With five rounds remaining this regular season and one of the worst injury tolls in the AFL, the Greater Western Sydney Giants are facing a huge battle to avoid a third consecutive wooden spoon.
The last thing they need is to face a team that hammered them by 113 points almost ten weeks ago this weekend.
We’ll get to the preview shortly, but first the Giants’ bid to avoid last place copped a blow after St Kilda’s surprise thrashing of Fremantle.
Additionally, the Brisbane Lions skipped clear of the Giants and Demons with their fifth win of the season, a 54-point belting of intrastate rivals the Gold Coast Suns.
The Giants, Demons and Saints are all on four wins each, but better percentage sees Leon Cameron’s men 16th on the ladder. However, a horror injury toll could result in them becoming the first three-peat wooden spooners since their neighbours, the Sydney Swans between 1992 and 1994.
The club’s injury toll is among the worst in the competition, with Jeremy Cameron, Lachie Whitfield, Nick Haynes, Stephen Coniglio and Tim Mohr among those who will not play again this season. Additionally, key players Phil Davis and Shane Mumford have missed crucial chunks of the season, preventing the Giants from fielding their strongest possible line-up on a regular basis.
In some overdue good news, defender Heath Shaw will return this weekend against Richmond if he passes the club’s main training session this week.
The Tigers handed the Giants a huge footballing lesson two months ago, kicking eight goals in the first quarter en route to a 113-point victory. It came after their star forward Jack Riewoldt avoided being axed from the side after his criticism of the team’s game plan following their loss to Melbourne the previous week.
Riewoldt’s response was brutal, kicking 11 goals to currently be sitting equal fourth in the race for the Coleman Medal. With the Giants’ defensive stocks well short, the threat of another bag, and an ugly loss looms.
That defeat saw the Giants lose the respect and trust of the AFL community, and caused tension among the playing group. It had been reported afterwards that Jeremy Cameron was considering leaving the club, which he strenuously denied.
Most of the Giants’ senior players have made it clear they want to remain in Sydney to build the club and set it up for future success. This is exactly what the Gold Coast Suns had to go through in their early history, when as a virtual under-20s team they copped numerous hidings from their hardened opponents.
Since that dark day on May 24, the Giants’ worst marginal defeat was by 76 points against Fremantle in Round 17. They also pushed premiership heavyweights Hawthorn and Geelong, losing both by just seven points. However, according to co-captain Phil Davis, the time for honourable losses is over.
There were also wins over the Brisbane Lions and Carlton during June, marking the first time the club had won consecutive matches for the first time in their history. The latter win was made all the more impressive given they were without Cameron and Tom Scully due to injuries.
Since losing to Sydney on June 20, the Tigers have racked up four consecutive wins, including defeating cellar-dwellers St Kilda and Brisbane, top four contenders Port Adelaide and just last week the West Coast Eagles at Patersons Stadium.
Damien Hardwick’s men will enter the match as favourites, and the Giants’ long injury toll means the club will very unlikely represent a different threat to the one that lost by 113 points back in round ten.
Thus, it increases the threat of another likely Tigers feast on the injury-ravaged club, if you also take into consideration their 121-point win in the penultimate round of last season.
Looking on the bright side, however, there’s at least one match the Giants can look to that’s winnable, and that’s against Melbourne, also at the MCG, two weeks later. This match will very likely loom as not only the wooden spoon decider, but also who secures the number one draft pick in this November’s draft.
Meanwhile, as I correctly predicted a few weeks ago, the Giants will conclude the regular season against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, August 31.
The scheduling for the final round has been released and below I will compare it with what I predicted:
Friday, August 29
Collingwood versus Hawthorn, MCG, 7:50pm^
Saturday, August 30
Carlton versus Essendon, MCG, 1:45pm
Fremantle versus Port Adelaide, Patersons Stadium, 1:10pm AWST#
Sydney Swans versus Richmond, ANZ Stadium, 4:40pm
North Melbourne versus Melbourne, Etihad Stadium, 7:40pm^
Geelong Cats versus Brisbane Lions, Simonds Stadium, 7:40pm
Sunday, August 31
Gold Coast Suns versus West Coast Eagles, Metricon Stadium, 1:10pm^
Adelaide Crows versus St Kilda, Adelaide Oval, 2:50pm ACST^
Western Bulldogs versus GWS Giants, Etihad Stadium, 4:40pm^
^ denotes a correct prediction from my original article two weeks ago.
# denotes a correct prediction timeslot-wise but wrong starting time.
As it turns out, I was right with my prediction of Collingwood and Hawthorn kicking off the round on Friday night, my entire Sunday schedule and the fact that North Melbourne had to play its match against Melbourne on Saturday night.
I was also right with Fremantle versus Port Adelaide being a Saturday afternoon match, but wrong with the 2:40pm start. It has been scheduled to start at 1:10pm Perth time, with the early finish allowing Port Adelaide to return home that evening.
The Sydney Swans versus Richmond match, which I had originally starting at 1:45pm, will start at 4:40pm, with the Carlton versus Essendon match now starting in the earlier timeslot (my original prediction being they start at 7:40pm).
The Cats and Lions (originally predicted 2:10pm start) will be the Saturday night match, with that match likely to be covered by Channel Seven.
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Round 5 of the AFL provided plenty of action, from big scorelines to upset wins and pressure starting to build on some clubs and coaches already.
Geelong has been crafty and creative in its list management and has quietly assembled a very exciting young group of midfielders and half-forwards.
Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale will be looking to lead his team to a victory against Melbourne in what will be his 250th AFL game.
It’s high stakes with five teams having lost their first three games of season 2024, and in desperate need of a win.
It could be a weekend for contenders to emerge, teams to hopefully break droughts, o and overall footy to have a party.
We’ve already seen what Jack Ginnivan is capable of at Collingwood with his ability to grasp big moments - how will he go against his former teammates?
