Ins – Toby Bedford, Aaron Cadman, Harry Rowston, Darcy Jones, Max Gruzewski, Toby McMullin, Nick Madden
Outs – Matt de Boer, Bobby Hill, Tim Taranto, Tanner Bruhn, Jacob Hopper, Jarrod Brander, Zach Sproule, Jake Stein
My Prediction
Adam Kingsley has been trying to get a head coaching gig for a while now (looks like he took his frustration on missing so many by skolling protein shakes and hitting the weights). There are few gigs more challenging than managing the rebuild for a team no one cares about in a place no one wants to visit. It will be interesting to watch how they retain talent over the next couple of years.
The backline is ok. Sam Taylor is a very good full back and they then build around him. Himmelberg looked comfortable back there last year and they have quality flankers in Whitfield and Haynes. Add in ■■■■■■■ and Idun who has looked very good. They are pretty well rounded back there as long as they go ok with injuries.
The midfield is a clayton’s midfield. It has never performed as well in real life as it looks like on paper. Kelly is soft and rarely seems to stand up when the pressure is on, Coniglio improved on his horrible year before but is still not realising his potential. They lose Hopper and Taranto who are two that have been generally pretty consistent. Green is doing to have to find another level. Kingsley will be looking for them to work a lot harder defensively which is exactly what they have needed to do for the last five years and seemed incapable of doing.
The forward line is barely ok. Hogan came back and played some good football last year. Riccardi has been disappointing since initially looking like a player. They are going to need a lot from Toby Greene for them to look dangerous. I think Bedford will probably get games early as they try and find some spark and energy.
The rucks have long been an issue at GWS but I think they are ok there for now with Preuss and Flynn both looking pretty capable of impacting the game. It certainly isn’t a pressing need at this stage. The coach is a very experienced assistant but was an interesting call at the time. He has spent time at Richmond and St Kilda as an assistant (may have left St Kilda off the resume…). He has certainly earned a shot and I think the team will probably benefit from a new voice.
Overall this is a team that has paid a massive premium to keep its own talent and the gap between their best players and the rest if larger than any other team. They have a real shortage of quality middle tier players. I don’t see any serious improvement when you consider the quality of the players they have lost far outweighs the immediate impact of any they have brought in. They are a bottom four team this year. 15-16.
Their forward line is junk, but theres just too many good players on field for them to have another bottom 4 season. Just can’t see them not pushing towards the 8.
B: Nick Haynes, Harry Himmelberg, Isaac ■■■■■■■ HB: Connor Idun, Sam Taylor, Lachie Whitfield C: Lachie Ash, Josh Kelly, Harry Perryman HF: James Peatling, Jake Riccardi, Toby Greene F:Toby Bedford Jesse Hogan, Brent Daniels Foll: Braydon Preuss, Tom Green, Stephen Coniglio I/C: Adam Kennedy, Callan Ward, Finn Callaghan, Daniel Lloyd
Emerg: Jacob Wehr, Xavier O’Halloran, Ryan Angwin, Leek Aleer
IMO 12th - 16th Won’t be in finals contention, should be better than Hawks and Eagles
GWS are pretty much irrelevant again.
The coach already confirmed himmleberg will play forward, so I’d assume he swaps with Ricarddi and Aleer will play centre half back. Surely Phil Davis won’t get a gig again, can’t believe the blokes still on the list.
Age is starting to be a significant problem for them. They’ve lost so many of the younger guys and the intermediate age group that should be coming into their prime. Other than Green and Taylor, their best players are still Greene, Haynes, Whitfield, Kelly and Hogan, who are all late 20s bracket, and there’s another bunch of late-career guys like Davis, Ward, Keefe and Kennedy hanging around on their list too.
There’s a massive gap after that. Where are all the 25yos who should be stepping up to lead the club? Punt Road, mostly. And where are the up and coming kids? They didn’t get a single rising star nomination last year (Finn Callaghan being injured probably didn’t help, to be fair).
They’ve got a massive crunch coming up. Last season was a warmup by comparison.
Top tier midfield group and the best CHB in the game.
I dont reckon they are that far off. Problem is getting a list of mainly victorian footballers enthused about playing to tiny crowds in western Sydney consistently
GREATER Western Sydney has parted ways with development boss Robbie Chancellor, barely three months after appointing him to the role.
Chancellor was arrested and charged with one count of possession of a prohibited drug last week, pleading guilty to the charge. He will return to court for sentencing in March.
It followed his appointment as the Giants’ head of development last October, with the highly regarded Chancellor linking up with new senior coach Adam Kingsley at the club after they had previously worked together at St Kilda.
The contracts they gave Kelly, Coniglio, Whitfield, Haynes and Greene were too big and they’ve subsequently not got enough out of them. It means they’ve hamstrung themselves on keeping the middle age tier.
They’d have been better to let the older guys go (like they did with Shiel) and bring through a new tier with the picks and the kids they had.
An ex-GWS team would be reasonably strong. Although they’ve never fixed their ruck.
I’d be surprised if he can be as affective living in Victoria and being assistant coach in West Sydney, than the other assistant coaches who live in the same state.
I’m not sure what his movements are like, but I’d say he’d be required on gameday in the coaches box and the days of training.
Given clubs are now commencing the ‘community camps’, I’d say more would be required of coaches and assistant coaches between now and the beginning of the season.
I hope he finds an assistant coaching job here in Victoria that helps with his life balance.
I still think he can have another shot at coaching Essendon after Brad Scott.
I think that ship has sailed. Maybe if Scott (or some later EFC coach) feels sufficiently secure in their position, they might be ok with him coming back to the club and perhaps working with the JHA academy, or in some kind of development/mentorship role. But as a senior, or even senior assistant coach - I think that window is closed.
Loyalty is a funny thing, isn’t it? Hird clearly only wants to coach at Essendon, but even here on Blitz where we demand and preach and fetishise loyalty every trade season when it looks like a player we want to keep might ask to be traded, pretty much universal opinion is that Hird should shelve his loyalty and go be an assistant coach at another club for a while.
