clobber sub-par – Michmutters

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GWS Giants, salary cap, Josh Kelly, Nick Haynes, Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper, Tanner Bruhn, Lachie Whitfield, Tom Green, trade, whispers

GWS Giants, salary cap, Josh Kelly, Nick Haynes, Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper, Tanner Bruhn, Lachie Whitfield, Tom Green, trade, whispers

GWS need to follow Collingwood’s lead and commit to a salary cap dump in a bid to rejuvenate a list that’s missing “an A-grader”, according to journalist Jon Ralph.

The Giants are languishing in 16th position with just five wins for 2022 – with coach Leon Cameron an early casualty.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, Ralph said the GWS salary cap reset was “officially on”, with a host of players set to be put up for trade.

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“I think rather than an exodus of players wanting to flee this club, I think it’s a really calculated decision by this club (that) we need to fix this salary cap issue once and for all,” he said.

“If you are going to do it, over three or four years, do it now with really tough decisions.

“Josh Kelly’s contract hits $1.2m at some stage – it’s back-ended, Nick Haynes next year is on over $800,000 – back-ended. That’s a decision the club’s made, but you can fix it right now.

“The inside mids will depart; Jacob Hopper, Tanner Bruhn, Bobby Hill as a small forward, I think to Collingwood.

“The Giants would love to keep Tim Taranto who can play as a medium forward, but he wants to play as an inside mid but they will not push him out.

“I think if someone wanted to pay Haynes’ salary, I think he’d be available.”

Super Swans clobber sub-par Giants | 01:02

Ralph said rumors of a Lachie Whitfield exit were incorrect, and said Tom Green would remain at the club too.

“Lachie Whitfield will not be part of a trade … he’s had an ankle that’s been so bad since Round 8 he’s needed surgery but he’s battled on,” he said.

“Tom Green, happy, contracted, part of those 14 players (called out by caretaker coach Mark McVeigh) and that brings the speculation that he won’t be there.

Collingwood missed the flag. Two years later, the salary cap exodus. I think it’s taken one more year but they are going to do something about it and it’s going to cause a ripple effect.

“Over a million bucks of cap space over next year and potentially years to come as well.”

GWS Giants press conference | 10:43

Ralph said the exits of Hopper, Bruhn, Hill and Taranto would still leave the Giants with the likes of Stephen Coniglio, Kelly, Green and Whitfield.

And it would free up some space to target an “A-grader” like Collingwood’s Brodie Grundy.

“They’ve got three ruckmen who are probably worth $1 million (combined) – none of them are A-graders,” Ralph said.

“Would you make strong decisions to bring in Brodie Grundy, pay him his $1 million and you’ve got A-graders, difference makers.

“You might create space for the key position forward. It’s not they’ve got too many stars, it’s they are an unbalanced list which is why they want to bring in a key position forward and maybe a ruckman.”

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AFL: Play for 300 or not? Sydney Swans great Josh Kennedy ‘living in moment’

AFL: Play for 300 or not? Sydney Swans great Josh Kennedy 'living in moment'

Sydney Swans champion Josh Kennedy is yet to make up his mind about playing on next year. Either that, or coach John Longmire isn’t giving anything away.

Kennedy technically edged one game closer to his 300-game milestone on Saturday as the medical substitute despite not being used in the Swans’ crushing 73-point triumph over the Giants.

The 34-year-old, who has played 290 matches and would need to extend into next season to reach 300, is yet to return to the senior side since recovering from a serious hamstring injury.

He has played three consecutive VFL contests, including winning 25 disposals and laying six tackles for Sydney’s reserves after the seniors got the job done.

The Swans gatecrashed the top four with their fourth-straight win – the first time they have achieved that this year – and that promises to make a potential fairytale finish more difficult for the former co-captain.

Players such as prized early draftees Logan McDonald and Braeden Campbell, veteran defender Harry Cunningham and forwards Sam Wicks, Ben Ronke and Hayden McLean are also stuck at the lower level.

“I had a brief chat with him a couple of weeks ago about how he’s feeling about (playing on),” Longmire said of Kennedy.

“He said, ‘All I want to do is get back and play this year’, so he’s very much a live-in-the moment-type of person.

“He’s just wanting to get his body right and come back and play, so that’s the way he wanted to approach it. Josh will be the driver of that.”

Longmire oftens fends off selection-related questions at his Monday media conferences by leaning on it being too early in the week to answer and he did so again about Kennedy’s chances of facing North Melbourne.

He said there would be more than just sentiment involved, particularly in regards to Kennedy’s impending milestone, when deciding whether Kennedy continued into a 17th season.

The coach expects ruckmen Tom Hickey and Peter Ladhams to both available this weekend, the latter after missing the past three games with a broken thumb on his dominant right hand.

At what level Ladhams returns at remains to be determined, Longmire said, especially with Sam Reid’s renaissance season as a forward-ruck creating a “good problem”.

With that in mind, he is wary of the last-placed Kangaroos’ centre-bounce prowess, especially after Sydney needed to kick the final four goals against them in round 4 to escape with an 11-point victory.

That is partly why Longmire won’t even contemplate viewing the clash as a possible percentage-booster that could help the Swans’ top-four hopes.

“They’ve obviously changed coach the last three weeks, their clearance stuff is through the roof and their ground-balls are No.1 in the comp, so we’re still mindful of what they can do when they well,” Longmire said .

“We got an experience of that first-hand early in the year.”

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Sydney Swans v GWS Giants, Mark McVeigh, coach, job, Alastair Clarkson, vacant position, brutally honest, checked out, embarrassing loss, criticism, Nick Riewoldt

Sydney Swans v GWS Giants, Mark McVeigh, coach, job, Alastair Clarkson, vacant position, brutally honest, checked out, embarrassing loss, criticism, Nick Riewoldt

Mark McVeigh’s brutally honest assessment that his players “checked out” in the 73-point Sydney derby loss could cost him the Giants’ senior coaching job, Fox Footy’s Nick Riewoldt has warned.

McVeigh did not hold back in his post-match criticism, as he labeled the performance “embarrassing” and “extremely disappointing”, while stating only eight players “went to the wall” for four quarters.

Speaking about McVeigh’s stunning statement, Riewoldt said he feared the comments could cost the caretaker coach the full-time gig in 2023.

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“I think it puts a line through it (his coaching aspirations at GWS),” he said on Best on Ground.

“If that’s the concession that you’re making as a coach, that you think some of your players have checked out and you are responsible for getting the players up every week, I think it becomes very difficult for the club to say: ‘You ‘re the man going forward’.”

McVeigh remains in the running for the full-time job next season, reportedly alongside four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, Melbourne’s Adem Yze and Richmond’s Adam Kingsley.

Fellow panelist and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said he admired McVeigh’s honesty.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard those comments,” he said.

“That’s as honest as you can get.

GWS Giants press conference | 10:43

“That comment… I love to see that because that is absolutely honest. If that’s his opinion of him, and you’ve got to take that at face value, it’s a real challenge.

The Giants were smashed in all the stats that mattered, down -117 in disposals, -33 in inside 50s and -24 in tackles – including laying just six inside 50 for the match.

Riewoldt said the result isn’t a direct reflection on McVeigh’s ability as a coach, but raised questions about his connection with the players.

“It doesn’t mean that he can’t coach. But the ability to get this group up … how can the Giants, if they think the players have checked out under his coaching, how can they have confidence to make that appointment?” Riewoldt said.

“I think it puts them in a really difficult position to go and appoint him after that.”

Buckley said he now wanted to see what sort of response the Giants players had in the clash with Essendon.

why? Preuss FLATTENS Rowbottom | 00:23

“The next couple of weeks will be what tells you about Mark McVeigh’s bona fides as a coach and his connection with those players because they will respond to that? Because there’s always something to play for,” he said.

“The response is going to say more than the comment.”

Earlier this month, McVeigh confirmed he would enter the race to become the Giants coach for 2023 and beyond.

(The club hierarchy) have been very open with me and terrific, they’ve been amazing and they’ve supported me,” he said.

“There are other coaches that they’ll be talking to, which is absolutely right (to do), and I’m just another one of those that are trying to win the role.

“I certainly know where it sits and I’m very clear on the approach going forward.”

GWS will face Essendon, the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle in the final three rounds.

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Giants coach Mark McVeigh slams own team after Sydney Swans thrashing

Giants coach Mark McVeigh slams own team after Sydney Swans thrashing

The GWS Giants have been lambasted by interim coach Mark McVeigh who said the club was embarrassed in their 17.10 (112) to 5.9 (39) thumping in the Sydney Derby and questioned whether some of his players had “checked out”.

The Sydney Swans victory was courtesy of their highest margin in a derby since 2015 and further incurred humiliation on a Giants outfit that have won only five games for the season and now sit in a 16th position.

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It’s a horrible predicament for a list still laden with so much talent and that prompted McVeigh to lash out post-game.

“We embarrassed our club,” he said.

“They’re far superior to us at the moment, clearly. It’s an unfortunate part of dealing with whether players have checked out or not.”

“I’m extremely disappointed with our midfield as a whole today. It’s just pure work rate and effort. Wanting to defend, wanting to tackle. The motivation should be how proud you are of you as a player and how proud you are of playing for the Giants.”

McVeigh said only eight players in Sam Taylor, Harry Perryman, Josh Kelly, Callan Ward, Adam Kennedy, Lachie Whitfield, Jesse Hogan and Toby Greene “went to the wall” and fought through until the end of the game.

The former Essendon great said he spent a long time in the rooms with the players after the game and sat in silence to see what responses were elicited from the playing group.

I have added that there needs to be a leadership change over in the playing group at the club.

“Without going too much into it we got some good honest feedback from our peers and players which is good. Some players spoke up that you don’t often hear from which is what we need from this club going forward.”

McVeigh singled out two players as future leaders of the club in Harry Perryman, who did an excellent job tagging Swans jet Chad Warner and Sam Taylor who was supreme at the back yet again as he pushes for an All-Australian guernsey and first best and fairest award.

“He is severely dominating games. I’d hate to think if he wasn’t playing how many goals they would have kicked. He’s a star, absolute star,” McVeigh said.

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