Michael Black's Roar Profile

The year 2012 had us bear witness to several important events. London hosted the Olympics, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her golden jubilee and Barack…

AFL

2022

Giant baby steps: A decade of the GWS Giants

Michael Black

Roar Rookie

Giant baby steps: A decade of the GWS Giants

AFL

2022

But it’s easy to say that in Australia when you have a system that can pay players enough to focus on test and international cricket. For smaller nations or less wealthy governing bodies, the T20 circuit might be the only way players can make a reasonable income considering the work involved. And that forces them to have to make tough decisions balancing career prestige with need to make money.

Your ability to earn an income as a professional athlete has a very limited time frame, it’s not like having a “normal job” where you can work well into your 60’s (probably with the exception of golf).

Also re: Holder. You can look at his stat’s and say well they’re not great. But don’t forget for most of his test career he’s had to carries the West Indies on his back as one of their few international standard players. Don’t underestimate the pressure that puts a player and captain under (it’s what made Border such abgreat player). It’s easy to shine when you have other strong players around you to share the load.

'Not curtains for me in Test cricket': Windies star defends putting T20s above Australia tour as weakened squad named

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Cricket

Dec

Overreaction and pretty shoddy reporting aside. It has got me thinking. Junior sport has never been about the kids, it’s about the parents feeding their egos and desire for control. Saw plenty of that playing Footy, Basketball and Cricket as a kid.

Like Tim, I also played in the weaker of two sides. I even played in a combined Cheltenham-Mentone U12 cricket team whilst my younger brother played in the proper team. This whole thing screams of parents complaining their kids are losing, not the kids themselves. Kids aren’t stupid, you know at a young age when you’re just not actually that good. You just make peace with jt and play for the love of the game.

That local footy 'every team plays finals' drama is an absolute farce - but not for the reason everyone thinks

Sep

“Much was made of the Pies’ ability to win close games in the second half of last season, something which ultimately proved unsustainable when losing two finals in a similar manner. They didn’t hit September in peak form, and tired out when it mattered most”
Yeah I’m not entirely sure you can argue that when the combined margin in both games was 7 points.

Have Collingwood and Port peaked too early? The smokies that are timing their run to September

Jul

For all the talk of sport being kept out of politics, the world is far more complicated than that.

We’re seeing a lot of politicians on the right (Howard, Abbott, Dutton, Morrison etc) who constantly preach about freedom of speech and expression, yet criticise anyone who dares say something they don’t like. They complain about Rugby Australia or the NRL or AFL saying they support the voice, yet if those organisations didn’t support it, you can bet they wouldn’t be complaining. And those same politicians are happy to wade into sport when it suits them politically. The broader issue is, you can’t have it both ways. It can’t be ok for you as a politician to involve yourself in sport or their governing bodies, yet at the same time demand that those bodies shut up.

Should Australian sport be raising its voice?

Great article Liam.

I think Carlton is a club heavily burdened by history. I always think back to John Elliott (truly competing with Jeff Kennett for the title of footy’s most arrogant off-field figure, with Eddie McGuire fast nipping at their heels) and the dark days of the salary cap scandal, something they’ve never truly been able to shake off ever since.

One finals appearance in the last decade (with an enormous asterix courtesy of Essendon and the supplements saga) shows a club that doesn’t seem to understand where they are. A club that still tries to almost buy their way to success rather than actually develop talent. Their top tier is really good, but it falls away dramatically after that, and at some point, their A grade players will suffer (if not already) from having to carry the club on their backs.

Blue Bagger nightmare: If not this year, when will Carlton's top-eight drought finally end?

On another note, I think Silvagni is soft, but I think he would actually be a decent player if he wasn’t at Carlton. From the outside looking in, it looks he is burdened by the legacy of his family name.

Six Points: Calling out Daicos' dog act, and the commonsense alternative to 'interchange-gate'

But it won’t keep happening though. They enter a very challenging period with games against Sydney, Melbourne, Essendon and Gold Coast to come. On current form they will be lucky to pinch one of those games and possibly even lose all of them. Worse case scenario that would see them go into the bye at 4-9-1, and generally 12 wins is needed to make finals. If Sydney, Fremantle and Gold Coast can keep winning games, they’ll drift further away from the 8.

And look I could be wrong and they might turn it around and win all these games. But it’s going to very hard and if they don’t turn it around fast, Voss is in all sorts of trouble.

Brisbane are going to do that to a lot of teams this year (especially at the Gabba). Gold Coast to their credit have been competitive in most of their losses this year and could easily have had a couple more wins for the season and ay have even been in the 8 had they had a bit more composure against Melbourne and not bungled the last quarter against Fremantle during Gather Round.

I can understand why he would make that comment. He’s got to sell hope to the members and fans to get them to keep coming to games. It can’t be easy for the fans, they’re so accustomed to success, especially in the last 50 years

Good point Charlie. Mitchell coming in with more experience as a coach should hold him in good stead. But it’s going to be a tough rebuild.

It’s easy to argue for reducing the number of or relocating teams when your team isn’t at risk. I notice very few people advocating to reduce or relocate teams ever seem to be North, St Kilda or Bulldogs fans.

“Their Moorabbin home ground isn’t even in St Kilda, which is the laughable thing”.

I’m not really sure how that’s relevant. Yes St Kilda made a mistake relocating to Seaford and they have definitely not had historical success, but the argument around Moorabbin’s location is somewhat patchy considering Hawthorn is now based in Mulgrave and soon to be Dingley, Essendon is now based in Tullamarine. Even historically, Collingwood being based at Victoria Park which is actually in Abbotsford not Collingwood and Richmond at Punt Road which is in East Melbourne not Richmond.

Welcome Tasmania, but the AFL should be a 16-team competition so three clubs must go

It’s not as simple as that. Yes you get access to the talent and the picks, but you still have to develop them, they don’t come in match hardened straight away.

Ideally yes they would’ve liked to win in 2019 (honestly no one was going to beat Richmond in that GF), but to consistently play finals in your first decade of existence is no mean feat. Especially in a non-AFL market.

Love him or hate him, Leon Cameron has left a Giant legacy

Respectfully going to disagree with you Al. The raw numbers don’t look great, but putting them into context they are respectable after a decade in a tough market. Remember the Swans were in the same boat for a long time before they built their local fanbase into what it is today.

But then again, maybe we have to agree to disagree.

Completely agree re: Tasmania. They definitely deserve a team and it looks like they will be getting one soon (likely a relocated team but it’s better than nothing).

I do like the idea of Canberra and the NT being in the league, but there are some challenges (especially the NT). Climate will be tough up there so I’m guessing games would mainly be night or twilight. Economic factors may be a challenge up north as well.

But nothing is out of the question.

Oh no doubt Richmond won, but it’s not as if Deledio didn’t provide the Giants with value for where they were at as a club.

And context is key. In 2019 the Suns average home attendance was 11,417 compared to 10,726 for the Titans in NRL. Now this isn’t impressive if you look at the raw numbers. But, take into account the economy of the Gold Coast being based on tourism, the sustained lack of success and it being a non-AFL state, they’re not entirely terrible. Granted that average would be inflated by the Q Clash as some games had very low attendances.

So if they begin to experience more sustained success and appear in finals, we might begin to see that average slowly tick upwards. Perhaps. Nothing is guaranteed.

BTW, I’m using 2019 as it was the most recent season not affected vy the pandemic.

Hopefully I’ll have more to add on this in the coming weeks.

I agree with comparing the Giants and Suns, the other interstate teams were set up under different circumstances which makes comparisons either skewed or unfair. It will be interesting to see how the two teams progress in the next 5 to 10 years. Personally I actually think the Suns are on the right track under Stewie Dew and should stick it out. Honestly I can’t see anyone else doing a better job (Clarkson aside). The Giants on the other hand may benefit from a fresh start although Cameron must be credited for what they’ve achieved in a short ount of time.

Might try to do an article on the Suns in the coming weeks.

Fair call on the typo (should be March 2008). Membership wise, they are figures supplied by the club and we all know the debate around their accuracy (3 games, Canberra, pets etc). Not just the Giants but league wide.

Fair call on the typo (should be 2008). Memberships wise, those figures are provided by the club. Fair enough to debate those figures (how many are 3 game, Canberra, pets etc).