Opinion Who fills the role of Zac Williams for season 2018?

[PMBangers]

Obviously Zac Williams is a big part of our backline and is likely to be out for the season, so who we all think will step up and fill the hole?

I'm a big fan of Taranto taking the role as he's played there during TAC Cup and did quite well. He's got decent pace, very good kicking and marking, but I'd be a little bit concerned with his positioning and understanding of our backline structure

 

[Ellie Aquitaine]

Maybe, at some point, the role of Zac Williams will be played by Zac Williams!

I’d like to know how bad the injury is, whether it requires surgery and what the expected time out may be before I completely write him off.

That said, Taranto is an interesting choice but I want to know how Isaac Cumming has come along or when Adam Kennedy is back and whether he or Sam Reid might play that role.

 

[Gigantic]

Maybe, at some point, the role of Zac Williams will be played by Zac Williams!

I’d like to know how bad the injury is, whether it requires surgery and what the expected time out may be before I completely write him off.

That said, Taranto is an interesting choice but I want to know how Isaac Cumming has come along or when Adam Kennedy is back and whether he or Sam Reid might play that role.

 

[fridgeman]

Feel for Zac likely missing the entire season which looks to be a strong possibility and hopefully he has a speedy recovery
It will be a great loss for the team throughout the year and I think not one player can replace him but the coaches will move a few players around to cover him and also it should provide extra interest over the preseason to see the structure and also the style of the game the Giants will try and play

 

[Orange Agent]

If Perryman and Kenners/Buntine are regulars it frees up Heater to play a more attacking role rather than be forced to play on guys like Dusty Martin. Zac is a huge loss but Im not convinced he would of been a regular in defence. I think LC might be keen to see him further up the ground with his tackling ability. The positive is we have plenty of time to get it sorted.

 

[kulak]

Devastating.

Williams is a star and I thought just about our most important player.

Wilson was just an OK player but another loss from the same role.

Heater’s 2017 was well down on 2016 and he is 32 years old so losing his zip.

Deledio has owned in that role previously but he is now 30+ and injury prone of late.

This leaves
- players who aren’t great attackers like A Kennedy
- players who are unproven like Cumming, Perryman

Leon will need to rethink how we play.

It will be rare to get a quick transition from defence. This means less space for our tall forwards to isolate a defender. But our strength is in tall forwards rather than ground pressure.

Do we push more midfielders back and use more run and handball?

The solution will need to be more tactical than personnel because there is no replacement for Zac :-/

 

[captainMyCaptain]

There are a few ways we could go with the most likely being Perryman coming in and he is certainly a guy whose name comes up as having a very good preseason whenever his team mate are getting interviewed. We could also use this time to look towards the future and get more midfield minutes into the likes of Hopper and Setterfield and move our 28 year old skipper in Ward down back.

 

[NT.Thunder]

I like the idea of Taranto having a looksee in that role.

 

[Giant Strides]

Agree with most of Kulak's points here:

Williams is a star and I thought just about our most important player.

Wilson was just an OK player but another loss from the same role.

Heater’s 2017 was well down on 2016 and he is 32 years old so losing his zip.

Deledio has owned in that role previously but he is now 30+ and injury prone of late.

This leaves
- players who aren’t great attackers like A Kennedy
- players who are unproven like Cumming, Perryman

Leon will need to rethink how we play.

It will be rare to get a quick transition from defence. This means less space for our tall forwards to isolate a defender. But our strength is in tall forwards rather than ground pressure.

Do we push more midfielders back and use more run and handball?

The solution will need to be more tactical than personnel because there is no replacement for Zac :-/

The discussion from the club has generally centred on Perryman, Cumming, Griffen & Deledio as replacement options (omitting the injured players Kennedy & Buntine) - according to various media articles (Griffen, Davis). Otherwise we (i.e. BF GWS board posters) have mentioned the likes of Whitfield, Taranto, Ward & Setterfield dropping back from the midfield. The situation is of course exacerbated by having to replace two run & carry players at once. While I agree that speed is not the only quality we should be looking for, I think that we cannot overlook its importance. We've drafted heavily in speedy small/medium forwards - to then ignore speed in our rebounding defenders would IMHO be one-dimensional thinking. Ultimately, I suspect that Leon will pick what he thinks is the best 22 and throw it on the park, and work out who goes to the defensive positions. As Kulak has stated, the end result will mean a change to our tactical gameplan.

 

[Giant Strides]

Some interesting points in this article, particularly the bolded sentence - if that comes from a source inside the club.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/yo...n/news-story/91add9cbf977cb51037d3664f978a7d1:

GWS GIANTS

Leon Cameron will have his work cut out in replacing the injured Zac Williams, who could miss the entirety of the 2018 season through injury. Having lost fellow running defender Nathan Wilson to Fremantle, the Giants were relying on Williams this season and his loss is a devastating blow. But there are a number of players who can step up in his place. Nick Haynes became more of a rebounding defender last year, while Heath Shaw is a reliable veteran. Experienced duo Brett Deledio and Callan Ward have also been earmarked to spend more time in the back six. Youngsters such as Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming, Adam Kennedy and Jeremy Finlayson could also see their fair share of time in the senior team in Williams’ absence.

 

[fridgeman]

Some interesting points in this article, particularly the bolded sentence - if that comes from a source inside the club.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/yo...n/news-story/91add9cbf977cb51037d3664f978a7d1:

GWS GIANTS

Leon Cameron will have his work cut out in replacing the injured Zac Williams, who could miss the entirety of the 2018 season through injury. Having lost fellow running defender Nathan Wilson to Fremantle, the Giants were relying on Williams this season and his loss is a devastating blow. But there are a number of players who can step up in his place. Nick Haynes became more of a rebounding defender last year, while Heath Shaw is a reliable veteran. Experienced duo Brett Deledio and Callan Ward have also been earmarked to spend more time in the back six. Youngsters such as Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming, Adam Kennedy and Jeremy Finlayson could also see their fair share of time in the senior team in Williams’ absence.

Creative licence of journalists or maybe just misunderstanding the English language
He does call Adam Kennedy a youngster also

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

He does call Adam Kennedy a youngster also

Well to me he is.

Perspective.

 

[kulak]

Some interesting points in this article, particularly the bolded sentence - if that comes from a source inside the club.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/yo...n/news-story/91add9cbf977cb51037d3664f978a7d1:

GWS GIANTS

Leon Cameron will have his work cut out in replacing the injured Zac Williams, who could miss the entirety of the 2018 season through injury. Having lost fellow running defender Nathan Wilson to Fremantle, the Giants were relying on Williams this season and his loss is a devastating blow. But there are a number of players who can step up in his place. Nick Haynes became more of a rebounding defender last year, while Heath Shaw is a reliable veteran. Experienced duo Brett Deledio and Callan Ward have also been earmarked to spend more time in the back six. Youngsters such as Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming, Adam Kennedy and Jeremy Finlayson could also see their fair share of time in the senior team in Williams’ absence.

Hard to get my head around Callan Ward as a running defender. I guess the cupboard is just about that bare.

 

[Giant Strides]

Hard to get my head around Callan Ward as a running defender. I guess the cupboard is just about that bare.

Hmm, although we've seen him rotate through a defensive role occasionally in the past, personally I'd prefer to keep Cal in the middle. I guess we'll see at the start of the season whether there was any factual basis to the story, or whether the journo was just throwing darts.

 

[captainMyCaptain]

Ward actually played a fair bit down back in his early days at the dogs so its not completely foreign to him and it also allows an opportunity for more time in the middle for the likes of Setterfield and Hopper, but for the most part I expect Perryman to be the main replacement for Williams and then just have a number of guys rotate thru defence

 

[Raymann]

Option A - Lachie Whitfield

 

[Giant Strides]

Option A - Lachie Whitfield

That's the inside word is it, Raymann?

 

[_GT_]

Option A - Lachie Whitfield

Feels like we take a great attacking wing man and play him out of his best position. However, given his run and good disposal this could be a move to another position he excels in. We have a range of options to run the wings on rotation - Chook, TT, Sculls, etc. Anyone earmarked for more time on a wing?

 

[captainMyCaptain]

Feels like we take a great attacking wing man and play him out of his best position. However, given his run and good disposal this could be a move to another position he excels in. We have a range of options to run the wings on rotation - Chook, TT, Sculls, etc. Anyone earmarked for more time on a wing?

If it plays out that Whitfield plays down back wouldn't mind us going with Tomlinson on the wing

 

[_GT_]

If it plays out that Whitfield plays down back wouldn't mind us going with Tomlinson on the wing

No doubt he can run through there too and add some flexibily too by allowing us an extra tall option above our normal number.

 

[Pres]

If it plays out that Whitfield plays down back wouldn't mind us going with Tomlinson on the wing

Not dissimilar to the role that Jake Kolodjashnij played for the Cats in their 2017 finals series.

 

[Raymann]

Feels like we take a great attacking wing man and play him out of his best position. However, given his run and good disposal this could be a move to another position he excels in. We have a range of options to run the wings on rotation - Chook, TT, Sculls, etc. Anyone earmarked for more time on a wing?

Track watchers said he played the whole 40 minutes of match simulation on the back flank. What was more interesting was Scully as a forward

 

[_GT_]

Track watchers said he played the whole 40 minutes of match simulation on the back flank. What was more interesting was Scully as a forward

Sculls as a forward? That is getting too funky for mine. Definitely a goal kicker, but opposition genuinely fear his two way running up and down the ground. Hope we don't go with this.

 

[Giant Pete]

Track watchers said he played the whole 40 minutes of match simulation on the back flank. What was more interesting was Scully as a forward

Lol... i was saying we should do that from last year.

 

[Giant Pete]

Option A - Lachie Whitfield

Is that your view or the clubs?