Round 1 and 2: brutal start to the year. Two losses in the last two minutes against Top 4 teams after playing shorthanded in the midfield (missing Cerra/Hewitt/Kennedy). Lucky Setterfield started the year in decent form, and Doch also stepped up in midfield. Shaky kicking from Curnow and McKay hurt us... but at least Curnow is back out there and with time and confidence he could give the Coleman a shake if he keeps getting those looks at goal. And at least now we know we can match it with anyone
Round 3 and 4: Wow, the wheels have come off here. A bad start at the GABBA, and then a horrible performance in Adelaide against a Crows team expected to be bottom 6. Another 0-4 start to the season? Has anything really changed with the new coach?
Round 5: Finally - a win! While the Giants aren't in great form, a win is a win, and at least we are on the board.
Round 6: Reality check vs Geelong. We're miles off the pace... was Voss the right choice? Also injuries starting to mount, with the backline looking shaky (McGovern and Williams are both now injured, as is Weitering).
Round 7-8: More of the same - a solid effort against a West Coast team who are really starting to drop away, followed by a loss where we shot ourselves in the foot against St Kilda
Round 9: Great win against Freo - they look ok this year, currently on the edge of the 8. We head into the bye with a decent win.
Round 10: Bloody Richmond. What's that - 14 straight losses? At least we didn't have to play them round 1 this year...
Round 11: But at least we always beat Essendon. They've been in ok form too, but I can see them dropping away from here...
Round 12: Bloody hell - second loss to Collingwood by less than a goal. What a rubbish year: 4-8 with 3 losses by less than a goal. Bloody Collingwood are on top 11-1 as well (how on earth did that happen?). But again, we take confidence from having matched a top 4 team and maybe we can turn this into something...
Round 13-16: Four straight wins! Weitering back from injury and settling into defence and we look like a whole new team. Nice to see Charlie Curnow really starting to find good form too, with two big bags of 6 and he looks like he is getting back to his best. Suddenly we are 8-8 - could we dare to dream a little bit?
Round 17-20: A little bit wobbly, but we held on for two close wins vs Port and Hawthorn and held off late charges in both... looks like we learned the lessons of our brutal losses earlier in the year and we're hanging in there at 10-10 with two rounds to go (2 games behind last year's grand finallists in 8th though... might be a bit much).
Round 21: YES! Our best game of the year to date, a smashing win against the Bulldogs, and we are back in the hunt. Our midfield is really firing with Pitto back and fit. Only downside is that Walsh looked injured and may miss next week. Still, we Just have to get the monkey off our back vs Richmond and hope the Bulldogs lose to Melbourne (the Demons are in incredible form too - 8 wins on the trot!). 5 Goals (and no behinds!) from Charlie gives him a big lead in the Coleman too!
Round 22: What an end to the year! Earlier in the day, the Bulldogs had led by as much as 20 points before Melbourne proved just too good, and suddenly the finals were in touching distance... if only we could shake the Richmond hoodoo. A decent first quarter and a half time lead, but then it all evaporated with some shaky goal-kicking in the third, and when they kicked the first goal of the last quarter to put us 21 behind it felt too predictably miserable (and weren't the Richmond fans crowing!). And then suddenly our midfield was grabbing everything and we piled on 7 straight goals, hitting the front then making a real charge at that percentage gap in the last quarter, while Richmond slowed things up to minimise the damage. In the end it wasn't to be, and when the siren went we had fallen an agonising two goals short on percentage.
What an end to the year though... 3 straight wins, 8 out of the last 10, and to finally beat Richmond and come through on the biggest stage... I'll be re-watching that last quarter all off-season and surely we ride this momentum into an even bigger 2023!
Hmmm....
Round 3 and 4: Wow, the wheels have come off here. A bad start at the GABBA, and then a horrible performance in Adelaide against a Crows team expected to be bottom 6. Another 0-4 start to the season? Has anything really changed with the new coach?
Round 5: Finally - a win! While the Giants aren't in great form, a win is a win, and at least we are on the board.
Round 6: Reality check vs Geelong. We're miles off the pace... was Voss the right choice? Also injuries starting to mount, with the backline looking shaky (McGovern and Williams are both now injured, as is Weitering).
Round 7-8: More of the same - a solid effort against a West Coast team who are really starting to drop away, followed by a loss where we shot ourselves in the foot against St Kilda
Round 9: Great win against Freo - they look ok this year, currently on the edge of the 8. We head into the bye with a decent win.
Round 10: Bloody Richmond. What's that - 14 straight losses? At least we didn't have to play them round 1 this year...
Round 11: But at least we always beat Essendon. They've been in ok form too, but I can see them dropping away from here...
Round 12: Bloody hell - second loss to Collingwood by less than a goal. What a rubbish year: 4-8 with 3 losses by less than a goal. Bloody Collingwood are on top 11-1 as well (how on earth did that happen?). But again, we take confidence from having matched a top 4 team and maybe we can turn this into something...
Round 13-16: Four straight wins! Weitering back from injury and settling into defence and we look like a whole new team. Nice to see Charlie Curnow really starting to find good form too, with two big bags of 6 and he looks like he is getting back to his best. Suddenly we are 8-8 - could we dare to dream a little bit?
Round 17-20: A little bit wobbly, but we held on for two close wins vs Port and Hawthorn and held off late charges in both... looks like we learned the lessons of our brutal losses earlier in the year and we're hanging in there at 10-10 with two rounds to go (2 games behind last year's grand finallists in 8th though... might be a bit much).
Round 21: YES! Our best game of the year to date, a smashing win against the Bulldogs, and we are back in the hunt. Our midfield is really firing with Pitto back and fit. Only downside is that Walsh looked injured and may miss next week. Still, we Just have to get the monkey off our back vs Richmond and hope the Bulldogs lose to Melbourne (the Demons are in incredible form too - 8 wins on the trot!). 5 Goals (and no behinds!) from Charlie gives him a big lead in the Coleman too!
Round 22: What an end to the year! Earlier in the day, the Bulldogs had led by as much as 20 points before Melbourne proved just too good, and suddenly the finals were in touching distance... if only we could shake the Richmond hoodoo. A decent first quarter and a half time lead, but then it all evaporated with some shaky goal-kicking in the third, and when they kicked the first goal of the last quarter to put us 21 behind it felt too predictably miserable (and weren't the Richmond fans crowing!). And then suddenly our midfield was grabbing everything and we piled on 7 straight goals, hitting the front then making a real charge at that percentage gap in the last quarter, while Richmond slowed things up to minimise the damage. In the end it wasn't to be, and when the siren went we had fallen an agonising two goals short on percentage.
What an end to the year though... 3 straight wins, 8 out of the last 10, and to finally beat Richmond and come through on the biggest stage... I'll be re-watching that last quarter all off-season and surely we ride this momentum into an even bigger 2023!
Hmmm....
