Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
Like many others, I felt a bit unsatisfied after Thursday’s win against Essendon. Normally, an eight-goal win in Melbourne would be cause for celebrations, but I thought we’d get a little more percentage. Expectations can change perceptions.
Friday night sees us play the Swans in a match that truly deserves the prime-time slot. It’s the first of three very tough games which will determine our final position, perhaps whether we even play finals at all.
Our record against Sydney since COVID makes for grim reading. A meagre three wins from twelve starts, all by finger nail margins, and two of them while Leon was still in charge. But whoever the coach or whatever changes they’ve tried hasn’t mattered. The Swans have been very good at throttling our attack, overwhelming our defence, or both. Whatever Holy Grail they march behind, they rise to the occasion in ways we rarely match.
After a thrilling one-point victory in his first derby, Kingsley has tried several different line-ups, shuffling the team about like deckchairs on the Titanic for the same result. The ship always sinks.
I’ve scoured past team sheets looking for clues why Sydney have been so dominant, but it’s hard to pinpoint. When we win clearances and stoppages, they out-tackle us. When we have more disposals and handballs, they either rack up more inside 50s, or out-mark us. When they have more turnovers, they win. When we have more turnovers, we lose. Free kicks? They were 9-27 in our favour back in May. An absolute gift we could not take advantage of.
We need a circuit breaker.
We usually focus on the midfield in these previews, which is our perceived weakness. We must be as strong as possible against the Swans, giving their skill at getting the ball forward and our habit of losing the inside 50 count.
Here’s the midfield line-up when we beat them a couple of years ago:
C - Callaghan, Kelly, Angwin
FOL - Flynn, Green, Coniglio
That day, we were flogged in the hit-outs 50-34, lost the clearances 45-37, and really got flogged at the centre clearances by 21-9. Smashed in the inside 50s by 63-48, we won due to efficiency in front of goal (plus a bit of Toby magic at the end). But it was really hard work.
We’ve won tough games this year against the Suns and Cats with Angwin, Bedford, Kelly, Briggs/Madden, Callaghan and Green in the midfield. Would that work against the likes of Gulden, Warner, Heeney, Lloyd, and Grundy? Angwin did play midfield in that win a couple of years ago.
Another challenge is Hayward, who always plays well against us. Their backline of Rampe, Cunningham, Melican, Blakey, Mills and Wicks are very good at shutting us down, especially Hogan. Grundy is playing like he's turned back the clock.
We’re due to get back Taylor, Kelly and Hogan this week, so I’ve omitted Gruzewski and McMullin; I’ve also opted to keep Fonti and dropped Aleer.
Here’s a possible line-up:
FB [39] Connor Idun, [15] Sam Taylor, [37] Joe Fonti
HB [6] Lachie Whitfield, [44] Jack Buckley, [7] Lachie Ash
C [9] Ryan Angwin, [14] Toby Bedford, [22] Josh Kelly
HF [33] Xavier O'Halloran, [5] Aaron Cadman, [2] Darcy Jones
FF [20] Jake Stringer, [23] Jesse Hogan, [4] Toby Greene
FOL [32] Kieren Briggs, [17] Finn Callaghan, [12] Tom Green
IC [27] Harry Himmelberg, [46] Callum Brown, [24] Harry Rowston, [26] Jake Riccardi
The Swans are still a chance of playing finals, so they will definitely show up, as one more loss will probably finish them. You’d hope we’re playing for something more than just making the eight.
A sobering thought. It’s been six long years since we’ve beat the Swans at home. That must change, starting this Friday. It's going to be a massive derby.
Come on Giants. We’re all sick of losing to Sydney.
Friday night sees us play the Swans in a match that truly deserves the prime-time slot. It’s the first of three very tough games which will determine our final position, perhaps whether we even play finals at all.
Our record against Sydney since COVID makes for grim reading. A meagre three wins from twelve starts, all by finger nail margins, and two of them while Leon was still in charge. But whoever the coach or whatever changes they’ve tried hasn’t mattered. The Swans have been very good at throttling our attack, overwhelming our defence, or both. Whatever Holy Grail they march behind, they rise to the occasion in ways we rarely match.
After a thrilling one-point victory in his first derby, Kingsley has tried several different line-ups, shuffling the team about like deckchairs on the Titanic for the same result. The ship always sinks.
I’ve scoured past team sheets looking for clues why Sydney have been so dominant, but it’s hard to pinpoint. When we win clearances and stoppages, they out-tackle us. When we have more disposals and handballs, they either rack up more inside 50s, or out-mark us. When they have more turnovers, they win. When we have more turnovers, we lose. Free kicks? They were 9-27 in our favour back in May. An absolute gift we could not take advantage of.
We need a circuit breaker.
We usually focus on the midfield in these previews, which is our perceived weakness. We must be as strong as possible against the Swans, giving their skill at getting the ball forward and our habit of losing the inside 50 count.
Here’s the midfield line-up when we beat them a couple of years ago:
C - Callaghan, Kelly, Angwin
FOL - Flynn, Green, Coniglio
That day, we were flogged in the hit-outs 50-34, lost the clearances 45-37, and really got flogged at the centre clearances by 21-9. Smashed in the inside 50s by 63-48, we won due to efficiency in front of goal (plus a bit of Toby magic at the end). But it was really hard work.
We’ve won tough games this year against the Suns and Cats with Angwin, Bedford, Kelly, Briggs/Madden, Callaghan and Green in the midfield. Would that work against the likes of Gulden, Warner, Heeney, Lloyd, and Grundy? Angwin did play midfield in that win a couple of years ago.
Another challenge is Hayward, who always plays well against us. Their backline of Rampe, Cunningham, Melican, Blakey, Mills and Wicks are very good at shutting us down, especially Hogan. Grundy is playing like he's turned back the clock.
We’re due to get back Taylor, Kelly and Hogan this week, so I’ve omitted Gruzewski and McMullin; I’ve also opted to keep Fonti and dropped Aleer.
Here’s a possible line-up:
FB [39] Connor Idun, [15] Sam Taylor, [37] Joe Fonti
HB [6] Lachie Whitfield, [44] Jack Buckley, [7] Lachie Ash
C [9] Ryan Angwin, [14] Toby Bedford, [22] Josh Kelly
HF [33] Xavier O'Halloran, [5] Aaron Cadman, [2] Darcy Jones
FF [20] Jake Stringer, [23] Jesse Hogan, [4] Toby Greene
FOL [32] Kieren Briggs, [17] Finn Callaghan, [12] Tom Green
IC [27] Harry Himmelberg, [46] Callum Brown, [24] Harry Rowston, [26] Jake Riccardi
The Swans are still a chance of playing finals, so they will definitely show up, as one more loss will probably finish them. You’d hope we’re playing for something more than just making the eight.
A sobering thought. It’s been six long years since we’ve beat the Swans at home. That must change, starting this Friday. It's going to be a massive derby.
Come on Giants. We’re all sick of losing to Sydney.
