The footy boss: A in-depth look at all things Greater Western Sydney Giants
Brad Lloyd tried prawns and a boat to lure Cale Hooker to Freo, but failed. He reveals what GWS’ pitch to Clayton Oliver would have looked like, and how the Giants turn him into Matt Rowell.
The trade period required some quick manoeuvring for the Giants, as they took to the water to win over Clayton Oliver and juggled some surprises with their defenders.
Oliver comes to GWS as a low-cost, high-reward trade that may help Adam Kingsley’s side continue its build to contention.
CLAYTON COMES IN
As a player that has had some challenges in Melbourne, Clayton Oliver presented a great opportunity for GWS at a low cost.
The key part of the trade was that part of Oliver’s salary was covered by Melbourne. If he was moving with his full wage, the trade wouldn’t have happened with any club.
Interestingly he was in Sydney anyway around the start of the trade period so it was fortuitous that GWS was able to catch up with him.
Part of the acquisition of players often is to take them out of their environment, particularly for interstate clubs.
It is very hard to interview players at clubs with the media interest at that time of the year and clubs will often take unique ways just to have conversations with players and give them a taste of the lifestyle.
Some players wouldn’t know the GWS landscape that well, so to give him a taste of that scenery probably added to the appeal and for Clayton getting away.
The pictures showed it looked like a good time on the Blue Goose boat for Clayton and his future teammates and club leaders.
I haven’t been on a boat recruiting attempt since trying to lure Cale Hooker out of Essendon in 2016, when I was working at Fremantle.
Cale was a West Australian, originally from East Fremantle, and a free agent at that time.
We certainly had the prawns out and it was a beautiful boat. We had a few Dockers players on board to try and win Cale over but he was committed to Essendon and we couldn’t prise him out.
The big consideration for GWS would have been how Oliver and Tom Green fit in the same midfield.
You can often only have one bull like that but if these type of moves work out it can disrupt ways of playing. You may then have other clubs wanting to follow suit.
Finn Callaghan becomes really important now given his running ability. Both Oliver and Green will have to have big pre-seasons and work on that transition game so they can complement each other on the outside as well.
Matt Rowell is a player who has been able to really add to his game with his outside work and his running ability, and clearly it has paid off given the Gold Coast star won the Brownlow Medal this year.
We all know at his best, Oliver is a strong inside-mid and huge contest winner.
The mix in the midfield may be a query but he is every chance to be an All-Australian at the end of the season.
The Giants have shown they can add players into their system and watch them thrive given Jesse Hogan moved up to GWS and won a Coleman Medal.
For some of these high profile players, these moves make sense to the football world as a way to get a fresh start out of the spotlight.
JAKE THE ROOKIE
Jake Stringer was one of the highest-profile players to be delisted by a club with a promise to be added to the rookie list.
Often you just don’t have enough room on the senior list to fit in who you need to and moving a player off the primary list to a rookie spot opens up that primary slot.
The base salary of rookie-listed players – which will be $105,000 in 2026 – fits outside the salary cap and anything above that has to go inside the cap.
Often clubs don’t quite have a spot on their senior list and experienced players are pretty reasonable in these situations where they are happy to come off the list and go on to a rookie list.
It is really a paperwork thing, it doesn’t change anything for the player or the club, and the player should still get their full wage.
There has always been a query on abolishing the rookie list but it falls under a different set of rules.
It just gives the whole competition a bit of flexibility and clubs use it to fit their needs.
LIST OVERVIEW
List changes – In: Clayton Oliver (Melbourne), Jayden Laverde (likely DFA, Essendon)
Out:Jacob Wehr (Port Adelaide), Callan Ward, Lachie Keeffe (retired), Josh Fahey, Wade Derksen (delisted)
List gaps
The Giants were clearly planning for moves to happen heading into the trade period.
They expected Wade Derksen to go to Melbourne and Leek Aleer appeared a lock for St Kilda, so GWS had to plan ahead.
As a result they needed to get some tall back depth, and committed to Jayden Laverde, who was delisted from Essendon.
When you want defensive depth you want someone who has played at the level and Laverde has that experience.
GWS was pretty comfortable accepting a pick they could use for Leek to go to St Kilda, they had all intentions to move Leek but obviously that trade fell over. Even following that, the Giants will honour the commitment they already made to Jayden.
Wade’s move to Melbourne also fell through and the Giants delisted him.
Through this period you are planning for what is going to happen but if things fall over you may have some extras there and do things you weren’t planning for, given two of the three expected moves didn’t happen with Derksen and Aleer not going where expected and Laverde committed to as cover.
That is where player managers become really important, to make sure if they are looking to move a player that they have got it water tight so the trade happens.
The Leek situation can be seen as a reversed failed trade, and I thought GWS handled it really well. They were pretty quiet on Leek all the way through, didn’t burn bridges on that end and were able to support him.
GWS were able to quickly get him re-signed when St Kilda backed away and move on with it.
That is professional sport and Leek ideally didn’t burn bridges behind the scenes so he can go back in and I think after the experience he went through he probably will feel indebted to GWS for sticking with him after that situation.
In reality, Leek appeared very happy at GWS and didn’t want to leave but it was an offer too good to refuse. It didn’t eventuate so he continues on at his current club.
List strengths
Having played finals in each of the last three seasons, the Giants have a stable list and have been able to add to their midfield at a cheap cost. They have done well over the off-season.
Draft hand – 12, 35
GWS traded picks 14 and 37 to the Western Bulldogs for pick 12 and even if it may not seem like a big move, creeping up the draft order can put you in the mix for quality players.
Normally if you have pick 12 you get one of the top eight or nine players you have ranked.
The Giants have been public in the past that they often draft for list needs rather than picking the best available talent.
When you are really high up the order with top five picks it is hard to pick for needs but that pick 12 spot gives them a good opportunity where you are just slightly out of the running for the high-end players
It is a really good spot for their style of picking.
Salary cap
As mentioned above, a key part of the Oliver deal was that Melbourne will continue to pay part of his salary while he plays for GWS.
It was a calculated decision from GWS and in one way you are recruiting a player from another club but you are also alleviating a cap problem at the Demons at the same time.
With the long contracts handed out to players like Oliver, you are looking for retention but also ideally by the back-end of the contract you are getting the player at a good price because the market has gone up for players.
The majority of these contracts do work out for the club but every now and then we see it doesn’t pay off and you end up with a bit of a problem on your hands so it becomes easier to move part of that wage off the books.
When trade talks begin, clubs negotiate a salary and it will impact the pick used to get a player.
The more money GWS would have taken off the books, the lesser pick they would have needed to get and Oliver eventually went for a future third round choice.
It depends on what currency the club has and values at that time. Melbourne got a good return for Christian Petracca so may have been focused on freeing up money in the Oliver deal.
You have a couple of levers you can work with to get the balance right.
HIGH PERFORMANCE CHECK-IN
The Giants brought in Jackson Dennis from Fremantle after long-time head of high performance Nick Poulos moved into consulting work.
Dennis was well respected at Fremantle, where he was the strength and conditioning manager and built strong relationships with the Dockers players, so will look to bring that over to his new club.
THE COACH’S BOX
It was great to see Robbie Chancellor get an opportunity at GWS after putting time into the New South Wales pathway.
He was named coach of the year in the AFL Sydney competition this year for his work with the UNSW Eastern Suburbs club and brings experience in that market.
Robbie also has strong experience at a number of other AFL clubs and has worked alongside Adam Kingsley so would know him well.
He is someone who has dedicated himself to his craft in coaching in the talent pathways in Victoria with the Western Jets and with VFL club Port Melbourne.
GWS suffered two heartbreaking losses in the 2024 finals series, giving up leads to Sydney and Brisbane, and lost an elimination final to Hawthorn this year after hitting the front in the final term.
In 2023, the Giants lost a preliminary final to the Magpies by just one point, so have had four tough finals losses in a row.
They have been in big games and challenged over the last couple of years but I see this as a necessary step for a club by learning in big moments and building resilience.
I see them going through these experiences as crucial parts of their growth and they won’t be the first team that has been through similar tough finals games. They will be better for it and better placed to close out those games going forward.
FRONT OFFICE
GWS’ social media work has caught my eye and been noted internally at other clubs.
Given their non-traditional football market, the Giants may have had a bit more licence to push the envelope with their social posting.
It can be a bit more of a challenge for the more traditional clubs to step into that space but the Giants have been able to push the boundaries a bit and extend everyone’s comfort zones.
It is not often I cover off a move in the social team but Giants’ head of content Jacob Gaynor will move to the Tasmania Devils in January, which is a smart move for the Devils to be dynamic in this space as they enter the competition.
GWS has been steady in their key roles with football GM Jason McCartney and head of talent Adrian Caruso now really long-term employees.
Adrian has come through more of an analyst pathway having worked at Champion Data and has been able to build his resume through his club role and has been in the system a long time now.
Originally published as The footy boss: A in-depth look at all things Greater Western Sydney Giants
Every club graded: Ex-No. 1 pick left in limbo after AFLW trade period
