Greater Western Sydney re-signs rising star Harry Himmelberg to a new four-year deal

GWS has got its retention drive off to a flying start with rising star Harry Himmelberg re-signing with the Giants on a bumper four-year deal. But now all eyes are locked on Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio.

Greater Western Sydney has got its retention drive off to a flying start with rising star Harry Himmelberg re-signing with the Giants on a bumper four-year deal.

The Giants have confirmed the new deal after The Daily Telegraph revealed they had agreed to terms with the 22-year-old goalkicking forward.

GWS remains hopeful they will also lock in the signatures of superstar vice-captains Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio.

The club has been criticised in some quarters for the talent they’ve let go in recent seasons, but the re-signing of Himmelberg continues a concerted push to fortify the long-term success of the club.

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Himmelberg’s new contract looks set to take him through to the end of the 2023 season, while fellow young guns Toby Greene and Nick Haynes are already under lock and key until the end of 2024.

The Giants have high hopes the gifted Himmelberg will develop into a consistent 40-goal a season forward, with his contested mark ability inside 50 standing out since moving permanently into the forward line.

“I’m very excited. It ended up being a pretty easy decision for me,” Himmelberg said this morning when he fronted the media.

Co-captains Callan Ward and Phil Davis still have three seasons left to serve on their current deals, as does speedy small forward Brent Daniels, first-round draft pick Aiden Bonar and home grown Campbelltown midfielder Nick Shipley.

Harry Himmelberg will be at the Giants for a while yet. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The next assignment for the Giants is to land the signatures of competition benchmark players Kelly and Coniglio.

However, in the meantime, at least GWS can celebrate key man Kelly kickstarting his season against Richmond at Giants Stadium on Saturday after being sat out of the opening rounds as a precaution following off-season hip and knee surgery.

Kelly will play, but in a blow to the Giants, they will have to wait at least another week to get back game-changing forward Greene.

Coach Leon Cameron admits the club has had to learn lessons from the way they managed soft tissue injuries last year when their casualty ward was overflowing — and the decision to hold back Kelly in rounds one and two, and now Greene, is part of that learning.

Cameron said it was still 50-50 whether he rushed ruckman Shane Mumford into the ruck after his early season suspension, but Kelly is a certain starter.

“Josh is frustrated he didn’t play last week but we expect him to step up to the plate, he’s in good shape,” Cameron said.

“He wanted to play (against West Coast) but the high-performance guys wanted him to do some work and he did a really good session on Saturday.

“All going well he’ll play on the weekend.”

Cameron said the club has realised they must play the long game with their stars and will rest Greene again.

“Like (we did with) Josh we’ll probably err on the cautious side and give Toby another week (off),” Cameron said.

“We need him up and running and playing good footy for two or three months on end, not for two or three weeks like we had last year, then out for two weeks.

Harry Himmelberg has continued to develop at an impressive rate. Picture: Getty Images

“There’s no doubt you learn lessons all the time.

“It’s a long season, it’s a marathon, so we need our players (out there) for the majority of the journey.”

Mumford, who is ready to return from his injury-forced retirement, remains up in the air.

“He’s ready to play AFL footy if we pick him, what we have to determine is whether or not we play Dawson, (Simpson) and him, or just Shane,” said Cameron.