Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
What an amazing round of football.
We needed to beat - or thought we needed to beat - both the Dockers and Dogs to make the top four, and even then it wasn’t certain. But with other results going our way, we’re now guaranteed the double-chance, and are right in the mix for the top two and a home qualifying final. Are the stars aligning for something special?
It’s important to note that Saturday was a different sort of win to the thrillers against the Demons, Hawthorn, and Brisbane. Against them we were the hunter. We allowed them to get a break and were forced to run them down. We felt elation when we won.
This time, we were the hunted. Every time we kicked a goal the Dockers replied and to their credit, never gave up. Maybe I was being too nervous, knowing how much the win would mean, but it always felt like we might lose. The final siren was a huge relief.
A big shout out to Jesse Hogan, now equal record-holder to JC for goals kicked in a season, and all but certain to win the club’s second Coleman Medal. Jesse, it's always a pleasure to watch you play.
Let’s have a look at possible changes for Ballarat. There were quite a few sore bodies yesterday; Buckley was visibly struggling at one point, and along with Briggs and Peatling, went off injured during the fourth quarter. Ash got a week for his tackle on Hayden Young.
Assuming Buckley, Briggs and Peatling recover, here’s a possible line-up:
FB [44] Jack Buckley [15] Sam Taylor [39] Connor Idun
HB [6] Lachie Whitfield [27] Harry Himmelberg [36] Harry Perryman
C [8] Callan Ward [12] Tom Green [3] Stephen Coniglio
HF [16] Brent Daniels [5] Aaron Cadman [20] James Peatling
FF [2] Darcy Jones [23] Jesse Hogan [4] Toby Greene
FOL [32] Kieren Briggs [22] Josh Kelly [14] Toby Bedford
IC [17] Finn Callaghan [25] Lachlan Keeffe [28] Harvey Thomas [33] Xavier O'Halloran
McMullin was subbed out in the last quarter; I’m not sure if it had anything to do with his reported groin injury, lack of impact, or both. I think Harvey Thomas will get a recall. Buckley will probably move to fullback with Ash out and Himmelberg might replace Buckley at halfback. If Buckley doesn’t play, I would prefer Joe Fonti instead of Haynes. X can play off the interchange.
This is arguably a stronger side than Round 10. Back then, we were missing Ash and Kelly; Wehr, Riccardi and Haynes were part of the line-up. We were out-scored by 30 scoring shots to 13 and lucky not to suffer a really bad loss.
These last few weeks have been great preparation for finals, playing hard games against in-form teams. The Dogs blew their chance at the top four, but after their witches-hat win against North are chasing a home elimination final and have something to play for. Our biggest threat is switching off. Victory here would be the perfect finals tune-up.
Can we finish the home-and-away season with a record eighth win?
P.S. To all Sydney Giants, please try and attend this week’s Watch Party, wherever the venue. They’re the next best thing to being at the game.
We needed to beat - or thought we needed to beat - both the Dockers and Dogs to make the top four, and even then it wasn’t certain. But with other results going our way, we’re now guaranteed the double-chance, and are right in the mix for the top two and a home qualifying final. Are the stars aligning for something special?
It’s important to note that Saturday was a different sort of win to the thrillers against the Demons, Hawthorn, and Brisbane. Against them we were the hunter. We allowed them to get a break and were forced to run them down. We felt elation when we won.
This time, we were the hunted. Every time we kicked a goal the Dockers replied and to their credit, never gave up. Maybe I was being too nervous, knowing how much the win would mean, but it always felt like we might lose. The final siren was a huge relief.
A big shout out to Jesse Hogan, now equal record-holder to JC for goals kicked in a season, and all but certain to win the club’s second Coleman Medal. Jesse, it's always a pleasure to watch you play.
Let’s have a look at possible changes for Ballarat. There were quite a few sore bodies yesterday; Buckley was visibly struggling at one point, and along with Briggs and Peatling, went off injured during the fourth quarter. Ash got a week for his tackle on Hayden Young.
Assuming Buckley, Briggs and Peatling recover, here’s a possible line-up:
FB [44] Jack Buckley [15] Sam Taylor [39] Connor Idun
HB [6] Lachie Whitfield [27] Harry Himmelberg [36] Harry Perryman
C [8] Callan Ward [12] Tom Green [3] Stephen Coniglio
HF [16] Brent Daniels [5] Aaron Cadman [20] James Peatling
FF [2] Darcy Jones [23] Jesse Hogan [4] Toby Greene
FOL [32] Kieren Briggs [22] Josh Kelly [14] Toby Bedford
IC [17] Finn Callaghan [25] Lachlan Keeffe [28] Harvey Thomas [33] Xavier O'Halloran
McMullin was subbed out in the last quarter; I’m not sure if it had anything to do with his reported groin injury, lack of impact, or both. I think Harvey Thomas will get a recall. Buckley will probably move to fullback with Ash out and Himmelberg might replace Buckley at halfback. If Buckley doesn’t play, I would prefer Joe Fonti instead of Haynes. X can play off the interchange.
This is arguably a stronger side than Round 10. Back then, we were missing Ash and Kelly; Wehr, Riccardi and Haynes were part of the line-up. We were out-scored by 30 scoring shots to 13 and lucky not to suffer a really bad loss.
These last few weeks have been great preparation for finals, playing hard games against in-form teams. The Dogs blew their chance at the top four, but after their witches-hat win against North are chasing a home elimination final and have something to play for. Our biggest threat is switching off. Victory here would be the perfect finals tune-up.
Can we finish the home-and-away season with a record eighth win?
P.S. To all Sydney Giants, please try and attend this week’s Watch Party, wherever the venue. They’re the next best thing to being at the game.
