GWS Are Coming. (They Might Already Be Here.)

GWS Are Coming. (They Might Already Be Here.)

GuyWhoLikesSport

Like what you read from our new columnist?
Follow @Guywholikessport on Twitter or check out his FULL BLOG HERE 

In a week where we’ve heard from bio mechanists, had references to Galileo and Isaac Newton, and heard football collisions compared to lane changes I thought I’d do something novel and write about footy.

I thought I’d do something even more novel and not write about Collingwood.

More novel again, I thought I’d write about GWS.

The Giants are either coming, or after beating the Saints, they might actually have already arrived.

Either way, they’re bad news for everyone else, like a guy on a flight whose stomach is playing up a bit.

There is nothing more tiresome than AFL supporters, usually from WA, accusing the Victorian media of Vic Bias.

There probably is a Victorian bias in AFL media, that’s probably because literally half of the competition is based in Victoria and more if that percentage is calculated not just by number of clubs but by number of memberships.

It’s like accusing the New York Times of having a New York bias.

Yes, it’s a national paper, but let’s live in the real world for 10 minutes and stop having more of a victim complex than the latest famous person who did something reprehensible then said they were having a mental health crisis from the backlash to their reprehensible act *cough* Armie Hammer *cough*.

Having said all of that, if GWS was a Melbourne club they’d be the biggest story in footy.

After an indifferent start to the year that included a loss to West Cost, GWS stormed home to finish the season 10-3 from the last 13 games.

Then, in the first final they easily dispensed with the Saints.

They have come home with the wettest of sails leading the competition in scoring over the last five weeks by basically two goals.

They play intoxicating footy, and are led by a compelling and jacked coach who is proof that you can’t bicep curl a double chin away, but you can bloody well try.

GWS may not win the premiership this year. They might not even beat Port (but I bet they will). But that doesn’t matter.

With the way GWS are playing combined with the quality and depth on their list, the Giants are here to stay for the longish term.

GWS are the 14th oldest and 12th most experienced team in footy by games played, putting them at the bottom end of middle of the pack.

That list demographic is promising, even if their best and most experienced players in Greene, Coniglio and Kelly are all over 28.

But it’s not just the list that is promising, it’s their game style.

Adam Kingsley is another Hardwick disciple, like Craig McCrae, that has taken the Richmond tenets of how to win football games but added his own spin to it.

The way that this is working reminds me a lot of the Kyle Shanahan tree in the NFL.

The beauty of the Shanahan system is that it elevates talent because it simplifies the game for players, especially quarterbacks.

Coming off the Shanahan tree are names like McVay, LaFleur and McDaniel who have all had success in the NFL with varying degrees of quarterback ability.

This is in large part due to the way the gameplan is structured with the goal of simplifying the decision-making process for the quarterback.

Shanahan makes it an “if not this then that” type of game, instead of requiring 300 permutations to be considered in half a second.

Footy is obviously an entirely different game.

Shanahan, for instance, is a man that tells his quarterback where to go with the ball as if he’s playing Madden, you can’t point and shoot in footy.

But you can simplify the game, and that’s what Hardwick did.

Pressure and turnovers, embrace the game’s imperfections then build from there.

Kingsley has taken that and run with it. GWS sit first in one percenters, first in meters gained, first in tackles inside 50 and second in both turnovers and intercepts per game.

They also haven’t prioritised clearances despite having a dominant midfield, sitting 12th in stoppage clearances per game and 11th in clearances per game.

It looks very much like Richmond of the glory years.

The difference is that GWS has tended to get more of the ball this season than Richmond ever really tried to, ranking third in total disposals per game and fourth in both contested and uncontested ball.

The Tigers, in 2020 for example, were 13th in contested and uncontested ball and also 13th in disposals.

They didn’t prioritise that part of the game even while being first in metres gained by almost 300 metres per game, the size of the gap between second and fourteenth.

GWS is able to do this, instead of over possessing the ball like the Bulldogs do, because they are so very effective and skilled with ball in hand.

They’re 5th in footy for effective disposals per game, they don’t necessarily hack the ball forward like the Tigers did and play a less chaotic game as a result, at least while they have ball in hand.

They don’t defend with the ball, they look forward, but not to their detriment, which accounts for their metres gained per disposal number ranking 9th in footy.

Even if the system is a floor raiser, they have enough elite talent to compete as well.

What makes GWS so exciting is that they have aces in every line.

Up forward, obviously there’s Greene, the midfield is stacked, and down back is Sam Taylor who was All-Australian last year and is probably the best pure full back in footy today when he’s fit.

Around the aces is enough talent not to make them a stars and scrubs football team with players like Bedford, Himmelberg, Briggs and Ricciardi among others filling in what is a burgeoning middle class.

What could put GWS over the edge is the development of Aaron Cadman.

Again, I am loathe to say this, but if he was in Victoria his atrocious first year would be a bigger story. Cadman has played 12 games at 4.5 disposals per game.

He took 6 contested marks total in his 12 games and kicked 6 goals, while winning just 6.9% of his 1v1s.

Not great.

It’s one of the worst first years that I can remember from a number 1 pick.

Obviously, it’s too early to write him off but to compare his debut season to Rebecca Black’s might be doing the “Friday” singer a disservice.

If he is able to get better quickly over the next season or two, he could take some pressure off Jesse Hogan, another candidate for the biggest disappointment in recent memory (not for nightclub promoters) and Toby Greene.

Or maybe he’s a future defender where he might be able learn how to play.

Naturally, Cadman is a non-factor for this finals series. But GWS isn’t. They played the softest finalist in the Saints already. Now they’re playing the softest team that finished in the top 4 in Port.

If they win that, and they very well might given that every game is an away game for them, you wouldn’t want to see them in a prelim.

This just might be the year.

And even if it isn’t this year, we could very well enter the best run for giants since the BFG was published.

Like what you read from our new columnist?
Follow @Guywholikessport on Twitter or check out his FULL BLOG HERE