AFL 2022 Radar: 'It's time for Coniglio to stand up for GWS'

GWS have played finals in five of the past six years, finishing top four in three of them.

Despite battling their share of travails, they are possessed with alligator blood, usually finding a way to hang around throughout a season and make an impression in September. They have a history of winning finals as underdogs, often beating teams that finished ahead of them.

The Giants were on the fringes of the eight all of last season, sometimes in, sometimes out, but like a good horse that knows where the winning post is, they found a way to sneak over the line with three good wins to close out the home-and-away rounds – beating Geelong in Geelong, thumping Richmond in Melbourne and fending off a spirited Carlton.

And let’s not forget they didn’t play a game in their home state after Round 14. It was a lion-hearted performance.

But that was then, and this is now.

Toby Greene will miss the first five matches, and it’s a tricky draw they have to contend with in his absence – perennial rival Sydney in Round 1, Melbourne and Richmond at the MCG and Fremantle in Perth. And even Gold Coast can traditionally be tough to negotiate in the early rounds of a season.

What does season 2022 have in store for the team that struggles to win admirers outside their own fanbase?

What’s new
Jarrod Brander joins the Giants from the Eagles after battling to 22 games in four seasons in Perth. Last year’s 11 matches was the most he had played in a single campaign, ironically leading to his de-listing. He played a bit of back, a bit of forward, a bit of wing in his time at West Coast, never settling into one position.

Finn Callaghan is the most exciting draft prospect, given he was taken at three, and comes complete with an all-round midfield game. While he is unlikely to be unleashed in the very early rounds due to not completing a full pre-season, it shouldn’t be too long before he makes an impression.

The retirement of Shane Mumford (the John Farnham of AFL players) and the fitness of Brayden Preuss should mean a new-look ruck division for GWS, with the latter finally ready to show the football world what he can do now he’s no longer in the shadows of Todd Goldstein and Max Gawn.

Star on the rise
Sam Taylor is an impressive young key defender who is ready to go up a level and put himself at the forefront of the next generation in that position.

He broke out in 2019, only his second season, but only played four games due to injury in 2020. Last year he started to show what he was capable of, which is backing his judgement in the air even in contested situations, providing drive when the time was right, while also nullifying opposition power forwards.

Taylor has all the tools to be a multiple All Australian before his career is out.

Who’s under the pump
Doubt there’s a more obvious one in all 18 teams than Stephen Coniglio.

Across 2018-19, Coniglio averaged 28 disposals, five clearances, five tackles and a goal a game. There were stages there where it was a let down if he didn’t have 30 and kick two as he established himself as a premier two-way midfielder in the competition. He signed a seven-year deal off the back of this.

Appointed captain after this sterling run and having committed to the club long term, his form in the COVID-hit 2020 was moderate-to-patchy, to the point where he was sensationally dropped for the second-last round – a match the Giants had to win to stay in the finals hunt.

Coniglio’s 2021 was a train wreck – injured early in Round 3, he missed 14 games, came back for one, missed another four, was named the sub in Round 23, then had 25 touches across two finals. To say he was a shadow of his former self would be doing a disservice to shadows.

Will Coniglio bounce back in 2022? (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

And after much was made of the Giants form when Toby Greene was acting captain, which many media commentators said should have made permanent, he’s now suffered the ignominy of having two others join him as co-captain.

He’s a captain. He’s got five years of a $7 million deal to run. And he is supposed to be their best player.

It’s time for Coniglio to stand up.

Best-case scenario
There doesn’t look to be enough upside at the Giants to launch into premiership calculations. Three seasons on from their 2019 grand final side, only 12 players remain, but the core group of elite talent like Coniglio, Greene, Josh Kelly, Lachie Whitfield, Nick Haynes, Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto remain. You can certainly build a finals side around them.

GWS are still competitive with anyone on their day, although those days occur less frequently than in their peak years of 2016-17 when they looked like being a rising powerhouse of the competition.

Still, top six is a realistic goal, with an outside look at top four if everything goes their way. Most likely, you suspect they’ll again have one foot inside the eight and one foot out, for most of the season.

Worst-case scenario
There are question marks over the depth of the GWS list, with a few seasoned players moving on in one way or another at the end of last season. And no one can remember a year when they haven’t been hit by injuries to multiple stars.

The young guns they built their club around aren’t getting any younger, and the opening five weeks without Toby Greene is going to be difficult. It’s a long way back from 1-4 if things don’t go their way through winter.

They are a tough unit though, we have to give them that. That should keep them out of bottom-four calculations, and it’s been eight years since they’ve been in the bottom six.

Best 22

B: Harry Perryman Sam Taylor Phil Davis
HB: Lachie Whitfield Nick Haynes Isaac Cumming
C: Lachie Ash Jacob Hopper Josh Kelly
HF: Toby Greene Jesse Hogan Stephen Coniglio
F: Daniel Lloyd Harry Himmelberg Bobby Hill
Foll: Braydon Preuss Callan Ward Tim Taranto
Int: Matt Flynn Tom Green Connor Idun Xavier O’Halloran