Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
Well, hasn’t the world changed since I first started thinking about this preview a few weeks ago?
Originally, I was going to say this may well be our last Round 1 game in Sydney for quite some time if reports about us playing a future “home” game in America to kick off the season were true.
Now, all that has been swept away for the time being (and hopefully forever) by the rapid advance of COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus.
In this fast-moving crisis, season 2020 might end up being cancelled, or at least seriously modified, with news overnight that the AFL may try to cram as many matches as possible in the first few weeks of the season to avoid the expected peak in new infections between May and July. Five-day turnarounds and shortened game times, as well changes to the interchange rules and player eligibility, are being considered.
I can’t see how it would work, to be honest. Five-day turnarounds would be a recipe for an injury plague. The players just couldn’t recover quickly enough, and even if game times were shortened as a pre-emptive measure, the integrity of the competition would be compromised.
For now, Round 1 is still on as scheduled, but none of us will be there to see it, as supporters have been banned from venues across the country. Empty stadiums will be a strange experiment in seeing what happens to home-ground effect in the absence of the home crowd. Without any help from passionate supporters who are a huge part of the game, the players and coaches will have to motivate themselves. Who can say how they'll respond?
We were in an unusual place anyway before all this happened. For the past few seasons, we’ve all been wondering if this would be the year when we made our first Grand Final. Did we really have the list to get there? What about the departure of any big names? Would that help or hinder? What about the draftees? At this time of year there’s always plenty of hype around new players, but only a few of them ever seem to go on with it.
Well, our maiden Grand Final came unexpectedly last year after constant disruption through injury and a thrilling finals series that saw us break a couple of important hoodoos along the way. We know we can get there; we just need to go one step further.
So, what to make of this pre-season? No-one ever reads that much into it, but there was something very promising about this particular crop of youngsters, who look the goods in a way that previous intakes have not. I’m thinking of Lachlan Ash and Academy product Tom Green. They performed very well and would be expected to debut at some point this season…under normal circumstances.
As things stand at the moment, we are hosting those hard-to-beat Cats on Saturday, a team we always struggle against. We’ve never beaten them in Sydney, and only twice in nine attempts, with the last win almost 12 months ago on their own turf. That was the game we lost Callan Ward, who still hasn’t fully recovered. We’ll also be without Tim Taranto for a while. But with the exception of Ward and Taranto, the list looks in great shape. The line-up will not be that much different to the Marsh series.
Another positive has been the arrival of NRL legend Cooper Cronk as a leadership guru. His perspective will only strengthen team mind-set and resolve. It might have had something to do with the no-nonsense approach to the Tigers game last week.
There’s a hell of a lot going on, but I think there’s cause for guarded optimism should the season manage to proceed.
So, let’s go Giants, let’s go. It's strange we won't be there to cheer you on, but hopefully you’ll hear us all from the comfort of our lounge rooms.
Originally, I was going to say this may well be our last Round 1 game in Sydney for quite some time if reports about us playing a future “home” game in America to kick off the season were true.
Now, all that has been swept away for the time being (and hopefully forever) by the rapid advance of COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus.
In this fast-moving crisis, season 2020 might end up being cancelled, or at least seriously modified, with news overnight that the AFL may try to cram as many matches as possible in the first few weeks of the season to avoid the expected peak in new infections between May and July. Five-day turnarounds and shortened game times, as well changes to the interchange rules and player eligibility, are being considered.
I can’t see how it would work, to be honest. Five-day turnarounds would be a recipe for an injury plague. The players just couldn’t recover quickly enough, and even if game times were shortened as a pre-emptive measure, the integrity of the competition would be compromised.
For now, Round 1 is still on as scheduled, but none of us will be there to see it, as supporters have been banned from venues across the country. Empty stadiums will be a strange experiment in seeing what happens to home-ground effect in the absence of the home crowd. Without any help from passionate supporters who are a huge part of the game, the players and coaches will have to motivate themselves. Who can say how they'll respond?
We were in an unusual place anyway before all this happened. For the past few seasons, we’ve all been wondering if this would be the year when we made our first Grand Final. Did we really have the list to get there? What about the departure of any big names? Would that help or hinder? What about the draftees? At this time of year there’s always plenty of hype around new players, but only a few of them ever seem to go on with it.
Well, our maiden Grand Final came unexpectedly last year after constant disruption through injury and a thrilling finals series that saw us break a couple of important hoodoos along the way. We know we can get there; we just need to go one step further.
So, what to make of this pre-season? No-one ever reads that much into it, but there was something very promising about this particular crop of youngsters, who look the goods in a way that previous intakes have not. I’m thinking of Lachlan Ash and Academy product Tom Green. They performed very well and would be expected to debut at some point this season…under normal circumstances.
As things stand at the moment, we are hosting those hard-to-beat Cats on Saturday, a team we always struggle against. We’ve never beaten them in Sydney, and only twice in nine attempts, with the last win almost 12 months ago on their own turf. That was the game we lost Callan Ward, who still hasn’t fully recovered. We’ll also be without Tim Taranto for a while. But with the exception of Ward and Taranto, the list looks in great shape. The line-up will not be that much different to the Marsh series.
Another positive has been the arrival of NRL legend Cooper Cronk as a leadership guru. His perspective will only strengthen team mind-set and resolve. It might have had something to do with the no-nonsense approach to the Tigers game last week.
There’s a hell of a lot going on, but I think there’s cause for guarded optimism should the season manage to proceed.
So, let’s go Giants, let’s go. It's strange we won't be there to cheer you on, but hopefully you’ll hear us all from the comfort of our lounge rooms.
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