Review 2024 Season

[taurus]

I really liked Kingsley's presser.

He addressed the issues without BS, he knew our strength, identity and weakness.

We have a young core, ethos and capability to challenge anyone for years to come.

 

[Bjo187]

Bjo187

I like your suggestions but prefer Caleb Daniel out of that bunch. He is an ultimate utility and I can see Kingsley making him a tagger - tag team of Bedford and Daniel. Another similar sounding name to confuse fans

I mentioned last night but I think Cog may be on the trading table. Him and McCrae may be attractive depth for young sides like Kangas.

The problem with trading coniglio is, isn't he on a big long term contract? I can't see another club wanting to take the risk, as his seasons are typically one good, one bad etc etc.

 

[Orange Agent]

You've gotta be realistic, the club hasn't ever attracted an A grader or B+ player in their prime.

Griffen was 28 when he came to us in 2015. He was AA and club B&F in 2013. These kinda guys also don't come cheap in terms of trade value and salary. You bring in a player like this and lose a Jack Steele type and still don't win a flag it ends up being very costly. The Deledio backfire would still be in the back of some peoples minds as well.

 

[Section226]

My question is what we are often missing?

What comes to mind are a better distributor in the backline, a second ruck and improved midfield.

There are names being floated already to fill those roles.

I wouldn't be at all disappointed if Coniglio is offered as trade bait. There needs to be a freshen up in the midfield and his contract is up first (and he's the weakest of the midfield).

Having a better distributor will see Ash or Himmelberg out of the backline. A good result.

I'll be very disappointed if the club relies only on the draft. There needs to be tweaks, not wholesale change.

 

[MelbourneGWS]

The problem with trading coniglio is, isn't he on a big long term contract? I can't see another club wanting to take the risk, as his seasons are typically one good, one bad etc etc.

Coniglio is currently 30 years old, and his contract will expire at the end of the 2026 season. I don’t however know, if like Nick Haynes, his contract is backend loaded to make up for less $ paid in the forward years of the contract to stay under the salary cap.

 

[Orange Agent]

If Elliott wants to try his luck I'd be happy to give him Keefe's spot on the list. The game plan needs tweaking more than anything. It's not sustainable for 4 qtrs. It also puts too much pressure on the defence to save the day when it gets turned over. List is still developing, some good ones still yet debut, similar to Jones this year. Toby, Cogs, Kelly had minimal impact this year and we still managed to be a threat.

 

[dlanod]

Given the history of our club there is less than zero chance Cogs will be put up for trade. To do so will undermine our messaging and our internal player management.

I don't necessarily disagree that he would be a useful trade out, but the pragmatist in me looks at it and sees the value the club sees in him as a one club player that resisted massive offers to leave.

 

[Bjo187]

Griffen was 28 when he came to us in 2015. He was AA and club B&F in 2013. These kinda guys also don't come cheap in terms of trade value and salary. You bring in a player like this and lose a Jack Steele type and still don't win a flag it ends up being very costly. The Deledio backfire would still be in the back of some peoples minds as well.

Not a bad point actually, but at that stage everybody in the football world expected the giants to be a dynasty, so there was that carrot for guys like griffen, it's why the afl justified access to the riverina being ripped away.

These days the competition is more even, so good players would be more reluctant to move there, with plenty of suitors vying for their services (in saying that, more players move around these days too so that could open up opportunities, if you have the salary cap room and a club wants to offload an expensive contract, like a Grundy).

 

[MelbourneGWS]

Given the history of our club there is less than zero chance Cogs will be put up for trade. To do so will undermine our messaging and our internal player management.

I don't necessarily disagree that he would be a useful trade out, but the pragmatist in me looks at it and sees the value the club sees in him as a one club player that resisted massive offers to leave.

Yes - Cogs is also an inaugural Giant and our first sole captain. Very hard to see the club forcing him out, unless of course he requests a trade interstate - I think he came from WA and still has family there.

 

[taurus]

If Elliott wants to try his luck I'd be happy to give him Keefe's spot on the list. The game plan needs tweaking more than anything. It's not sustainable for 4 qtrs. It also puts too much pressure on the defence to save the day when it gets turned over. List is still developing, some good ones still yet debut, similar to Jones this year. Toby, Cogs, Kelly had minimal impact this year and we still managed to be a threat.

Yes I was lurking The trade forum and saw your posts in Elliot H thread. I agree. He will be a better kick than Keef for sure. BTW, I respect Keef's contribution.

 

[SouthernGiant]

Yes - Cogs is also an inaugural Giant and our first sole captain. Very hard to see the club forcing him out, unless of course he requests a trade interstate - I think he came from WA and still has family there.

Only a year ago Cogs was outstanding. He has played injured we need to back him in. Fix the rotator cuff and have a big preseason. We need him in best form

 

[SouthernGiant]

Yes I was lurking The trade forum and saw your posts in Elliot H thread. I agree. He will be a better kick than Keef for sure. BTW, I respect Keef's contribution.

Elliot is not coming to us. Expect an announcement soon

 

[Mors]

Only a year ago Cogs was outstanding. He has played injured we need to back him in. Fix the rotator cuff and have a big preseason. We need him in best form

100% agree. Get him into surgery and a full preseason and he'll be back to form in no time (hopefully)

 

[taurus]

Mathew Kennedy from Carlton will be useful depth to our inside mid or HF imo. Slow but big and can play multiple positions.

 

[Section226]

Don't care if I'm alone on this, but Coniglio not declaring himself unfit when it was patently clear his shoulder/s were stuffed bugs the heck out of me. I don't care what our fitness team advised him.

To me, I can't escape the notion that Coniglio put himself ahead of the team.

I wasn't alone in thinking he should not be playing.

It's highly debatable him playing was a positive for the team.

Something just doesn't sit right with me on this.

Other posters are probably correct though. Like Haynes, his contract is most likely back-ended making a trade virtually impossible, so I hope his shoulders are repaired and he regains the awesome form he is capable of.

 

[sydney_gws]

Don't care if I'm alone on this, but Coniglio not declaring himself unfit when it was patently clear his shoulder/s were stuffed bugs the heck out of me. I don't care what our fitness team advised him.

To me, I can't escape the notion that Coniglio put himself ahead of the team.

I wasn't alone in thinking he should not be playing.

It's highly debatable him playing was a positive for the team.

Something just doesn't sit right with me on this.

Other posters are probably correct though. Like Haynes, his contract is most likely back-ended making a trade virtually impossible, so I hope his shoulders are repaired and he regains the awesome form he is capable of.

Not Cogs fault he got the injury he did to his cheek, but he shouldn't have played either final, or as sub only. The sub has proved crucial for both our rivals in these finals. We need our mids to be fresher in 4th qtrs.

 

[PMBangers]

What to do with Ash? Just hope he fixes his ball use/decision making over the preseason? Or a positional change maybe. If we bring Fonti in for more game time is there a chance we move Ash on-ball to help out our midfield

Purely an outsiders perspective here, but my impression is the coaching team love Ash for his ability to quickly move the footy forward in transition, can cop the inaccuracy by foot given most of the time he's kicking for meterage or for someone to run on to.

Kingers used him for kick ins a bit as well, so obviously there's satisfaction there

 

[Giant Gutsache]

What happened to Harvey Thomas? Was so good early, but seemed to struggle to get involved in the play as the season wore on.
His forward half pressure and tackling were a highlight and made up for Toby not doing much chasing this year.
Crafty disposer of it too.
I hope he plays every game next year.

 

[Section226]

Not Cogs fault he got the injury he did to his cheek, but he shouldn't have played either final, or as sub only. The sub has proved crucial for both our rivals in these finals. We need our mids to be fresher in 4th qtrs.

All true.

I keep seeing that bump instead of tackle in the D50 and thinking (like many others), what the heck??

From his 1st week back, it was obvious that he should have declared season over and had surgery.

Why that didn't happen deserves an answer.

 

[dlanod]

What happened to Harvey Thomas? Was so good early, but seemed to struggle to get involved in the play as the season wore on.
His forward half pressure and tackling were a highlight and made up for Toby not doing much chasing this year.
Crafty disposer of it too.
I hope he plays every game next year.

Just wore down over the year I think. You'll often see that with first year players, where they don't have a true AFL-standard preseason until the beginning of year 2.

 

[Adam Giant]

I don't mind the idea of using Ash in the midfield next year, especially with the emergence of Fonti. His style of play reminds me of Ed Richards

20

Ed Richards

Age

25

Ht

188cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.4

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

2.5

3star

T

2.4

4star

MG

201.4

3star

D

11.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

5.3

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

2.5

3star

MG

198.3

3star

D

14.6

4star

K

9.8

4star

HB

4.8

4star

M

4.8

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

232.4

4star

who successfully moved into the Dogs midfield this year making great use of his speed.

The midfield mix didn't work this year and we were beaten up most weeks. Something needs to change in 2025.

 

[Section226]

Seems a common theme amongst the group that the midfield needs change.

I'm also with the idea of trying Ash in the midfield or perhaps half-forward (if Cumming were traded, that'll be a simple change).

But who else to move out of the midfield and where do they go?

One change IMO isn't going to cut it.

Should we just wait and see how Coniglio recovers from surgery or be more proactive?

 

[Adam Giant]

But who else to move out of the midfield and where do they go?

There are some highly paid but underperforming midfielders on our list who rarely produce big games when it counts. A virtual midfield rookie in Peatling showed them up most of this year.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

What happened to Harvey Thomas? Was so good early, but seemed to struggle to get involved in the play as the season wore on.
His forward half pressure and tackling were a highlight and made up for Toby not doing much chasing this year.
Crafty disposer of it too.
I hope he plays every game next year.

Young kid

Already broke the record for the most games as a rookie Giant, and even tied the record with Davis (2012) & Stevie J (2016) for the most games by a first year Giant.

Maybe if he had have been managed earlier in the year, he would have been good to go at the end.

 

[steviewonder36]

I am concerned that Cogs, Greene etc might have missed their opportunity for a premiership.

It would be galling, given Cameron left for Geelong after the 2020 season to win one in 2022.