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Toby Greene among three inclusions to GWS leadership group

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15th January, 2020
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GWS have rejigged their leadership group for the 2020 AFL season, calling up foundation players Toby Greene and Jeremy Cameron plus Lachie Whitfield.

Foundation players Toby Greene and Jeremy Cameron have been elevated to AFL club GWS’s leadership group for the first time.

The Giants, seeking to bounce back from a gutting grand-final loss in 2019, have revealed an extended leadership group to support skipper Stephen Coniglio.

Greene, Cameron and Lachie Whitfield have all been given their first formal leadership roles as part of changes partly shaped by NRL legend Cooper Cronk.

The trio join Coniglio, Josh Kelly and Matt de Boer in what is now a six-man crew, while veterans Phil Davis and Callan Ward are no longer members after handing the captaincy to Coniglio.

The Giants have opted against naming a vice-captain, meaning it is unclear who will lead the club should Coniglio missing games through injury or suspension.

“The whole playing group has been through a thorough process alongside our leadership consultant Cooper Cronk to settle on this group,” football manager Jason McCartney said.

“All three players (Greene, Cameron and Whitfield) have been instrumental to the growth of the Giants in recent years and a spot in the official leadership group is well deserved.

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“I’m really confident in the mix of players that will be supporting Stephen.”

Greene has had an eventful stint at the Giants since being picked up in the 2011 draft, the low point of which was serving a club-imposed ban of five games in 2014 after a drunken brawl.

The small forward’s white-line fever is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact he has been charged 18 times and fined a total of $26,350 under the AFL’s match-review process.

But the star’s competitive streak and character are highly rated at GWS, evidenced by his six-year deal last year that will go a long way to ensuring he is a one-club player.

Cameron had already been acting as a mentor to the club’s young forwards.

The 26-year-old’s elevation to the leadership group comes around 18 months after he copped a five-game ban for a hit on Brisbane’s Harris Andrews.

The Giants staunchly defended the gun forward in the aftermath of that blow, with coach Leon Cameron saying at the time that some pundits should be “embarrassed and disappointed” by their commentary of the incident.

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GWS open their 2020 campaign at Giants Stadium on March 21, hosting Geelong in the first-ever AFL/AFLW double-header for premiership points.

© AAP

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