Review 2018 - The Season That Was

[Determinant]

Might be a little too soon for clear thoughts, but a worthy discussion topic in it's own right.

In January I felt anything less than a GF would be a fail.
The we lost Zac, and it just seemed to never stop.
By the bye I was going to be thrilled if we made finals
Round 21 and I am thinking top 4
Season's end and I was happy just to be in the finals
Massively impressed with the guys beat the Swans, made a huge statement (which we failed follow up on).
Still haven't fully processed last night, the umps gave the pies a 3 goal start, but we had chances to win and were in the end beaten by the better team on the night, no doubt.

I heard Derm say on one of the Fox shows that rounds 22 and 23 the team was riddled with flu and lucky to put a team on the field..

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

3 of our top ten highest scores ever - offset by our second lowest score ever (rd 7 v Geelong)
3 of our 8 biggest wins - none of our biggest losses

2 games with +10 goals to behinds (accurate - equal second on the all time list)
2 games with our worst inaccuracy ever (-10 and -9 goals to behinds - losing both with more scoring shots) and a fair few others on the list for inaccuracy.

6 of 12 lowest score conceded (our defence rocks)
6 of 12 lowest winning scores (our offence doesn’t - but we can ‘win ugly’)

Home attendance down by average 1,283 - Gold Coast and West Coast only 2 games under 10k but they hurt - particularly the GC - lowest attended Spotless crowd since r3 2014 - but we again averaged more at Spotless than we did at Manuka.

Away attendance up by average 2,020 - meaning overall more people watched the Giants live in the H&A season than in any other year.

I think it shows what we all know - we had an up and down year.

 

[Danny88]

I’m a little torn to be honest

One one hand I can look at this season and say “gee imagine if the injuries hadn’t been there...we could have done it. Load up again next year”

On the other I’m thinking “we have gone backwards, we need to take risks to improve”

It’s a toughie and I think no real answer is obvious. Certainly a shake up of the fitness and conditioning team for 2019 is a must. We are already adding experienced assistants... I can see opportunity for more change there too

 

[Smartest Brain]

The team was down on confidence and converted very poorly in front of goal. It is probably connected. Something needs to change because I don't think injuries can explain all that we saw this year. Fix any disharmony and let's make 2019 our bitch.

 

[Pres]

The year was successful after the nightmarish injury run.

The key would be getting the bulk of the list to complete a full pre-season. As Leon says that's a great indicator of how you will stand up for a full season.

At this stage you'd think Delidio, Shaw, Scully and Patton at a minimum will be on modified programs.

The emergence of Langdon, Bonar, Daniels, Taylor + the fabulous return of Adam Kennedy was the highlight of the year for me .

 

[fridgeman]

Plenty of positives from the year but I think many here were thinking a flag was possible this year but again it shows how hard it into make a GF let alone win the flag

Positives
Whitfield and Coniglio moving into elite category, both should have been AA next year for Coniglio
Taranto and Hopper showing why they were high draft picks
HH cementing a place in the best 22 and proving me wrong
the 5 2017 draftees showing potential for the coming years and an ability to come in and play a role
Davis showing he is one of the best backman in the comp
Several players reaching the 100 game milestone
Re-signing all OOC players that the club wanted to
Williams come back showing courage and in the first final he showed he hadn't lost his game style

Negatives
Injuries, not getting best 22 fit and firing for the end of the season
Exposed the lack of depth in the squad and some may know my thoughts but it goes back to the reserves system with over 90 players having game time and the listed players playing out of position slowing there development and an ability to play the required game style
Poor effort in the semi final with so much on the line, defence was missing the cool head of Shaw
Lack of experienced assistants to help LC and although McConnell, the recruitment of Nicks will help but I still feel another experienced head would help even if it is a mentor like role
Media bashing of Greene JC and LC I know it sells ads and how they get money but a positive article every know and then would help, the JC incident was unfortunate and hopefully he has learnt from the incident

Overall the team did well to come back from the pre bye position but with another top 6 finish it will be a hard draw in 2019 and I feel a key would be avoiding double ups on the teams predicted to rise but I am optimistic that the club has the ability to win again next year it just needs things to go their way

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

I think it was a pass on the field. I remember thinking before the Geelong game that the team must have matured to the point the structures could be changed so radically. That turned out to be wrong and we spiralled to 4 straight losses.

It took character to recover from that and be in third place with a couple if rounds to go. In hindsight finishing games with no bench and constant fresh injuries against the Blues and the Crows hurt.

It was always going to be very hard from 7th place, having lost the last two h/a games. We were a couple of goals in the end from a prelim, so I dont think we actually dropped at all from the last two years.

The big positive for me was actually off the field though in the crowds. At Spotless the crowds were way more vocal than they have been in previous years. The chanting duels in the Hawks game were a level of passion I haven't seen from a Giants crowd before. A step up from the last few minutes of the Eagles game in 2016.

Even last Saturday night I was in aisle N29 with the faithful. When we hit the front in the 3rd qtr the whole aisle took up a chant from the orange army at the opposite end of the ground. We weren't many but it was moving and I've not seen anything like it in an away final. And I've been to them all.

Bottom line is the clubs developing a passionate fanbase, and I think that's very important in the long term.

 

[Orange Agent]

Few days passed so time to ponder a bit. I think Leon made some post match comments about how we learnt to win ugly and based on the way we finished playing out the season I am puzzled as to whether at some point considering the lack of continuity with team selection, the coaching may have gone into teaching mode rather than winning mode. Scully, Zac and Jelly being out for so long really forced the adjustment, list management for next year seemed well sorted early on in the year so the chance to experiment was certainly there. I guess if everybody keeps the faith for next season it could be a masterstroke. Its just hard to consider playing in Sept with this kind of mindset for the guys that naturally want to take on the game, like Shiel especially.