com.au

Football feud: captaincy clash part of Giant fallout

Stephen Coniglio's reluctance to share the GWS captaincy last season was one factor in Wayne Campbell's departure from the club.
www.theage.com.au www.theage.com.au
 
captainMyCaptain said:
Its probably worth rehashing the story of how Cogs was only prepared to captain if he was the solo captain and maybe if that wasn't his mindset he would have handled this difficult year a bit better.


www.theage.com.au

Football feud: captaincy clash part of Giant fallout

Stephen Coniglio's reluctance to share the GWS captaincy last season was one factor in Wayne Campbell's departure from the club.
www.theage.com.au www.theage.com.au
Click to expand...
The circumstances around Cogs captaincy rubbed me the wrong way after I found out that he didn't want to share the captaincy.

Now fair enough if he thought it was in his best interest to leader as the sole captain, or that the team was going to better for it, but I think it was the wrong move and always had the risk of sending the wrong message.

I genuinely think he's a great person, and has some learned leadership traits, but there's still some lacking. When you see Davis and Ward, they are captain personified, in their own way. I don't think there's one way to be a leader but there's certainly a way to be one and for me, Cogs doesn't have it or hasn't found it, yet.
 

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I agree with Gigantic. I think that many of us were keen for our first home-grown captain, and Cogs' workload and skill on the field, and his stature off it, seemed to be 100% the way to go. I must admit, though, that reading about his refusal to accept co-captaincy took some of the gloss off. For him , it would have actually been a good option (in hindsight) - a chance to learn from an experienced and universally admired captain in Phil Davis, while still on his captaincy training wheels. Phil could have shielded him from some stuff that Cogs has had to deal with alone. Such an approach would not have seen any slight, and given GWS' stature, its recent start etc there was no tradition, no culture that really impeded such a mature approach. Had he known how tough this year would be (and I mean COVID situation not his personal form), perhaps he would have chosen differently. But it does seem obvious that the captaincy has impacted his own form, and his own form impacted his captaincy - the worst possible outcome for him and the team.

However, given the nature of this season, I doubt that GWS management will change captains or change the approach for next year. If nothing improves on either front next year - team & personal form, I mean - then expect something to break thereafter.
 
Callums_Guns said:
www.afl.com.au

BARRETT: Rivals will come calling after Coniglio's humiliation

GWS skipper Stephen Coniglio's shock dumping will prompt his 2019 suitors to inquire again, writes Damian Barrett
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au

Will be an interesting off season for us ?

No win situation for Club / Cogs this week
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Rivals can come calling. He has a rather long contract so unless they have about 10 1st rounders they want to give up I doubt they are any chance.

The point is it is a ****ed season already with covid.
He was back for 1 game after a long lay off and then the covid break hit.

Anyone thinks get won’t be back to his best next year and the club has no faith in him are insane. The club will make sure that he knows it as well.
 
General Giant said:

AFL 2020: Stephen Coniglio dropped, GWS Giants captain in 2021, Giants trade news, contracts | FOX SPORTS

GWS has guaranteed Stephen Coniglio the captaincy next year even though he is currently not considered in the best 22 players at the club.
coupler.foxsports.com.au
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He is a quality guy and I like that he refused the rested tag, hopefully he can build into the role properly over the next 4 to 5 months.
We need much more effective leadership onfield than we had this year
 

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Coniglio doesn't need to be the captain to deliver onfield, he seemed to struggle with the weight of the role on him too.

With a handful of key players departing or retiring, is it a good time for a totally fresh start ??

I think it is.

Many will laugh at these suggestions but there is some merit in them :

(C) Toby Green
(VC) Nick Haynes
(DVC) Tim Taranto or Tom Green

No-one would ever question Toby Green's desperation and never-say-die attitude to the game. If he looked another player in the eye and asked them to lift, I dare say they would. Most importantly, he is a born leader !!

Nick Haynes is your version of Mr. Reliable, players can always depend on him and he sets a strong example for others to follow.

Taranto & Green have future captain written all over them so start grooming one of them now.
 
LordLucifer said:
Coniglio doesn't need to be the captain to deliver onfield, he seemed to struggle with the weight of the role on him too.

With a handful of key players departing or retiring, is it a good time for a totally fresh start ??

I think it is.

Many will laugh at these suggestions but there is some merit in them :

(C) Toby Green
(VC) Nick Haynes
(DVC) Tim Taranto or Tom Green

No-one would ever question Toby Green's desperation and never-say-die attitude to the game. If he looked another player in the eye and asked them to lift, I dare say they would. Most importantly, he is a born leader !!

Nick Haynes is your version of Mr. Reliable, players can always depend on him and he sets a strong example for others to follow.

Taranto & Green have future captain written all over them so start grooming one of them now.
Click to expand...

Not laughing but we won’t, nor should we, ditch Cogs as captain.
 
LordLucifer said:
Coniglio doesn't need to be the captain to deliver onfield, he seemed to struggle with the weight of the role on him too.

With a handful of key players departing or retiring, is it a good time for a totally fresh start ??

I think it is.

Many will laugh at these suggestions but there is some merit in them :

(C) Toby Green
(VC) Nick Haynes
(DVC) Tim Taranto or Tom Green

No-one would ever question Toby Green's desperation and never-say-die attitude to the game. If he looked another player in the eye and asked them to lift, I dare say they would. Most importantly, he is a born leader !!

Nick Haynes is your version of Mr. Reliable, players can always depend on him and he sets a strong example for others to follow.

Taranto & Green have future captain written all over them so start grooming one of them now.
Click to expand...
With such an unusual season to start his captaincy, it's not going to be taken away from him after just one year.

No GWS supporter would deny Toby would be a talismanic leader, but Nick Haynes is far less outgoing and unlikely to relish such a role.

Tom Green is too young in his second season, but TT might be an option. Still, you've omitted Josh Kelly, whom I doubt will be replaced.
 
Giant Strides said:
With such an unusual season to start his captaincy, it's not going to be taken away from him after just one year.

No GWS supporter would deny Toby would be a talismanic leader, but Nick Haynes is far less outgoing and unlikely to relish such a role.

Tom Green is too young in his second season, but TT might be an option. Still, you've omitted Josh Kelly, whom I doubt will be replaced.
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Toby makes your players walk taller, that is what good leaders do. Haynes is an interesting one, I see his 'non-outgoing' as the reason why he would be an ideal candidate. He doesn't need to say much, he just sets the standard for others to emulate. Besides, I'd bet that Toby would be extremely vocal in the role which would give Haynes some leeway to be a little less with the verbage.

IMO, Josh Kelly doesn't need an official appointment to be a leader for you.
 
General Giant said:
Not laughing but we won’t, nor should we, ditch Cogs as captain.
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I wouldn't consider it would need to be a "ditching" though, it is not out of the question for both parties to mutually agree that its better for him not to be the captain (bearing in mind I have no idea at all as to what his thoughts are on it).

If his onfield performances were to improve and/or be more consistent as a result of relieving him of the captaincy, then it's a huge win-win for everyone.

Just throwing it out there.
 
LordLucifer said:
I wouldn't consider it would need to be a "ditching" though, it is not out of the question for both parties to mutually agree that its better for him not to be the captain (bearing in mind I have no idea at all as to what his thoughts are on it).

If his onfield performances were to improve and/or be more consistent as a result of relieving him of the captaincy, then it's a huge win-win for everyone.

Just throwing it out there.
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I don’t think Captaincy was the issue necessarily in 2020. Maybe slightly being a 1st year Captain.
Think it was more a very bad injury and long layoff to return for one game and then covid.

Besides which none at the club handled it well. Disagree taking it out on the Cap.
 
I could be wrong here but I did watch "On The Couch" last night and agreed somewhat with the panel's belief that the Giants hierarchy are going to stop the bleeding by not offering crazy long-term deals anymore.

If this is true, it would be a perfect time to have a leadership restructure and in turn, reset the mindset of the players and the overall demeanour of the club.

Coniglio is a terrific player but he is one of the handful of players who were given a very long contract on very very good money, its not his fault he has it but it is in place.

If the club wants to send a message about where they are going and why, then appointing some of the underlings to be onfield leaders instead of keeping one of the big money-men in charge would be a good start.
 
"Collectively 2020 wasn't our season. Individually the same. Simply not what we had hoped, wanted or expected"
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Well Stephen, it certainly didn't start out that way, the intent was obvious.

We just didn't buy into the resumption of the season while our peers did. Why was that?

That's the question we want answered.
 
No doubt the club sticks with Cogs as captain and a couple of thing is maybe work on the leadership group and have Ward and Davis involved and maybe some kind of external mentor for them such as Steve Waugh would be a positive influence
 
fridgeman said:
No doubt the club sticks with Cogs as captain and a couple of thing is maybe work on the leadership group and have Ward and Davis involved and maybe some kind of external mentor for them such as Steve Waugh would be a positive influence
Click to expand...

Ward, Davis, Steve Waugh, why does he need all this extra support?

Not only did we severely under-perform on the field this year, we're losing Williams and Cameron, in who we've invested a great deal.

Something's not right.
 
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