Analysis Giants Coaching. Congratulations Adam Kingsley & welcome to GWS.

Who is your preference to be next coach of GWS Giants?

  • Alistair Clarkson

    Votes: 22 26.8%
  • James Hird

    Votes: 7 8.5%
  • Don Pyke

    Votes: 7 8.5%
  • Nathan Buckley

    Votes: 3 3.7%
  • Ross Lyon

    Votes: 3 3.7%
  • Mark McVeigh

    Votes: 6 7.3%
  • Robert Harvey

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Scott Burns

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Blake Caracella

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Adam Yze

    Votes: 14 17.1%
  • Adam Kingsley

    Votes: 13 15.9%
  • Daniel Giansiracusa

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Luke Power

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Jaymie Graham

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • Ash Hansen

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Andrew McQualter

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Chris Scott

    Votes: 3 3.7%

  • Total voters
    82

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The GIANTS are delighted to announce the appointment of Adam Kingsley as the club’s next AFL head coach.

As a former Premiership and Best and Fairest winner with Port Adelaide, where he played 170 games, Kingsley quickly moved into coaching following his playing career, immediately taking up assistant coaching roles with Port Adelaide and then St Kilda. After eight years with the Saints, Kingsley joined Richmond as assistant coach in 2019 where he played a leading role in the Tigers’ last two Premierships.

GIANTS Chief Executive Officer David Matthews said Kingsley's appointment marked the next chapter in the evolution of the football club. “On behalf of the Board and our entire organisation, I’m thrilled to confirm Adam Kingsley as our new head coach,” Mr Matthews said. “After a thorough and considered selection process, Adam’s vision for the club, our players and our people made him the standout candidate for the job. Adam has outstanding values that align with the GIANTS and with 16 years’ coaching experience he is an exceptional tactical coach, a strong, clear communicator, and someone who brings people together. In our 11 years in the competition we have undoubtedly become a successful club with a fantastic culture and a great playing list. But we haven’t been satisfied with our recent results. We - and Adam - believe success isn’t far away and we’re thrilled to have him lead us into our next chapter as a club. This is an incredibly exciting day for our club and Adam's appointment will not only take our playing group and football department forward but will help continue to grow our game across NSW and the ACT. We look forward to welcoming Adam, his wife Nadine and children Cayla, Ethan and Raf to the GIANTS family.”

Mr Matthews also paid tribute to caretaker coach Mark McVeigh. "We thank Mark for his efforts as interim senior coach and the tireless work he has contributed to our program since taking over in round 10,” Mr Matthews said. “It’s a difficult job to come in as caretaker coach but he attacked the role with fresh ideas and sought to improve our players, staff and program at every step. Mark is a person of the highest integrity and character, and he has always put the club first. He was steadfast in leaving the program ready for whoever would be taking over.”

Following an extensive interview process, Kingsley was deemed the best fit for the GIANTS by the club’s interview panel that consisted of Mr Matthews, Chairman Tony Shepherd AO, Football Director Jimmy Bartel and General Manager of Football Jason McCartney. Kingsley said he was honoured to have the opportunity to coach the club for the next three years. “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity,” he said. “It’s a privilege and an honour to be the next senior coach of the GIANTS. I’ve been clear in my aspirations to become a senior coach and over the last 16 years I’ve continued to learn and develop to the point now where I’m absolutely ready to take the next step in my coaching career. This is a club which has built a strong culture from the ground up in just a few short years. In just 11 years the GIANTS have made multiple preliminary finals, and a Grand Final, and while the ultimate success has eluded the club, it’s clear the building blocks are in place. It's clear the players, staff, members and fans are hungry for success, and we’re going to drive each other to get to where we want to go. I believe in this club and what we can achieve together.”

Kingsley played 170 games for Port Adelaide between 1997 and 2006 and was a member of the club’s inaugural team as well as their first Premiership in 2004. He won the Power’s club champion award in just his second season. In 2007, he became an assistant coach at Port Adelaide, a position in which he stayed in until the end of 2010. Kingsley joined St Kilda at the end of the 2010 season as an assistant coach before moving to Richmond in 2019.
 
All good but who is this “ever-overlooked Sam Taylor”? Wasn’t he AA last year?
I think his reputation has gone from good player under the radar to absolute star who is looking generational over the last month
He is getting the recognition that we have always given him in the wider AFL community.

Jack Buckley (although not quite Sam Taylor) is being noticed now, next year he'll start getting some wraps before competing for AA recognition himself.
His numbers are right up there as well.
 
I think his reputation has gone from good player under the radar to absolute star who is looking generational over the last month
He is getting the recognition that we have always given him in the wider AFL community.

Jack Buckley (although not quite Sam Taylor) is being noticed now, next year he'll start getting some wraps before competing for AA recognition himself.
His numbers are right up there as well.
Yeah Buckley is now getting some recognition… next Seeker needs some love
 

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Interesting read about clubs getting coaches and how everyone is different.
A bit about our efforts and in getting Kingers.
It’s an outstanding article, I’ve been super critical on Matthews for his support of Leon and apparent blind spot to Richmond but in the case of Kingsley’s appointment it does look very good and the process looks sound.

I’m a massive fan of Bartel, he seems a lot more ruthless in his approach and cuts out the fluff.

Whenever he speaks it’s always sensible, factual and honest, he’s been super for our club.

I like the process in how we go about things…I still don’t know how we messed up Bruhn…I would really love that recruiting decision explained one day!
 

The Tackle: How did Richmond let Adam Kingsley slip through the club’s fingers?​

For four years Richmond’s possible next coach was sitting two chairs from Damien Hardwick. Now he might be about to win coach of the year with another club. Mark Robinson looks at the incredible rise of Adam Kingsley.
Mark Robinson Mark RobinsonChief Football Writer
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@Robbo_heraldsun


6 min read
September 3, 2023 - 6:00PM
News Corp Australia Sports
At best it was poor timing and showed lack of foresight. At the most extreme, Damien Hardwick’s departure from Richmond could be seen as self-centred.

Because for four years the Tigers’ possible, or probable, next coach was sitting two chairs from Hardwick, and as sliding doors moments go, the Tigers missed the train and Greater Western Sydney was off with its man – champagne in one hand and lobster in the other.

Adam Kingsley now is one of the favourites to be named AFL coach of the year.

Things could easily have played out for Richmond as they have for GWS.

If the Tigers had a succession plan in place, and if Hardwick had broached his looming departure with his Tigers bosses well beforehand instead of making a shock announcement after round 10, it’s highly likely that Kingsley would already be in that job rather than coaching in western Sydney.

Life is loaded with hindsight evaluations, some of which are fanciful.
But Kingsley at Richmond was not fanciful at all.

However, the Tigers dropped the ball. Or Hardwick did. It’s probably a bit of both.
And instead of Kingsley at the helm, the Tigers are now looking at Andrew McQualter, Adem Yze, Daniel Giansiracusa and Chris Newman.

“I would assume if Richmond had a succession (plan) in place, we wouldn’t have Adam Kingsley as head coach and we’re thankful for that,’’ Giants chief executive David Matthews said.
Adam Kingsley was an assistant coach under Damien Hardwick at Richmond. Picture: Michael Klein

Adam Kingsley was an assistant coach under Damien Hardwick at Richmond. Picture: Michael Klein

“And while the Tigers were in the midst of courting Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto to leave the Giants, we were feverishly working to get Kingsley out of Punt Rd.

“We are exceptionally grateful we were able to secure him.

“I can remember when we first interviewed him. We asked him if he was involved in discussions with Hopper and Taranto, and he said ‘not any more’.

The logical question to ask was: ‘How do you feel about taking on a job when Taranto and Hopper will walk?’

He said: ‘No, that doesn’t worry me at all, I’ve just got to get this team playing the way it should be playing’.’’

The 2022 season was one of upheaval.
Leon Cameron had walked and Mark McVeigh became the interim coach as the Giants finished the season in 16th place, with only West Coast and North Melbourne below them.

Popular opinion had the Giants again being a bottom three side this year.

Internally, the Giants were hopeful more than confident of an upsurge. That prognosis changed about mid-year and Kingsley is at the top of the credit list.


From being 1-3, and then 3-7, the Giants scrambled into the finals. They play St Kilda on Saturday.​

“He took over a list which was resetting after we traded out Taranto and Hopper,” Matthews surmised.

“He’s given confidence to blokes who needed confidence, blokes like (Jake) Riccardi and (Xavier) O’Halloran as examples, he’s got (Jesse) Hogan in a really good space, he backed himself in on the selection of Toby Greene as captain and his ‘win anywhere anytime’ (mantra) has been enormous.’’
The Giants have won 10 games on the road at 10 different venues, which is an astonishing record.
Adam Kingsley has transformed the Giants following his arrival in the off-season. Picture: Getty Images

Adam Kingsley has transformed the Giants following his arrival in the off-season. Picture: Getty Images

The wins came at Perth Stadium, Norwood, Marvel Stadium, Manuka, SCG, GMHBA Stadium, Bellerive Oval, Traeger Park, Adelaide Oval and MARS Stadium.

All this with a rebuilt coaching panel.
Only Craig Jennings remained from last year.

The first-year Giants coaches were Brett Montgomery (defence), Jeremy Laidler (forwards) and Ben Hart (midfield). Jason Davenport (head of development) and Wayne Cripps (VFL coach) were also inclusions.

“Here’s the other genius aspect of him,’’ Matthews said. “He managed to elevate Toby Greene to captain in a way that it didn’t affect (Stephen) Coniglio or (Josh) Kelly.

They’ve had their best seasons ever.’’
Giants footy director Jimmy Bartel says Kingsley was firm in his beliefs from the outset, that he spoke with clarity and confidence and focused on a new game plan.

“The big thing was when he decided he was really keen on one captain and Toby was the obvious one, and he couldn’t have handled it any better,”

Bartel said. “It’s why all three of them embraced it really well.’’

Matthews: “Watch the post-match interviews from the last round. Stephen Coniglio gives an interview and they say, well done, a great way to celebrate your 200th game, and at the end they say there’s a fair bit to look forward to and he says, ‘I just want Toby Greene to be All-Australian captain’.

“Then they ask Toby, great day, great way to celebrate Coniglio’s 200th and Toby says: ‘He’s been my best mate for a long time, it was really important we won today’.

“For Kingsley to sit down and say we’re going to take the captaincy off two of you (Coniglio and Kelly) and I’m going to go with Toby … he’s handled it absolutely brilliantly.’’
Bartel: “This bloke has had to come in and retrain an entire group with a new game plan.
Kingsley made the call that Toby Greene would be the club’s standalone captain. Picture: Getty Images

Kingsley made the call that Toby Greene would be the club’s standalone captain. Picture: Getty Images

That’s why we were 3-7. He told the club at the start of the year that we might be slow out of the blocks because he’s given them a hard pre-season and they will be fatigued, and they’re still trying to learn a new game plan.’’

Kingsley changed the Giants’ profile. No longer using Cameron’s stoppage game, the Giants are a high transition team.

“Whenever you pump him up I feel kind of worried people think you are trampling on Leon’s grave,’’ Bartel said.

“It’s nothing to do with that. They’re just polar opposites on how the game should be played.

“Leon was heavy stoppage, slow the game down, get numbers behind the footy, defend and score from stoppage and clearance, whereas Kingsley is pretty much come forward, defend coming forward, put speed on the ball … we all know it’s the Richmond way.’’

Kingsley has embraced the “tsunami’’ identity, which fundamentally is run in numbers, but the Giants are far more than flash with the ball.

There’s a grunt about them. They never put up the white flag. In times past, they could beat themselves, but now you have to beat them.

Bartel and Matthews were on the coaching selection panel. Kingsley beat Yze for the role and the pair identified different aspects of Kingsley that impressed them.

Part of the psych testing was numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and abstract reasoning.

“He was off the charts with abstract reason,’’ Matthews said. “He produced a result which is in the top 1 per cent of the population.’’

Abstract reasoning involves patterns, puzzles and identifying some sort of conclusion from what’s placed in front of you.

Bartel: “The more we spoke to him the more impressive he was. He’s clear, he’s confident, he’s really concise in what he wants. There’s no wavering, and he doesn’t preface anything, he’s got a clear understanding of the game and you could see his experience shine through.
Under Kingsley, the Giants are playing with great passion. Picture: Getty Images

Under Kingsley, the Giants are playing with great passion. Picture: Getty Images
“You could tell there was a real level of composure about him. It’s not like he’s a hard bastard, but he delivers the message in a good way and follows up.’’

To Bartel’s point, Kingsley is a man’s man. He doesn’t waste words, he’s matter-of-fact and he’s confident in his beliefs.

“If you’re a first-time head coach, and you flip the game plan on its head, you’ve got to have inner confidence and inner belief to do that,’’ Bartel said.

“He’s one of those people who is very bright who doesn’t exude how bright he is.

“He doesn’t force his football knowledge or his overall intelligence on you, but you can tell there’s a very bright person there.

There’s not one bit of arrogance or cockiness about him, but he comes off confident and assured in what he wants to do.

“You need that as a coach. You need to get the whole club to believe in your philosophy … you’re leading a cult, aren’t you?’’

Kingsley is a candidate for the coach of the year in a field deep in offering, including Carlton’s Michael Voss and St Kilda’s Ross Lyon.

Bartel pitched for his bloke based on expectation.

“It’s all about what is the crux of the award,’’ he said.

“Is it delivering above or beyond expectation? Most people had us in the bottom three.

Whereas everyone’s disappointment in Carlton was early doors because we all expected more from them.

“So, they really landed where a lot of people wanted them to land, which is the bottom half of the eight.

Vossy has done a magnificent job, but I’m just making a case for our guy. I can’t think of a player on our list who has stagnated or gone backwards.’
 
Kingsley has done a superb job of developing your attacking game style but I'm equally impressed with the mental side. Your players can overcome opposition crowds and bring the A game anywhere anytime.

I also think he is one of the last coaches I would want to piss off lol so always good for a rev up to get back into a game.
 
The game style fits the list perfectly. Actually there are no flaws in the team on paper these days.

Great one on one defenders, big contested mids, good ball users throughout, quick small pressure forwards and one of the best rucks in the comp. Could maybe have a star tall forward but Hogan and Ricardi are more than serviceable.
 

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The game style fits the list perfectly. Actually there are no flaws in the team on paper these days.

Great one on one defenders, big contested mids, good ball users throughout, quick small pressure forwards and one of the best rucks in the comp. Could maybe have a star tall forward but Hogan and Ricardi are more than serviceable.
Jezza Cameron would be perfect
 
Still 3 games to go to do it, but Kingsley could join the list of just 12 coaches who won a premiership on debut (just 3 of them after WW2).

The last coach to win a premiership on debut was Chris Scott in 2011, and before that Alan Joyce in 1988. However, Scott had Thompdon’s 2007 and 2009 Geelong premiership sides to build on, and Joyce was taking over the dominant Hawthorn premiership sides of the 80s. Even John Nicholls who won coaching for the first time in 1972 was coaching a Carlton side that had won in 1968 and 1970.

Unlikely that Kingsley will win on debut, given that he is implementing a new system and the quality of opponents we have to beat. But the fact, that with just 4 games left in the AFL season, he is still potentially able to achieve this feat is incredible.

I think we have made a great choice with Kingsley as our coach, and it fills you with great optimism for the years ahead - regardless of how the rest of the finals turn out.
 
Kingsley’s bond with GWS band means sticking power

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Sam Taylor and coach Adam Kingsley during a Giants training session ahead of their smei-final with Port Adelaide. Picture: Phil Hillyard.

By Peter Lalor

The Australian

15 September 2023

The Victorian pundits had, exercising that particular Victorian football blindness and bias, all but crowned Ross Lyon coach of the year by the conclusion of the home and away fixture.

Good old Ross had taken St Kilda from 10th last season to the finals in his first year back. Good old Ross had made lemonade from lemons again.

That talk looked a little foolish after the Saints were beaten by GWS, a side nobody had within cooee of the top eight when 2023 began, a side its captain calls the least talented he has ever played a finals with. The Western Sydney Giants under first year coach Adam Kingsley had flown under the radar, improving quietly from a lower base.

The Giants finished 2022 at 16th on the ladder with just six wins for the season and had hit the ground with their face in 2023 winning just three of the first 10 rounds, but turned the corner in the second half of the year.

They have not had an easy run of it either.

They’ve travelled to every corner of the country and won consistently on the road, singing the club song at Norwood, the SCG, Geelong, Hobart, the NT, Adelaide, Canberra, Ballarat, Marvel and then, last weekend, they gave Lyons’ Saints a lesson in finals football.

The club prides itself on playing games in hostile territory. Even its home is hostile country, in the middle of rugby league heartland in western Sydney. GWS is bracing for just that when they take on Kingsley’s former club Port Adelaide this weekend, but as he says, they faced it last week in front of 70,000 fans at the MCG when they took on and comprehensively defeated the Saints.

This is not how it was imagined it would be.

The Giants were supposed to be the AFL’s pin up boys for the expansion era.

They were supposed to make that “big, big sound”, there were hopes they would come into the competition propelled by the tail wind of prize selection picks and head office largesse.

Victoria had seen the faltering Swans project rescued 20 years earlier when Ron Barassi and Tony Lockett set that side on the path to acceptance and success.

AFL house had its heart set on a Kevin Sheedy-Buddy Franklin joint ticket but that went pear shaped when Franklin was seduced by the eastern suburbs. Nonetheless, the Giants put their heads down and got on with it.

From 2016 to 2019 when the Giants finally made the grand final they were one of the competition’s elite sides under coach Leon Cameron but the years passed and the stars moved on and by 2022 things were grinding to a halt.

The worst day came at Canberra where the Sydney side kicked just four goals in a 53 point loss to Geelong. Cameron admitted the job was wearing him down as he handed the side over to interim coach Mark McVeigh.

More stars fled the club at year’s end and today there is barely a list that doesn’t feature a star hand-picked from the Giants’. Jeremy Cameron at the Cats, Bobby Hill at Collingwood, Dylan Shiel at the Bombers, Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper at Richmond …

In August last year, after entreaties to Alastair Clarkson were rejected, Kingsley got the job. An assistant coach since 2007, the former Port Adelaide premiership player had been reportedly been considered for jobs at Collingwood, Carlton, the Gold Coast and Adelaide over the journey but had never landed the big job.

Kingsley, whose feats of strength in the club gym ensured he got the respect of the players, appears to have won the trust of the group early.

Players insisted they had faith in the new game plan, even as it failed to deliver results in the early rounds of 2023.

The trust between coach and players is palpable. Toby Greene was frank after the win over St Kilda last weekend.

“It’s probably the least talented side I’ve played in that’s played in finals,” the skipper said in the rooms. “And it’s the side I’ve got the most trust in to perform. It’s a special group.”

Greene, the club’s working class captain, is an elite AFL player but an unlikely pin-up boy. The Giants 2023 are a side somewhat in his image. Tom Green is the league’s leading disposal winner, averaging an extraordinary 32 a game. Lachie Whitfield’s a recognised talent, but Lachie Ash is proving a defender to be contended with. Toby Bedford struggled to find a place for himself in the AFL but is there now. Sam Taylor has earned himself a reputation for snaring big scalps in defence.

Josh Kelly echoed his captain’s sentiments as the side prepared for this weekend’s semi-final in Adelaide.

“It’s a special group, right from the moment the new coaches walked in with the game style and culture they wanted to implement the whole group was well and truly on board,” the vice-captain said.

“We knew there was going to be growing pains, I think there’s that quote of Slammer (Taylor) floating around where he said the first 10 weeks could be tough but the last 10 weeks we’ll be winning every game.

“That was pretty funny but it spoke to the fact that we understood that it wasn’t going to be easy but if we kept going about our business, playing a game style that suits the players we have on the park and complement that with attitude and effort it takes us a long way.”

When the side found itself in the bottom almost half way into the season Kingsley had shrugged and asked whey they shouldn’t find themselves in the finals at the end of the year. The new coach was trying to revive the famed Orange Tsunami which had been so successful for the outfit when it was loaded with top draft picks.

“We feel we have got a lot of momentum, we play a finals brand of football and so not too much changes,” he said. “The last two of the season were pretty much win or go home … I keep saying it but we haven’t changed too much, it’s just about executing that for longer periods of the game, for four quarters, it definitely feels like at the back end of the year a lot has been on the line but from the start of the year I didn’t want to put a ceiling on the group, I thought that we were capable of playing really good football, we had the players out on the park to do that.

“We are not where we want to be yet, we are in a position to get there and it is really exciting for us but we’ve still got a few games to go.”

Overcoming early losses to sides including the Eagles and Essendon, the Giants rode an Orange wave to a seven-match winning streak that confirmed the coach’s and the side’s confidence,

“As the year has progressed we‘ve improved significantly. We started to play a recognisable brand that I thought would stack up against quality opponents. Towards the end of the season, when we were up and going pretty well, I thought it was possible around then,” Kingsley said toward the end of the year.

“I do have that inner belief from the pre-season that we had a really strong group. We just didn‘t necessarily show it in the first 10 rounds of the season, but we had signs. The group I have tremendous belief in. I think when they play that style of footy they are really hard to beat. That is certainly what we pride ourself on.”

The Giants get star midfielder Stephen Coniglio back for the game against Port and have a relatively full list to choose from.

“We’re really healthy, as healthy as we’ve been all year,” Kingsley said on the eve of the clash.
 
More positive feedback on Kingsley’s impact on our club

I realised it was going to be different from the day it was announced (Kingsley's appointment). Toby (Greene), Josh Kelly and I met with him and I walked away so excited," he said.

Going into an off-season when you want to rest it felt the opposite, it felt like he knew exactly what he wanted to do. It felt different from the start.

"Leon (Cameron) was great, Mark McVeigh was great but what COVID threw up, what happened over the last couple of years with our form, 'Kingers' was able to bring the players and staff in to fall in love with the club again."

 
It seems to be a 3 way race for coach of the year between Kingsley, McRae and Voss. Given that we were expected to be in the bottom 4, I think Kingsley has outperformed the most, but suspect it will depend on whose team makes the Grand Final

 
Time to retire this thread as we celebrate the start of a new era at GWS: Toast - Giants Coaching New Era - Congratulations Adam Kingsley: Coach of the Year 2023

 
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