Having watched the Giants closely today, there is only one conclusion that I can arrive at, they have to be very active in this year's trade period. They will be a very good football club in a few years time but they are not going to be genuinely competitive as quickly as Gold Coast has come on.
All of their players have plenty of skill but at present, are still a couple of years away physically. Time & time again the stronger bodied Swans were able to brush them aside and win possession or the contest.
With the strong speculation that Buddy Franklin will be lured across with a massive pay-packet via Free Agency and the prospect of trading #1 in exchange for a readymade senior player or two, they will be starting to address the dearth of bigger bodied players on the list. However, this will not be enough by my reckoning, they another 3 or 4 to plug the gaps.
Acknowledging that they do have 10-12 excellent top shelf players from very high up in the draft, they also have an abundance of very good players picked up in the second & third rounds as well. Only problem is, they are still a few years away from a development perspective and therefore should be attractive trade options to the other clubs. They could be exchanged for some older mature players who aren't getting the opportunities at their current club but would be in the top 22 at GWS.
It would be ideal for the Giants if they could wait that extra couple of years so the players can build themselves up physically but the AFL cannot afford to have this expansion team getting belted by 20-goals. Vlad would prefer them to be in the 8 and playing finals either next season or the one after because failure to have instant success in the rugby league heartland will not give them the media profile needed to attract members & crowd numbers. There is also the issue of how much it is costing to put this club together, an investment they definitely want to get a dividend on.
All of their players have plenty of skill but at present, are still a couple of years away physically. Time & time again the stronger bodied Swans were able to brush them aside and win possession or the contest.
With the strong speculation that Buddy Franklin will be lured across with a massive pay-packet via Free Agency and the prospect of trading #1 in exchange for a readymade senior player or two, they will be starting to address the dearth of bigger bodied players on the list. However, this will not be enough by my reckoning, they another 3 or 4 to plug the gaps.
Acknowledging that they do have 10-12 excellent top shelf players from very high up in the draft, they also have an abundance of very good players picked up in the second & third rounds as well. Only problem is, they are still a few years away from a development perspective and therefore should be attractive trade options to the other clubs. They could be exchanged for some older mature players who aren't getting the opportunities at their current club but would be in the top 22 at GWS.
It would be ideal for the Giants if they could wait that extra couple of years so the players can build themselves up physically but the AFL cannot afford to have this expansion team getting belted by 20-goals. Vlad would prefer them to be in the 8 and playing finals either next season or the one after because failure to have instant success in the rugby league heartland will not give them the media profile needed to attract members & crowd numbers. There is also the issue of how much it is costing to put this club together, an investment they definitely want to get a dividend on.
