After four straight years of AFL finals appearances, GWS coach Leon Cameron knows it will be bitterly disappointing if his club misses out in 2020.
Near enough is not good enough for Greater Western Sydney with their AFL finals hopes hanging by a thread after Saturday’s five-point loss to Melbourne at the Gabba.
The Giants have slipped out of the top eight with just one home-and-away game remaining against St Kilda next Friday.
Even a win over the Saints may not be enough for GWS to sneak into the top eight, with their destiny now out of their hands.
While Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and the Giants are all on 32 points, the Demons have a superior percentage and the Bulldogs can move clear of both teams when they play Hawthorn on Sunday in their penultimate fixture.
Having made finals the past four seasons and after their stirring run to last year’s grand final, Cameron conceded a year outside the top eight would be a hard pill to swallow.
“Absolutely. It’ll be really disappointing. You can’t sugarcoat that. It’s out of our hands,” Cameron said.
“We’ve got to play a really good brand of footy next Friday against St Kilda.
“But absolutely, you know we’ve been here for four years in a row and you can’t dispute that.”
Stung by a loss to lowly Adelaide, the Giants made the bold step of axing captain Stephen Coniglio heading into the Demons match.
Cameron wasn’t willing to say if Coniglio would be brought straight back into the side for Friday’s must-win clash against the Saints, adding other senior players were also on notice.
“I understand that was a huge decision for our footy club but myself and Stephen and our match committee understand that he’s been out of form,” Cameron said.
“If there has to be more tough calls next week there will be, because our season’s been like that. We haven’t turned up all the time.”
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Dougie the dodger, the sounds of silence! You now don't seem to be "Pumping" out any replies to some straight forward questions relating to your highly critical post of Leon Cameron. Lets see if he shows some more resilience going forward than his critics like yourself.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Specifically, what period / years would you say that the Dogs were very successful? As I previously wrote, we can’t have all 18 teams being premiers every year. BTW, I'm interested to read your reply on how you compare the Swans list of 2015/17 compared to GWS of 2016/19.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I didnt dodge your question ... I think most people would say that period for the Dogs was very successful. There's a huge difference between winning and contending. And its even more impressive to win with a list others dont rate. And its unimpressive to contend with a highly rated list but continually fall short.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
In that period how would you compare the GWS list to to the 2015/2017 Sydney Swans list? That Swans team included 2 Brownlow medalists, a 4 time Coleman medalist & included 10 All Australians? Remind me, how many premierships did they win?
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
You dodged my question, satisfactory performance? A premiership side missing the finals in the subsequent 2 years & losing their only final after finishing 7th the year after that. Compare that form to GWS over the same period establishing a young team & with a small supporter base. If your only measure of success is having a talented squad & winning a premiership, my god we have a heck of a lot of underachievers in this competition.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
Hehe, very selective ... the fact is they did win 4 finals in 2016 including the biggest one, with a list that very few media commentators rated, less than 2 years after the club imploded. Bevo has been nominated 'Coach of the Year' twice by his colleagues. Conversely, I think the GWS list between 2016 and 2019 was the strongest, deepest list in those years - but couldn't convert it into a flag. Obviously, there is a lot more than pure player talent required to deliver flags - just look at Richmond. They've been the best performed side of the past four seasons, yet I'd argue their squad is no more talented than 5 or 6 other clubs in the same period.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Who would state that GWS has had the best list in any of the last 4 years? No one. They have had a very competitive list & they have been very competitive besides this year. They have had to compete against some very strong line ups like Richmond, West Coast, Geelong, Collingwood & the Swans of 2016. Obviously we seem to only remember the premiers but keep in mind that besides 2016, the Western Bulldogs have not won even 1 other final game in the last 7 years. Most of those years they haven't even played finals. Do you categorise that that period as satisfactory performance?
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
Good riddance to the Grubs. They've blown it.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I agree with you PB. Winning flags is incredibly hard, so can't be the only measure. The quality of a club's list is highly relevant to assessing performance. GWS have had an envious list but Cameron hasn't been able to claim the ultimate success with this group. The club should be critical of his performance, not extend his contract. He is responsible for their grub, thuggish, haughty on-field culture too. And I agree Melbourne has a very good list - I can't help but think that if several other current coaches had GWS or Melbourne list, they would claim a flag.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
None of the major betting agencies had them in their top 6 prior to the 2019 season & they made the GF. Reasonable effort by Leon & the team don't you think? BET 365 had Richmond, West Coast, Collingwood, Geelong, Melbourne & Essendon in their top 6 line of betting prior to the start of 2019.
PeteB
Roar Rookie
Yes but Giants last 5 years could turn out to be their best opportunity ever to win a flag. Better coaches would have done it with the list they had.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
How do we extricate ourselves from them on a sports social media site?
RT
Roar Rookie
In 1982 we were still saving up to buy one of those big boxes known as a VCR, which had only been around commercially in Australia for 2 years, so we could buy the 1980 GF on tape and watch it again. However the cost of video memberships made you wonder of it was worth it.
RT
Roar Rookie
And it wasn’t just Richmond supporters in the discussion. Anyway, what Spruce said.
RT
Roar Rookie
We got sidetracked, just like anyone can in a conversation. No malice or disrespect.
Nick
Roar Guru
What an astonishing comment from someone who complained bitterly, repeatedly and annoyingly - not to mention using arguments that were entirely beside the point - when Perth wasn't awarded the grand final. Spare us DTM.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Possibly 2 of the 3 (Hately and Caldwell) for that 1st Round Pick + a steak knives player (Riley Knights)!
Tom
Roar Rookie
They’ll get it back when they trade Jackson Hately,(back to Adelaide) or Jye Caldwell, or Xavier O’Halloran
Baz
Guest
I pity the fool - Mr T... haha
timbo's rules
Guest
Sloane has had a horrible year. He played his first game where he put in for all 4 quarters against the Giants. The Crows were never going to drop him. But I don't see Coniglio as a captain, and he definitely doesn't come close to Ward and Davis. Maybe that is why he was dropped. They could be looking for a new skipper next year, Kelly Whitfield, Toby Green.