GWS Giants coach Adam Kingsley opens up on Jake Stringer, the premiership pursuit and life in western Sydney

When Jake Stringer arrived at GWS, Adam Kingsley was upfront with the former Bomber – he wasn’t ready for the work they did up there. But, as he tells JAY CLARK, things have changed.

Adam Kingsley was upfront with Jake Stringer.

When the former Essendon forward arrived at GWS Giants, his first few training sessions delivered something of a wake-up call.

Stringer wasn’t out of shape by any stretch, and slicing his foot open on a rock at a Sydney beach early on didn’t help things.

But if he was going to set himself up for a big season in 2025, Stringer had to overhaul his nutrition and prove himself on the track, or risk being left behind at his third club.

“The way we train is pretty hard, pretty intense,” Kingsley said.

“You’ve got to train pretty hard in order to try and recreate that (intensity) in games, and I think he got a little bit of a surprise in his first few sessions here.

“We hit the ground running and, to be honest, you expect them to do the work in the off-season when they are not here, so they are ready to go when they do get here.

“You pay them for 12 months, not for nine months.”

This was no soft landing for the premiership Bulldog.

Jake Stringer wasn’t exactly ready when he landed at the Giants. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Last year, GWS coughed up significant leads in both of its finals losses, blowing a 27-point second-term buffer to Sydney Swans and a whopping 44-point third-term cushion against premier Brisbane Lions as part of a crushing straight sets exit.

It was a brutal end to the season, and to some footy pundits, the Giants choked.

To Kingsley, his troops just didn’t respond to the opposition’s run-on.

So the Giants have gone to work on the specific actions required to pull the handbrake on the opposition when the momentum turns quickly against them in games this year.

And Stringer, 30, was the bargain trade acquisition (for pick 53), who had to get his body right as part of another fresh start to his 367-goal career.

But when he lobbed at the club, the initial assessments had shown over the off-season his overall weight had gone down, while his skinfolds had gone up a touch.

So the match winner turned to the club’s performance dietitian, Melissa Juergens, who set out every meal the forward would eat over the next few months as part of his most dedicated eating program.

Even the supermarket shopping list was mapped out in full detail.

And when Stringer returned from the Christmas break, there was a complete transformation, as the game breaker stripped nine millimetres of skinfold in three weeks.

Instead of diving into the fruit cake on his time off, Stringer knuckled down perhaps like never before.

Kingsley, who was enjoying regular coffee dates and conversations with Stringer to build the connection and trust in the background, knew his trimmed-down goal kicker was dialled in.

Stringer during training ahead of Opening Round as he recovers from a hamstring strain. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Adam Kingsley has put in the effort to build a connection with the former Bomber. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“Someone who does that over Christmas means they are not mucking around,” Kingsley said.

“That is the moment, for me, where I go right, ‘bang, he is in’. He has bought in.

“He is desperate to actually make this good. His actions suggest he is going above and beyond, if that is possible considering the money they (players) are paid.

“But I was very honest with him.

“If I don’t think you are aware of what is required then I will try to help you.

“If you are deliberately not doing it, then I will challenge you.”

That is Kingsley, direct as always.

When the senior coach talks, he looks you square in the eyes.

For him, clarity is key. On role, system, and expectation.

And it was that straight-shooting style which helped the former Port Adelaide premiership tough nut win the job over Adem Yze, Mark McVeigh and Alastair Clarkson when the Giants appointed him to replace Leon Cameron in 2022.

The Giants were widely tipped to finish bottom-four the next year, but Kingsley has led them to back-to-back finals finishes following a striking game style redesign.

Under him, the Orange Tsunami has become football’s top pressure team, who swamp and swarm the opposition.

In the club’s inner sanctum, the words ‘fearless, all-in, competitors’ are blazed across the wall, making it crystal clear in every meeting what is required.

It is compelling football to watch from a club desperately trying to capture the hearts and minds of locals in the middle of rugby league heartland.

And what will help catapult this club more than anything is its first AFL flag, having gone so close in 2016 (preliminary final), 2017 (preliminary final) 2019 (grand final), and 2023 (preliminary final).

GWS ruckman Kieren Briggs after last year’s semi-final loss to Brisbane. Picture: Phil Hillyard

On Sunday, the Giants take on a cherry ripe Collingwood without their three main key forward prongs in Jesse Hogan (thumb), Stringer (hamstring) and Jake Riccardi (suspended) at ENGIE Stadium.

Stringer strained his hamstring attempting to pick up a ground ball in a VFL practice match last week, but the Giants are confident the man nicknamed ‘The Package’ can produce some of his best football in his 13th season.

“He has put himself in a position to do that,” Kingsley said.

“I don’t know if it is a carrot, or just the awareness or realisation that he is still a really good player and could be an even better player.

“At 30, that is not common. But he is engaged.

“We have got to get him healthy again (hamstring), and we have got to maintain that mindset right the way throughout the year irrespective of how the season is playing out and what the results are saying.

“But him at his best, he is going to be a very important and influential player for us.”

But first up, the Giants had to address the agony of last year’s straight sets exit, and then dig into the reasons for the inexplicable second-half meltdowns.

Joe Daniher’s two boundary line blinders in the last four minutes of the semi-final to knock the Giants out won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

But Kingsley and his coaching crew have drilled into the mechanical failures.

And now they are back at the start line, hungry again to climb the mountain, despite a couple of losses in the pre-season which haven’t concerned the club too much.

“No doubt it is hard to put your neck on the line again and do the work required without any guarantees, because you can think ‘I have done it before and done it before that and it hasn’t been worth it,’ he said.

“So, people ask themselves, ‘Am I really prepared to invest my whole life into doing this again?

“There comes a point for some people when it isn’t worth it anymore.

“So all you can do is put yourself into a position to either succeed or fail again, and hopefully you have learned your lessons.

“But for our group, our metrics across the pre-season have shown that we have done the work.”

Kingsley has been in the hurt locker as a player. At Port, they lost in straight sets in 2001, got to the prelims in 2002 and 2003, before saluting in 2004.

The premiership road is mostly bumpy, even to the end.

“Even in the 2004 preliminary final we were 14 points down when Fraser Gehrig kicked his 100th goal and everyone ran on to the ground,” he said.

“We ended up winning by one goal, but if Fraser didn’t kick his 100th, stalling the game and giving us time to regroup, would we have lost another one?”

He tries not to spend any more time or emotional energy thinking about last year’s finals failures, and the commanding leads they somehow frittered away.

“It will always sit there, not as a motivator but as a disappointment, and if I find myself thinking about what might have been I catch myself and move on to what is next,” he said.

“There is no point, as we all know, living in the past, and staring into the rear vision mirror. You have your moments, but I think ‘now, let’s create a better one’.”

The high performance work over summer has included more high-speed running for the Giants. More power. And more work on the defensive structures.

While the Giants are the No. 1 pressure team, Kingsley said they had to improve how they stopped the opposition, in transition, and behind the ball.

“We have got work to do defensively I would say,” he said.

“We are the No.1 pressure team. In and around the source we are really prepared to do that.

“We have got to get better away from the ball at certain things – structurally but also when the ball is kicked into contest – we have got to win them.

“A lot of the time that is our strength, but sometimes it lets us down. We have to do some work on that.”

There is also monumental work off the field to build a $17 million aquatics centre at the edge of the club’s pristine training field.

The Sydney CBD is visible in the distance looking out from the deck of the club café which comes alive with GWS players’ parents after home games.

Bringing our community together 🧡 @BHFoundationAUpic.twitter.com/bEKLHuu3T0

— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) March 7, 2025

Currently, the players have a makeshift oversized shipping container operating as a plunge pool, which is the playing group’s favourite spot, albeit soon to be significantly upgraded.

But there is a tight-knit country footy club feel which wafts through GWS, and helps glue together players and staff who come together from all over the country.

And a cheeky social media strategy which seems to constantly infuriate its cross-town rivals, the Sydney Swans, while keeping the rest of the footy public chuckling.

Last week in a social media post, the club asked the AFL if it could also postpone its Opening Round game due to its luckless injuries, in a tongue-in-cheek dig at itself.

But the cyberspace wars don’t detract from the passion and intent inside the club to claim its first premiership cup.

Can we postpone our game as well @AFL? https://t.co/OtVOLbOkL6

— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) March 4, 2025

Kingsley knows a flag is vital for growth in western Sydney. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Kingsley can’t hide his passion and determination to win, having ditched the stress ball he used early on in the box to help absorb and mitigate some of his game day stress.

He’s working on it, he half jokes.

“You have moments because you want people to do well,” he said.

“You want to win and you want to do all these things, and with that it creates a little bit of stress at times, and that is normal. Every coach would have that.

“I do need to manage it and I need to keep improving on that space, but I love the job and the people I get to work with every day are terrific people.

“I love coming to work every day.

“Winning a premiership is vital for our growth. It needs to happen so we can be front of attention and turn on TV sets in western Sydney and (drive up) attendances and memberships.

“It (premiership) would be enormous for the game and it would be fantastic for the people who have been here from the start, like (CEO) David Matthews, (midfielders) Cal Ward and Stephen Coniglio, (captain) Toby Greene, (and coaching director) Alan McConnell.

“That is my motivation, so they can see the fruits of their hard work pay off at least once and hopefully more time than once.

“But as we know, it is bloody hard to win one.”