Prediction 2023 GWS Giants - Predicted best 22, breakout player(s), general player/team discussion & questions

[Giant Strides]

We have our 2023 squad settled, all draftees are on board, and it's time to think (dream!) about what season 2023 may hold. We normally have a "best 22" thread, but usually tends to hold snippets of discussion wider than that, hence the slightly broader title encompassing all things player-related. The pre-season thread has a few thoughts on best 22, but feel free to carry that discussion here throughout the whole season.

Who do you predict as our breakout player(s) in 2023? Who do you want to see in different roles in 2023? Who's on notice that their form needs to improve from 2022 to hold a place in the team next year? Which of our draftees will debut next year?

 

[Mikevk123]

B Aleer Taylor Idun
HB Whitfield Buckley Cumming
C Callaghan Green Ash
HF Greene Himmleberg Peatling
F Bedford Hogan Cadman
FOLL- Flynn Coniglio Kelly
I/C- Perryman, Haynes, Briggs, Daniels
Sub- Stone
Emerg- Ricarddi, XOH, Hamilton, Ward, Keeffe

 

[Hendo_21]

B Aleer Taylor Idun
HB Whitfield Buckley Cumming
C Callaghan Green Ash
HF Greene Himmleberg Peatling
F Bedford Hogan Cadman
FOLL- Flynn Coniglio Kelly
I/C- Perryman, Haynes, Briggs, Daniels
Sub- Stone
Emerg- Ricarddi, XOH, Hamilton, Ward, Keeffe

Not sure we see Aleer, Buckley, Haynes and Idun all playing together in the same team, that's a bit slow and not a whole lot of offensive firepower between them. Would think Aleer is the one to miss of the 3 at least to start off and then we can see how Haynes looks as well. Ideally I'd probably flip Ash and Whitfield, Ash hasn't really shown to be an effective winger but looked pretty promising as a half back early on when he played there, and pushing Whitfield up the ground a bit more really allows him to leverage his running capacity over his oppponent and allows him to distribute more i50 instead of out defence which I think we'll be okay with especially if someone like Fahey is playing. Still think Ward will play almost every game this year that he's healthy unless we see a pretty clear drop off from last year which we won't know until the boots are on, Stone as well would think plays maybe over someone like Peatling.

 

[Giant Strides]

I think we'll start the year with something along the lines of:

Taylor Kennedy Haynes
Cumming Buckley Ash
Whitfield Green Kelly
Bedford Greene Cadman
Hogan Himmelberg Daniels
Preuss Perryman Coniglio
IC: Idun Callaghan Ward TBA

• Buckley is coming back from a very long lay-off, so potential is that he's a bit behind to start the year. Davis too has had a lay-off, so it remains possible that Aleer does take that second KPD spot. I think Haynes starts as the interceptor, but needs to show he's still best 22. The final option is that HH starts down the back, but the comments from the club were that he would start forward.
• I do think that Aleer will be best 22 before the end of this year.
• Ash at half back is better than a wing. I'd like to see Fahey get a chance at half back, but he might need to wait until later in the season, so Kennedy or maybe Wehr might have that spot in early season.
• I do think they'll blood Cadman early, provided that his pre-season form is solid.
• Ruck is a raffle, but I've gone with Preuss edging out the other two.
• I think the last interchange spot is open - I'm unsure if they might go another ruck, a pure forward (e.g. Peatling), someone like Stone (who I do expect to play quite a lot this year), or a quicker player (such as XOH) given the likely gameplan that we'll adopt.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

, a pure forward (e.g. Peatling),

Peatling isn't a pure forward - in fact he's played most of his games (certainly in the vfl) coming off the half back flank.

he's just more effective than most when he's swung forward.

he gets a bench spot because of his flexibility

 

[Giant Pete]

Peatling isn't a pure forward - in fact he's played most of his games (certainly in the vfl) coming off the half back flank.

he's just more effective than most when he's swung forward.

he gets a bench spot because of his flexibility

I like Peatling. He’s a threat in the air, on the ground, has speed and is a good kick.

 

[Hendo_21]

Obviously all teams are different and depending on the role they're asked to play may change the results of this but how many guys on this list do we feel comfortable being in a premiership side, if we assume all are in good health

Defintely yes:
Taylor
Cogs
Kelly
Greene
Green
Perryman
Cumming
Whitfield
Hogan

Set and forget these, when they're healthy they play and they're going to have the most influence on the game every week.

Feel good about
Idun
HH
Daniels

These guys are all pretty good but also limited in aspects that can let them down but ultimately you'd feel pretty good with these guys in the lineup every week as long as they're not asked to take on too much responsibility. Good compliments to the guys around them. HH would be top tier down back but up forward which I'm assuming is where he's going to play he's in this tier.

Need to see this year
Haynes
Ward
Buckley
Ash

Top 2 guys we're just making sure they're not washed and completly fallen off, if they have then they're probably not going to feature all that much but if they still got it then we'll probably see them quite a bit. Buckley I feel good about but just want to make sure he looks A OK coming back from his injury and then Ash is probably the most difficult one to rank out of everyone, feel a lot better if he's at half back but as a winger I'm a lot more so so.

Could prove themselves to be consistent producers
Finn
Bedford
Stone
Leek
Briggs
Flynn
Peatling
Fahey
Cadman
Riccardi
Preuss

All these guys we like but in order for them to be consistent producers and part of the team we'd have to see them first of all get healthy for most of them but then also take a step forward in their development which is hard to bank on. If you feel really good about Finn being able to produce for 20ish games this year then you could slide him up but still just being cautious coming off injury and only playing a handful of games so far (still absoutely think the world of him long term).

Assorted young guys or old dudes
XO
Lloyd
Wehr
Keefe
Phil
Kennedy
etc etc

 

[gee whiz giant]

Cam Fleeton and Ryan Angwin will be coming from way back!

 

[Hendo_21]

Cam Fleeton and Ryan Angwin will be coming from way back!

Never know with a different coach a fresh set of eyes may be able to find a role for them that the other coaching set up just couldn't see but it does seem like both of them are quite a ways back from being able to find consistent footy this year, unless there's quite a few injuries to their position I just can't see the avenue to the field for them.

 

[Giant Gutsache]

Obviously all teams are different and depending on the role they're asked to play may change the results of this but how many guys on this list do we feel comfortable being in a premiership side, if we assume all are in good health

Defintely yes:
Taylor
Cogs
Kelly
Greene
Green
Perryman
Cumming
Whitfield
Hogan

Set and forget these, when they're healthy they play and they're going to have the most influence on the game every week.

Feel good about
Idun
HH
Daniels

These guys are all pretty good but also limited in aspects that can let them down but ultimately you'd feel pretty good with these guys in the lineup every week as long as they're not asked to take on too much responsibility. Good compliments to the guys around them. HH would be top tier down back but up forward which I'm assuming is where he's going to play he's in this tier.

Need to see this year
Haynes
Ward
Buckley
Ash

Top 2 guys we're just making sure they're not washed and completly fallen off, if they have then they're probably not going to feature all that much but if they still got it then we'll probably see them quite a bit. Buckley I feel good about but just want to make sure he looks A OK coming back from his injury and then Ash is probably the most difficult one to rank out of everyone, feel a lot better if he's at half back but as a winger I'm a lot more so so.

Could prove themselves to be consistent producers
Finn
Bedford
Stone
Leek
Briggs
Flynn
Peatling
Fahey
Cadman
Riccardi
Preuss

All these guys we like but in order for them to be consistent producers and part of the team we'd have to see them first of all get healthy for most of them but then also take a step forward in their development which is hard to bank on. If you feel really good about Finn being able to produce for 20ish games this year then you could slide him up but still just being cautious coming off injury and only playing a handful of games so far (still absoutely think the world of him long term).

Assorted young guys or old dudes
XO
Lloyd
Wehr
Keefe
Phil
Kennedy
etc etc

In agreement with almost all of this. You do seem to have overlooked the great Callum Brown. Perhaps one of your etc’s?

 

[Hendo_21]

In agreement with almost all of this. You do seem to have overlooked the great Callum Brown. Perhaps one of your etc’s?

Yeah he defintely fits into that category for me, it seems he has a couple fans on this board but I don't really see it with him. Has some really nice raw athletic tools but just doesn't seem to have translated to success yet, hopefully he proves me wrong and can start to put it together a bit more but as for now he's pretty much strictly depth and a break glass in case of emergency type. If he can improve his ability to find the ball more consistently could maybe see him utilised as a mediumish athletic pressure type forward but coming into year 5 I think time is running out on him.

 

[Mikevk123]

Not sure we see Aleer, Buckley, Haynes and Idun all playing together in the same team, that's a bit slow and not a whole lot of offensive firepower between them. Would think Aleer is the one to miss of the 3 at least to start off and then we can see how Haynes looks as well. Ideally I'd probably flip Ash and Whitfield, Ash hasn't really shown to be an effective winger but looked pretty promising as a half back early on when he played there, and pushing Whitfield up the ground a bit more really allows him to leverage his running capacity over his oppponent and allows him to distribute more i50 instead of out defence which I think we'll be okay with especially if someone like Fahey is playing. Still think Ward will play almost every game this year that he's healthy unless we see a pretty clear drop off from last year which we won't know until the boots are on, Stone as well would think plays maybe over someone like Peatling.

B Aleer Taylor Cumming
HB Ash Buckley Fahey
C Whitfield Green Callaghan
HF Greene Cadman Stone
F Bedford Hogan Himmleberg
FOLL- Flynn Coniglio Kelly
I/C- Briggs, Perryman, Haynes, Daniels

 

[sydney_gws]

I think we play 2 ruckman. With the sub, most likely the sub comes on for one of the ruckmen at about 3/4 time.

 

[PMBangers]

B: Isaac Cumming - Sam Taylor - Nick Haynes
HB: Connor Idun - Jack Buckley - Lachie Ash
C: Lachie Whitfield - Tom Green - Josh Kelly
HF: Toby Bedford - Toby Greene - Brent Daniels
FF: Harry Himmelberg - Jesse Hogan - Aaron Cadman
R: Braydon Preuss - Stephen Coniglio - Harry Perryman
IN/T: Finn Callaghan - Conor Stone - Callan Ward - Matt Flynn
SUB: Xavier O'Halloran

I think Cadman and Bedford are the most likely inclusions of our recruits, Bedford almost guaranteed and Cadman should be straight in unless Riccardi really proves himself in preseason/ praccy matches. With how Richmond played and how Kingsley has implied he wants us to play, Peatling, Lloyd and Fahey would be players I expect to see in here, replacing maybe Stone, Cadman and Idun.

Possible position changes I could also see with the new coach would be Hamilton to the Wing and Lloyd to half back, Richmond really utilised McIntosh well as an endurance beast on the wing and could see Hamilton being trained to play a similar way, and Lloyd's kicking out of the backline would be dangerous in transition, but I'm not sure I'd like it as much given Fahey would offer the same thing

 

[Determinant]

B: Isaac Cumming - Sam Taylor - Nick Haynes
HB: Connor Idun - Jack Buckley - Lachie Ash
C: Lachie Whitfield - Tom Green - Josh Kelly
HF: Toby Bedford - Toby Greene - Brent Daniels
FF: Harry Himmelberg - Jesse Hogan - Aaron Cadman
R: Braydon Preuss - Stephen Coniglio - Harry Perryman
IN/T: Finn Callaghan - Conor Stone - Callan Ward - Matt Flynn
SUB: Xavier O'Halloran

I think Cadman and Bedford are the most likely inclusions of our recruits, Bedford almost guaranteed and Cadman should be straight in unless Riccardi really proves himself in preseason/ praccy matches. With how Richmond played and how Kingsley has implied he wants us to play, Peatling, Lloyd and Fahey would be players I expect to see in here, replacing maybe Stone, Cadman and Idun.

Possible position changes I could also see with the new coach would be Hamilton to the Wing and Lloyd to half back, Richmond really utilised McIntosh well as an endurance beast on the wing and could see Hamilton being trained to play a similar way, and Lloyd's kicking out of the backline would be dangerous in transition, but I'm not sure I'd like it as much given Fahey would offer the same thing

This is pretty close to my thoughts also,
The Flynn in is essential for team balance and he can be an effective fwd.
Not sure Cadman plays more than 6-8 games but definitely plays.
Make or break year for XO, really hope he makes it.

 

[Blue train 28]

Anyone know if himmleberg will play up forward or down back?
Would love and I think giants need to play him in the front half. Give support to Hogan and cadman.
Really excited to see if Tom greene explodes. Keen to see Finn , Ash and Stone to step up and hopefully have a healthy preseason.
Issac Cummings- Sam Taylor- Idun
Harry perryman - Phil Davis - Haynes
Lachie whitfield - Josh Kelly - Ash
Brent Daniels -Harry H - Connor S
Toby greene - J Hogan - A cadman
B Preuss - cogs - Tom greene
Bench -
Toby Bedford- Finn Callaghan- ward-
Buckley.

 

[Giant Strides]

Anyone know if himmleberg will play up forward or down back?

There were comments a couple of weeks back from coaching staff that indicated (but didn't categorically state) that HH would play forward. From that, I think he's likely to go forward, unless Buckley and Davis are not fully recovered from their respective injury layoffs, and perhaps Haynes' form may play a part too.

 

[captainMyCaptain]

Yep Harry is once again a forward

 

[Hendo_21]

Yep Harry is once again a forward

This plan is sort of reliant on Haynes still being effective and writing off last year as just weird and not him being old and bad. Showed enough glimpses towards the end of the year where I can see him being good to go after a proper pre-season and a clean run at it.

 

[Giant Pete]

This plan is sort of reliant on Haynes still being effective and writing off last year as just weird and not him being old and bad. Showed enough glimpses towards the end of the year where I can see him being good to go after a proper pre-season and a clean run at it.

I see Haynes and Aleer competing for the same spot.

 

[Giant Pete]

Cumming Taylor Whitfield
Haynes Buckley Fahey
Callaghan Perryman Kelly
Green HH Stone
Daniels Hogan Bedford
Preuss Green Cogs
Ward Aleer Cadman Ash Briggs

 

[Hendo_21]

Cumming Taylor Whitfield
Haynes Buckley Fahey
Callaghan Perryman Kelly
Green HH Stone
Daniels Hogan Bedford
Preuss Green Cogs
Ward Aleer Cadman Ash Briggs

The Callaghan, Perryman and Kelly trio give some really nice inside and outside ability, we're yet to see Callaghan prove himself inside but Perryman and Kelly both can play in either spot well with Callaghan looking good early on, on the outside.

 

[gee whiz giant]

Yep Harry is once again a forward

"Despite the acquisition of Aaron Cadman, Harry Himmelberg is again training as a forward"

Journo getting a bit ahead of himself.
It took Ugle Hagen @ Bulldogs a full 2 years to start to play regularly, and then Darcy took a year to blood in backline.

 

[gee whiz giant]

Cumming Taylor Whitfield
Haynes Buckley Fahey
Callaghan Perryman Kelly
Green HH Stone
Daniels Hogan Bedford
Preuss Green Cogs
Ward Aleer Cadman Ash Briggs

I rate Idun enough to have him in 22, moving Whitfield upfield.

 

[sydney_gws]

Maybe Cadman is versatile enough to be the sub sometimes. He was a winger until recently.