Analysis 2025 GWS Giants - Predicted best 22, breakout player(s), general player/team discussion & questions

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So with trading done and some outs and an in.
How does this change our best side for next year, draft also coming up.

With the Package now in Orange what does that mean for our mids and fwds?
Will one of our speedster mosquitoes be moved to the middle to get some explosive movement from the ruck? Will TFG make way to provide some X factor to the middle?

Edit. Yes I stole Giant Strides header for 2024, sue me 😉
 
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So with trading done and some outs and an in.
How does this change our best side for next year, draft also coming up.

With the Package now in Orange what does that mean for our miss and fwds?
Will one of our speedster mosquitoes be moved to the middle to get some explosive movement from the ruck? Will TFG make way to provide some X factor to the middle?

Edit. Yes I stole Giant Strides header for 2024, sue me 😉
Lawsuit inbound!
 

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So with trading done and some outs and an in.
How does this change our best side for next year, draft also coming up.

With the Package now in Orange what does that mean for our miss and fwds?
Will one of our speedster mosquitoes be moved to the middle to get some explosive movement from the ruck? Will TFG make way to provide some X factor to the middle?

Edit. Yes I stole Giant Strides header for 2024, sue me 😉

The midfield is a worry for mine. Ward, Kelly and Coniglio are slowing down and are injury prone. Which forward moves into the midfield? Maybe Greene spends more time in there.
 
The midfield is a worry for mine. Ward, Kelly and Coniglio are slowing down and are injury prone. Which forward moves into the midfield? Maybe Greene spends more time in there.
TFG has some X factor no doubt but we need some speed in there.
We have muscle in Green and Callaghan(Sign damn it!) but not speed really going forward.
Binga?
 
The midfield is a worry for mine. Ward, Kelly and Coniglio are slowing down and are injury prone. Which forward moves into the midfield? Maybe Greene spends more time in there.
Unless we can pull another Matt de Boer, we'll be relying on 2nd and 3rd year players to fill the gaps.
Hopefully we get a couple of ready-made mids in the draft to have some impact and change up the dynamics.
No doubt that we'll maximise existing assets and roll Toby, Daniels and Stringer through there as well.
I think Kingsley was key to getting Stringer here, so he'll have a plan.
 

GWS secured exciting forward Jake Stringer from Essendon in a late trade period swoop before Wednesday’s deadline. The deal appeared dead just hours before the trade period was set to close but was resuscitated late with the 30-year-old joining the club in exchange for Pick 53.

While Stringer has had his knockers across his 212-game career, there’s no doubt he can have a big scoreboard impact as proven by his return of 42 majors for the Dons in the 2024 season. Given the Giants were already a top-four side in 2024 and made a Preliminary Final in 2023, the club will be hoping that the added firepower brought by Stringer can help them secure an elusive maiden AFL premiership.

SEN’s Garry Lyon expects Stringer to be a wildcard up forward for Adam Kingsley and he has the club as his early pick for the 2025 flag. He discussed the move to bring him in with Kane Cornes on SEN Breakfast.

Lyon: “I like the Giants, they’ve just got to improve their football club, they didn’t really need to attract much playing talent. I think there's enough talent there, they’ve just got to improve their consistency in the way they play, they were in winning positions in big finals. Jake Stringer could be a nice little wildcard. That's what he could be.”

Cornes: “He could be a wildcard in a forward line that is absolutely stacked. But I don't think he quite fits into their game style the way they demand that their forwards play up the ground. High pressure, empty out the tank, get back and get defenders out the back. He’s not going to quite fit into that. The muck up day, does it have an impact on them?”

Lyon: “It won't by August or September next year, but it could in the first couple of weeks if they haven't got a few players running out there. But they’re my early pick for the premiership.”
 
My attempt at the best 22. ALWAYS list forwards at the top, do NOT follow the ridiculous Victorian approach of listing defenders first.

F: Jones Hogan Stringer
HF: Greene Cadman Daniels
C: Kelly Bedford Callaghan
HB: Whitfield Taylor Ash
B: Himmelberg Buckley Idun
R: Briggs Green Coniglio
INT: Ward, Brown, Madden (?), Thomas

I think will need a lot of luck with injury to be top 4 - no depth.
 
My attempt at the best 22. ALWAYS list forwards at the top, do NOT follow the ridiculous Victorian approach of listing defenders first.

F: Jones Hogan Stringer
HF: Greene Cadman Daniels
C: Kelly Bedford Callaghan
HB: Whitfield Taylor Ash
B: Himmelberg Buckley Idun
R: Briggs Green Coniglio
INT: Ward, Brown, Madden (?), Thomas

I think will need a lot of luck with injury to be top 4 - no depth.
Looks like a very decent side and I hope you’re right about Madden.
Am not so pessimistic about depth:
Aleer, Angwin, Weir, Stone, Rowston, Riccardi, Gothard, Leake, McMullen, O’Halloran, Fahey, Gruzewski, Fonti, Derkesen and Brown can all contribute and some will be fixed in the best 23 by the end of the season. Then there is the 2024 draftees.
I’m nervous that the defence lacks a player or 2 to lock down the very best small forward setups. Maybe Fonti becomes a winger who gets back to support in defence?
 
Looks like a very decent side and I hope you’re right about Madden.
Am not so pessimistic about depth:
Aleer, Angwin, Weir, Stone, Rowston, Riccardi, Gothard, Leake, McMullen, O’Halloran, Fahey, Gruzewski, Fonti, Derkesen and Brown can all contribute and some will be fixed in the best 23 by the end of the season. Then there is the 2024 draftees.
I’m nervous that the defence lacks a player or 2 to lock down the very best small forward setups. Maybe Fonti becomes a winger who gets back to support in defence?

Hopefully a kid or two you listed becomes part of the midfield rotation. I don’t know much about Fonti. Bedford might even be able to be that small defender. He’s already reinvented himself once and won’t need to tag every week.
 

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B- H.Himmleberg J.Buckley C.Idun
HB- L.Whitfield S.Taylor L.Ash
C- X.O’Hallaran T.Green J.Kelly
HF- B.Daniels J.Riccardi T.Greene
F- D.Jones J.Hogan J.Stringer
FOLL- K.Briggs S.Coniglio F.Callaghan
I/C- T.Bedford, A.Cadman, H.Thomas, C.Ward, C.Stone

Emerg- C.Brown, L.Aleer, J.Leake, F.Fahey, N.Madden
 
So with trading done and some outs and an in.
How does this change our best side for next year, draft also coming up.

With the Package now in Orange what does that mean for our mids and fwds?
Will one of our speedster mosquitoes be moved to the middle to get some explosive movement from the ruck? Will TFG make way to provide some X factor to the middle?

Edit. Yes I stole Giant Strides header for 2024, sue me 😉
Im thinking it may be Brent Daniels rather than Toby that goes through the middle more often.
 
B- H.Himmleberg J.Buckley C.Idun
HB- L.Whitfield S.Taylor L.Ash
C- X.O’Hallaran T.Green J.Kelly
HF- B.Daniels J.Riccardi T.Greene
F- D.Jones J.Hogan J.Stringer
FOLL- K.Briggs S.Coniglio F.Callaghan
I/C- T.Bedford, A.Cadman, H.Thomas, C.Ward, C.Stone

Emerg- C.Brown, L.Aleer, J.Leake, F.Fahey, N.Madden
missing McMullen who will be in there somewhere
 
The Perryman role is the one that is a bit of question mark.
Do we think that XOH could play the Perryman role being primarily a defensive option. I think that he'd handle the defensive side of it well, but probably going to hamper our rebound as he is not a great user.
Angwin another who might be the same. Defense no issue, but can
Stone seemed to be playing that role in 2's and doing it well.
Leake has played a bit of everywhere and maybe the answer.
Out of the box might be the likes of Ward and McMullen.
Cal in particular has the skill set to do it, but would be a stop gap.
McMullen would offer terrific rebound and is good in the contest, he'd have to work on his defensive accountability to do it well, but as a young player, that is no unusual, a summer working on that could see him being a very dangerous option back there.
 
With reports of Leek turning down 800k to stay for his final year, it looms as a make or break seasons for him. I think he will definitely get game time and that will determine if he stays or goes. I imagine there is no way we are matching that type of bid for him to stay.

Although he has fantastic athletic attributes, his disposal is questionable and he is fumbly. Those things could change with the guarantee of regular game time
 
TFG has some X factor no doubt but we need some speed in there.
We have muscle in Green and Callaghan(Sign damn it!) but not speed really going forward.
Binga?
Hopefully leake, Gothard are in part the answer.
We just have to use our interchange better.
Can't have players who play kpp playing 65% gametime.
I think we have a bit of an excess in the forward/ backline, a slight deficiency in midfield.
Playing injured players cost us a flag in my view ( given the eventually premiers had 4 or 5 players on their list out with ACL's).

Ideally, we can get 30% gametime in the midfield from both Stringer and Greene, if one of Kelly, Cogs,Green is out injured.
 
Had a go at making a predicted round 1 team, taking into account our suspensions.

B: Idun, Taylor, Stone
HB: Ash, Buckley, Whitfield
C: Ward, Green, Kelly
HF: Daniels, Cadman, Jones
F: Greene, Hogan, Stringer
R: Briggs, Bedford, Cogs
IC: Himmelberg, Keeffe, Callaghan, Leake
Sub: XOH

Still looks pretty good to me. Riccardi, Fonti, Thomas and McMullin could all feasibly be in there but would all be on the fringe. Don't think it weakens us much, if at all.
 
Had a go at making a predicted round 1 team, taking into account our suspensions.

B: Idun, Taylor, Stone
HB: Ash, Buckley, Whitfield
C: Ward, Green, Kelly
HF: Daniels, Cadman, Jones
F: Greene, Hogan, Stringer
R: Briggs, Bedford, Cogs
IC: Himmelberg, Keeffe, Callaghan, Leake
Sub: XOH

Still looks pretty good to me. Riccardi, Fonti, Thomas and McMullin could all feasibly be in there but would all be on the fringe. Don't think it weakens us much, if at all.
Nice. With McMullin and Thomas out I'm probably looking to see if Gothard can step up and play that role rather than playing Keeffe.
Stringer we will have to see how his preseason goes...I'm quietly optimistic
 

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Analysis 2025 GWS Giants - Predicted best 22, breakout player(s), general player/team discussion & questions

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