GWS Giants ‘mind-boggling’ playing list leaves rivals in the dust, says list expert
GWS’s list is so far ahead on talent than its rivals one list expert says it’s the biggest in history and Tim Watson believes they could kick a huge score in 2017.
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THE talent gap between GWS and the rest of the competition is the biggest in history according to one list expert and Essendon great Tim Watson believes the Giants are so far ahead and could kick “almost 40 goals in a game” this year.
GWS have been installed as the favourites to win this year’s premiership, while some have gone one step further and anointed them premiers by declaring every other club is playing for second in 2017.
With 10 top five draft picks on its list — the most of any club — and a combined 22 top-20 picks, the Giants’ clearly have the most top-end talent of any of its rivals.
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That puts them in an envious position and able to inflict maximum damage on the field.
“Don’t be surprised if at some stage this year they score almost 40 goals in a game,” Watson said on SEN.
“At some stage they’ll get on a roll against a side, say mid-season, that’s down and depleted, they’ve got the capacity to do that more than any side.”
The Giants were expected to win through to last year’s Grand Final after upsetting minor premiers Sydney to progress to the preliminary final only to be upset themselves by Western Bulldogs.
Bulldogs skipper Bob Murphy, who watched his team surge to a memorable victory from the coaches’ box, saw the talent of the Giants first hand.
“They’re formidable,” he said. “Their running ability, they’re tough around the ball, they’ve got it all. They’ve got good keys (key position players), they’ve got good players around the ball but their running power just on the outside was (a standout).”
But Garry Lyon isn’t convinced this year’s premiership race is already over.
“These kids just get better and better and better,” Lyon said. “We all knew this was going to happen but we all thought Gold Coast was going to be, with a similar amount of concessions, was going to happen as well but it hasn’t to the same degree.
“Just because you’ve got the concessions doesn’t mean it follows that you’re going to be a premiership contender in a short period of time.”
Chris Pelchen, who helped build Port Adelaide and Hawthorn’s premiership lists, said there had never been a bigger chasm in talent between one side and the rest of the competition.
He expects the Giants to win at least three flags by 2025.
The AFL has already made moves to lessen their stunning array of academy talent, considering allowing top-four sides only one top-20 academy selection that season.
Recruiters say GWS Academy key forward Jarrod Brander could be the best of this year’s draft crop.
GWS academy midfielders Charlie Spargo (son of former Kangaroo Paul) and Jack Powell could also be top-25 picks.
On the weekend a side without many of its stars swept by West Coast while debuting poised No.2 draft selection Tim Taranto and No.5 pick Will Setterfield.
The Giants will this year run out with seven players nabbed as the first or second overall draft selection, 10 top-five selections and 14 top-10 draft selections.
GWS has four players who were drafted with the first overall pick, the first team in history to have more than three No.1 picks.
PICKS OF THE CROP (Source: Champion Data)
In contrast Adelaide does not have a single players picked inside the top 10, while Geelong has no players drafted inside the top five.
As one recruiter said: “Everyone is playing for the second spot in the Grand Final. It’s mind-boggling how strong they are”.
Pelchen said the Giants’ shock preliminary finals loss to the Western Bulldogs last year has not swayed the experts.
“That tsunami we speculated about has finally reached the shore and we are about to see the crashing of the waves,’’ he said.
“I have been involved in drafting since the inception of the draft in 1986 and I have never seen such a big discrepancy between one side and the rest of the competition.
“We all know you need to put things together on Grand Final day but they will get multiple opportunities over the next decade to win more than one premiership.
“I fully expect between now and 2025 they will win three premierships. That would be the expectation and anything above that is possible. I fully believe they will win three premierships in the next nine years.”
The AFL is asking clubs for its feedback on a policy which would see top-four clubs allowed only one academy player in the top 20 picks and top-eight clubs two top-20 picks.
The AFL is yet to rule on whether Brander will remain a part of the GWS academy because his parents have moved from NSW town Wentworth into Victoria’s Mildura.
It means his primary residence is no longer in the GWS zone, but the Giants argued last year he was still linked to them.
Brander, a mobile 195cm athletic forward, is on a cricket scholarship at Geelong Grammar and due to knee issues sustained in cricket has not played much recent high-level football.
The Giants were stripped of 1000 draft points — about equal to pick 17 — in this year’s draft over the Lachie Whitfield saga.
It means they would have to go into points deficit or trade a player to be able to bid on and secure Brander if he stays as a top-10 draft prospect.
Pelchen, whose AFL talent-spotting business has now partnered with an international company to become Pro Scout International, agrees their access to the stream of top-end talent should be limited.
“We all know you need establishment clubs in new markets to be successful. But it is one thing to achieve success and another to have prolonged success to the detriment of those who have been around for 100-plus years,’’ he said.
“There is so much talent at the one club and we have said the salary cap will (equalise everything). But if they keep on drafting smartly that doesn’t have to be the case for them.
“The AFL are now seeing the effects of the most beneficial establishment rules given to any club in the history of the game.
“While the AFL might not acknowledge it openly we are seeing the evidence that those rules were a bit grandiose and generous.”
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Originally published as GWS Giants ‘mind-boggling’ playing list leaves rivals in the dust, says list expert
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