GWS Giants coach Leon Cameron to feel squeeze if players don’t respond quickly in key areas

GWS co-captain Phil Davis might believe his team is better placed than previous years to win an AFL premiership, but Mick McGuane writes coach Leon Cameron must arrest an alarming trend.

Phil Davis and the Giants were outplayed by the Lions last week. Pic: Getty Images

Unless GWS can dramatically resurrect their forward half game, you can clearly put a strike through them to win a premiership.

Captain Phil Davis said earlier this week that he felt the Giants were better placed to win a flag than they’ve ever been, but I think those comments are way off the mark.

The pressure is starting to mount on coach Leon Cameron — something he would be acutely aware of.

Leon knows that he’s got a great team at his disposal and he would be extremely frustrated about whether or not his message is actually getting through.

There are some actions in the group that are really healthy, like their contested ball game for example, which is always strong.

However, in the context that AFL footy is so much about being able to score on the back of turnover, I just question whether the actions of the players are in unison with the coach’s delivery about how to set up those actions.

That’s where there seems to be a disconnect at the moment.

Phil Davis and the Giants were outplayed by the Lions last week. Pic: Getty Images

Not only are they not getting enough turnovers or scoring off the back of them, but they’re also giving the ball back to the opposition and getting scored against themselves.

It’s all about the GWS defence. Their offence will look after itself because the motor car stays on the straight road.

But when you’ve got a bit of a hump to overcome, that’s the challenge for them and they’ve got some serious work to do.

To have the Brisbane Lions score 45 points — more than seven goals — from the back half last week is quite alarming.

If GWS don’t tighten up either their defensive structure, or players aren’t prepared to work hard enough to switch from offence to defence to keep the ball either in their half of the ground or generate a front half game, they will come back to the field very quickly.

The proof is in the pudding that the Giants scored only one behind from forward half intercepts against the Lions.

That’s just an extraordinarily low number considering they allowed Brisbane to score 45 points from their defensive half.

Toby Greene lays his one tackle last week. Pic: Getty Images

They’re just not giving themselves a chance to win turnover ball in the forward half of the ground to hit the scoreboard and that’s clearly alarming.

Since round 11, the Giants have only scored 13.4 points per game from forward half intercepts, and that’s ranked last in the competition. That’s not good enough.

They miss Lachie Whitfield, who they get back this week, but then they lose Josh Kelly which is disheartening for them.

Harry Himmelberg was a great example of how potent GWS can be. I thought he worked really hard both sides of the ball.

But does Jeremy Cameron do enough once the ball hits the ground, to keep it in there? You could argue, probably not.

Jeremy Finlayson didn’t have a great game last week and he and Toby Greene — as good as he is offensively — only had one tackle between them in a game of footy.

There are guys who aren’t doing enough in that area of the ground to put their defensive imprimatur on the game.

Originally published as GWS Giants coach Leon Cameron to feel squeeze if players don’t respond quickly in key areas