GWS star Stephen Coniglio rules himself out of AFL grand final

Stephen Coniglio’s hopes of playing in Saturday’s AFL decider are over, but the Giants star is confident his absence won’t affect the belief in the GWS camp.

Giants Stephen Coniglio during the GWS Giants open training and fans session ahead of their AFL Grand Final with Richmond this week. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Stephen Coniglio’s fairytale push for a grand final berth is over after ruling himself out.

The GWS Giants superstar was given the right to make a call on his own destiny and has ultimately decided he doesn’t want to risk letting down his teammates.

Coniglio was put through a rigorous final fitness test at GWS’s main training session on Wednesday but just a couple of hours later has told coach Leon Cameron and staff he is pulling out of the race.

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Stephen Coniglio in action at Giants training. Picture. Phil Hillyard

On social media, a video showed the gut-running midfielder realising his quest was over as he left the training track.

But he said his absence wouldn’t affect his teammates.

“You know the best part, the best part of this whole thing ... this year we lost players, we lost stars, but we never lost belief,” Coniglio said on a GWS video.

“That’s why we’ll win it.”

It would have been an extraordinary effort from Coniglio if he had got himself out, given he went down on July 14 with a knee injury which required surgery that was supposed to be season-ending.

After the final siren of the preliminary final, players were convinced Coniglio was no chance of playing the next week.

Coniglio knows his race is run. Pic: Twitter // @GWSGiants

But over Sunday, Monday and Tuesday optimism gradually grew to the point Cameron had declared Coniglio a 50-50 proposition leading into today’s main training.

It’s a heartbreaking story for GWS and Coniglio given he is a foundation Giant.

He also signed a lifetime contract with the club on the eve of the finals where he turned down the chance to earn millions of dollars more at Victorian clubs.

General manager of football for GWS Wayne Campbell said it was an incredibly selfless decision from Coniglio, given doctors had told him he wasn’t risking any structural damage by playing.

Coach Leon Cameron with Coniglio at training. Picture. Phil Hillyard

“He was moving OK. He was told he wouldn’t risk further damage to his knee,” said Campbell, at the GWS Giants Grand Final Lunch.

“He left it all on the training track today and ultimately he decided he doesn’t think he is capable of playing out the whole game and therefore didn’t want to let his teammates down.

“His decision has the full support of everyone and we know he’ll continue to support the team to the best of his ability as he has over the past 10 weeks.

“You might (think) ‘I want to chance my arm’. But he walked into Leon and said, ‘I don’t think I’m right. I would never forgive myself if I injured myself in the first few moments.

“That shows the character of this bloke. It was a decision he made 20 minutes ago and it’s another testament to him.

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“Stephen said ‘I don’t think I’m right to go’. We’ve been tossing it up the last seven or eight days.

“What he’s done is pretty special.”

Giants foundation coach and AFL legend Kevin Sheedy also praised Coniglio’s selfless act.

“It is (incredibly selfless). I don’t know whether I could have done it,” Sheedy said.

“I would have played and knocked out three of the Richmond players, meaning you’re left with three less and then I would have had a cappuccino on the bench.”

Originally published as GWS star Stephen Coniglio rules himself out of AFL grand final