Heath Shaw blasts teammate Aidan Corr after GWS escapes against Fremantle
THE GWS Giants escaped with four points against Fremantle, and coach Leon Cameron isn’t worried about a heated post-match exchange two of his players. WATCH IT
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THE Giants’ push for a maiden premiership has a pulse but barely after yet another come from behind win to down Fremantle by 12 points at Spotless Stadium.
GWS trailed by 15 points at three quarter time but booted five goals to two in the final term to hold onto their spot in the top four.
WATCH HEATH SHAW’S POST-SIREN EXCHANGE ABOVE
A brilliant piece of sharpshooting from the Giants multi-million dollar man Josh Kelly sealed the deal with just over a minute on the clock.
The critical goal capped a brilliant display from Kelly who was superb all day with a team high 27 possessions including 11 contested.
He was well supported by Stephen Coniglio whose return from injury was pivotal as the midfield workhorse stamped his authority on the match with his hard-nosed attack on the ball and his footy smarts.
He finished with 27 touches himself and could be the magic ingredient the Giants need to spark their season which has gone cold as ice in the last month and half.
“He’s our vice-captain for a reason,” Giants coach Leon Cameron said.
“To play like he did first up with the team down on confidence in the last quarter he found a way. He put his team on his back.”
Dylan Shiel was enormous as well with a huge last quarter when he picked up 13 possessions and drove the Giants forward continually as the Dockers started to tire.
In his first game at the Giants journeyman ruckman Dawson Simpson was also very impressive as he filled the enormous shoes left by the injured Shane Mumford.
He finished with 44 hit outs for the day and also marked well around the ground. With Mumford likely to be out for at least another week Cameron can feel confident in his replacement.
“Dawson is a big show of playing next week,” Cameron said.
“Mumford and Simpson playing together is a discussion for next week but Dawson’s spirit and his ability to keep on keeping on helped our players get over the line.”
The Giants forward set up looked better with Jeremy Cameron back in the team after a two week absence with a hamstring. He managed just one goal for the day but had five shots and worked well up the ground.
Rory Lobb was the best of the forwards as he continued his improvement. He pulled down seven marks including four contested to go with his two goals. He also was very handy in the ruck helping out Simpson with 14 hit outs.
Jonathon Patton also booted two majors as did Matt Kennedy who continues to improve each week.
“We need to improve 20 per cent to compete with the top teams,” Cameron said.
“If we don’t we’ll lose by those three or four goal margins.”
Cameron also said he did have some concerns about the public nature of a verbal clash between Heath Shaw and Aidan Corr after the final siren but welcomed the competitive edge it brought.
“Heath is Heath,” Cameron said.
“He doesn’t get reported, the last time was years ago. He plays on edge for the right reason. He challenges his team mates and we want that because those sort of 250 game players use all their leadership on a young group that are a little out of form at the moment.”
The Dockers were forced to play much of the match a man down after Connor Blakely dislocated his shoulder in the first quarter.
It took more than 10 minutes for the Fremantle medical team to put the shoulder back in the socket and surprisingly he returned to the action in the next quarter only to dislocate it again.
“I’m not qualified to comment,” Ross Lyon said after the game.
“I’ve got full confidence in our doctors. I think you see it all the time in the AFL, people coming off the ground with injuries, get assessed and come back on. I remember Darren Cresswell’s knee cap coming out and he banged it back in, it happens.”
GWS 3.5 6.7 8.11 13.20 (98) def FREMANTLE 3.3 6.6 11.8 13.8 (86)
Goals: Greater Western Sydney: J Patton 2 M Kennedy 2 R Lobb 2 D Smith J Cameron J Kelly L Whitfield M De Boer N Haynes T Scully.
Fremantle: S Kersten 3 B Grey 2 N Fyfe 2 B Hill D Mundy D Tucker E Hughes H Ballantyne N Suban.
Umpires: Justin Schmitt, Mathew Nicholls, Brent Wallace.
Official Crowd: 11,233 at Spotless Stadium.
NEIL CORDY’S VOTES:
3 Josh Kelly
2 Nat Fyfe
1 Dylan Shiel
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