Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
Welcome back everyone, for what is shaping to be a fascinating season for any number of reasons (and let’s hope they’re all the right ones).
It’s hard to ascertain what sort of year we’ll have, as we’re now quite a different team to our break-out season of 2016. In the latest round of charismatic departures, we’ve said goodbye to Shiel, Scully, and Lobb, a big loss of talent by any measure. We still have a strong core of players, but, little by little, that core is either ageing or dispersing to other clubs. I just hope we manage hang on to Coniglio and Kelly.
Another late Easter find us at home in Round 1 for the first time since 2014, when thunder and lightning descended on the assembled hordes, and we all enjoyed a melodramatic maiden win over Big Brother.
Our opponent this time is Essendon, and it’s the first outing for their prize recruit, Dylan Shiel, which just happens to be against his old club. Call it a dual duel, if you like.
I always thought Shiel was something of a talisman from our original intake all those years ago. A star amongst many, he always seemed the focus of speculation as to when he would leave, literally from the day he was drafted. As it was, we had him for a good seven years. I felt a bit torn when he left. He’ll always be a Giant to me, but there’s no doubt he’ll be out to make a good impression on his new club. Expect him to fire.
The big question is how we’ll cope without him. Someone will take his place, most likely Tim Taranto or Jacob Hopper, but whoever it is, they’ll need to show better judgement going forward than Dylan, and not just blaze away, which was his one big weakness.
The AFL did everyone a favour by limiting the pre-season to two “serious” games, but unfortunately for us, the steady drip of wear-and-tear has started already, with Callan Ward and Zac Langdon out until Rounds 4-5, and question marks lingering over the fitness of Josh Kelly and Jacob Hopper. On the bright side, Toby is in much better shape heading into this season, and Adam Tomlinson has recovered from his January calf injury. Nick Haynes should be back by Round 2.
I reckon we’ve got Shiel covered, but losing Ward is a real blow, as he’s very hard to replace, even if temporarily. We’ve got a promising crop of newcomers, with Jye Caldwell and Jackson Hately among the stand-outs, but they’re long term prospects, not short-term fixes. Others to watch as the year progresses are Ian Hill and Connor Idun.
As for the Bombers, they looked about as convincing against the Cats a couple of weeks ago as we did against the Crows. I wouldn’t let their average pre-season lull us into a false sense of security, as they accounted for us quite easily at home last year, and team memory doesn’t fade that quickly.
I actually find myself agreeing with one the posters on their board, that no-one can predict this game with even a small amount of confidence. At the very least, I’m hoping we get the season off to a winning start without injuries.
The club reckons we’ve got more than 20,000 members already, so let’s ring in 2019 with a big crowd and send those Bombers back to their hangar.
Let’s go Giants, let’s go!
It’s hard to ascertain what sort of year we’ll have, as we’re now quite a different team to our break-out season of 2016. In the latest round of charismatic departures, we’ve said goodbye to Shiel, Scully, and Lobb, a big loss of talent by any measure. We still have a strong core of players, but, little by little, that core is either ageing or dispersing to other clubs. I just hope we manage hang on to Coniglio and Kelly.
Another late Easter find us at home in Round 1 for the first time since 2014, when thunder and lightning descended on the assembled hordes, and we all enjoyed a melodramatic maiden win over Big Brother.
Our opponent this time is Essendon, and it’s the first outing for their prize recruit, Dylan Shiel, which just happens to be against his old club. Call it a dual duel, if you like.
I always thought Shiel was something of a talisman from our original intake all those years ago. A star amongst many, he always seemed the focus of speculation as to when he would leave, literally from the day he was drafted. As it was, we had him for a good seven years. I felt a bit torn when he left. He’ll always be a Giant to me, but there’s no doubt he’ll be out to make a good impression on his new club. Expect him to fire.
The big question is how we’ll cope without him. Someone will take his place, most likely Tim Taranto or Jacob Hopper, but whoever it is, they’ll need to show better judgement going forward than Dylan, and not just blaze away, which was his one big weakness.
The AFL did everyone a favour by limiting the pre-season to two “serious” games, but unfortunately for us, the steady drip of wear-and-tear has started already, with Callan Ward and Zac Langdon out until Rounds 4-5, and question marks lingering over the fitness of Josh Kelly and Jacob Hopper. On the bright side, Toby is in much better shape heading into this season, and Adam Tomlinson has recovered from his January calf injury. Nick Haynes should be back by Round 2.
I reckon we’ve got Shiel covered, but losing Ward is a real blow, as he’s very hard to replace, even if temporarily. We’ve got a promising crop of newcomers, with Jye Caldwell and Jackson Hately among the stand-outs, but they’re long term prospects, not short-term fixes. Others to watch as the year progresses are Ian Hill and Connor Idun.
As for the Bombers, they looked about as convincing against the Cats a couple of weeks ago as we did against the Crows. I wouldn’t let their average pre-season lull us into a false sense of security, as they accounted for us quite easily at home last year, and team memory doesn’t fade that quickly.
I actually find myself agreeing with one the posters on their board, that no-one can predict this game with even a small amount of confidence. At the very least, I’m hoping we get the season off to a winning start without injuries.
The club reckons we’ve got more than 20,000 members already, so let’s ring in 2019 with a big crowd and send those Bombers back to their hangar.
Let’s go Giants, let’s go!
Last edited:
