GWS has now lost the most
ranking points of any club this season, and fallen from third to sixth on these
rankings (though if the Giants had kicked a bit more accurately in front of goal
on the weekend they would probably be fifth). It has been often noted by the
media and fans this year that the
Giants’ players have missed a lot of games through injuries. But how much
has that really contributed to the Giants’ loss of form (noting that they are
still an above average side)?
The biggest loss this year for
the Giants has been Stephen Coniglio, who was one
of the Giants most productive players last year, and has so far missed most
of the season. Many matches have also been missed by Ryan Griffen and new
recruit Brett Deledio. Deledio of course wasn’t there last season so he doesn’t
really explain anything in terms of the Giants’ form compared with 2016.
The other regular productive
Giants to miss significantly more time than last season are Toby Greene (who
has missed five games), Steve Johnson (five games), Rory Lobb (four games), and
Lachie Whitfield (seven games). Greene and Whitfield
have lost time to suspensions rather than injury. Devon Smith and Nick Haynes have
also missed matches, but at comparable rates to last season.
So Coniglio, Griffen, Johnson,
and Lobb are arguably the only important players from 2016 that have missed
significantly more time to injury this season. But the suspensions of Greene
and Whitfield have added to that extra time lost. Johnson has also been a lot
less productive than last season, which has added to the Giants’ decline.
In terms of other changes of
form for regular players many SuperCoach owners will tell you (including me)
that Heath Shaw has been significantly less productive than last season. Many SuperCoach owners (including me) will also tell you that Josh Kelly has been
significantly more productive. If you consider statistics to at least be
indicative of a player’s value then there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot more
that is different among the Giants’ regular group. So it’s really more to do
with the Giants’ ‘replacement players’. They have had to use them more often
due to injuries and suspensions. Also, their ‘replacement players’ haven’t been
as good – they lost a couple of better ones over the off-season in Rhys Palmer
and Jack Steele, and Matthew Buntine has generally been unavailable this
season.
The Giants were great last
season with most of their top players being regularly on the field. This season
they have lost a few of them for significant amounts of time, and have been
merely good. They could well improve if Coniglio and Griffen become regulars
again and others can stay on the park a little more often; if not then having to use their thinner
reserves may keep them from reaching their heights of 2016 in the near future.
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