Gary Buckenara analyses Greater Western Sydney’s list after the 2017 season

WHILE some believe Shane Mumford’s retirement will dent GWS’s premiership aspirations, list guru GARY BUCKENARA believes it could have a positive impact — but adds Brett Deledio is under extreme pressure. BUCKY’S GIANTS LIST ANALYSIS

Brett Deledio is under enormous pressure to perform for GWS in 2018. Picture: Phil Hillyard

DURING the pre-season some media commentators were saying the AFL should just hand Greater Western Sydney the premiership and every other club was playing for second.

But the Giants’ season, which was cruelled by injury, illustrates why premierships are just so hard to win — everything needs to go right.

GWS had a horror run with injuries and it really was a remarkable effort to finish in the top four with guys like Stephen Coniglio, Lachie Whitfield, Brett Deledio, Steve Johnson, Jeremy Cameron, Shane Mumford (now retired), Devon Smith (traded) and Ryan Griffen all missing multiple weeks at some stage of the year.

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What it did illustrate, however, was the enviable depth on the list.

GWS has the most complete list in terms of positional depth and talent in the AFL after taking full advantage of the concessions it received from the AFL when it entered the competition.

The Giants will take on a different look in 2018, though and I expect the retirement of Shane Mumford to actually be beneficial to the club.

Let me explain why.

Mumford’s retirement will give this team more flexibility and enable it to better play to its strengths.

Shane Mumford’s retirement could actually turn out to be a positive for GWS. Picture: Gregg Porteous

While most clubs are looking to bolster their key position stocks, GWS is a team overstocked with height even after his retirement.

The issue is, the Giants have had so many top draft picks and have recruited players to strengthen their depth across the ground that these talls are all too good to be playing at a lower level.

And I think that caught coach Leon Cameron out this season and particularly during the finals series when his team appeared top heavy against Adelaide in the qualifying final.

Throughout the season the Giants were exposed at various times for speed on the outside and couldn’t hold the ball in their forward line.

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Jeremy Cameron, Jonathon Patton, Rory Lobb and Mumford (before he retired) are walk-up starts in nearly every other AFL team, so how the coach justify dropping one of them, even if it was for team balance?

While some might think Mumford’s retirement could damage GWS’s chances of winning its first premiership because it is losing his leadership and physical presence on the field, I don’t see it that way.

Rory Lobb can become a huge weapon for the Giants. Picture: Getty

Lobb can compete as well as anyone around the ground, with his contested marking one of his biggest strengths. Picture: Michael Klein

What his exit from the game and the club does is give the Giants the opportunity to be really flexible with their best 22 while maintaining their structure.

They will become more unpredictable and will be able to really play to the strengths of its list — using their run and opening up teams on the outside.

Mumford was an outstanding contributor for the club but his retirement means GWS can move away from being bogged down in physical stuff and stoppages and focus more on slicing through teams with its pace and ball use.

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To me, what happened at GWS this year was a bit like what has gone on at Port Adelaide with Paddy Ryder and Matthew Lobbe.

Ryder was wasted up forward because he plays his best footy as the No.1 ruckman, but Lobbe couldn’t really go forward.

Ken Hinkley eventually made the change and Ryder took over as the No.1 ruck and they haven’t looked back.

Jeremy Cameron could be GWS’s only stay-at-home forward with Jonathon Patton a back-up ruck option. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Lobb becoming the No.1 ruckman is the start for GWS because he is so mobile.

His contested marking ability around the ground will become a weapon — he is of more value to the Giants in the ruck than as a forward/ruckman.

Patton could then transition into likely being the back-up forward/ruckman who gives him a chop out.

That will free Patton up as well as he struggled at various times this year when stuck inside 50, although I do believe he will play his best footy in the future as a permanent key forward.

The flow-on effect is Cameron becomes the more permanent forward, giving GWS the option to play another small or medium-sized player inside 50 to get that forward pressure going and top up their running game because they play their best footy when they move it quick by hand and foot and run in waves.

GWS is a team that has a lot of gun runners — think Josh Kelly, Lachie Whitfield, Tom Scully, Dylan Shiel to a lesser extent and Zac Williams and Heath Shaw out of defence.

This shouldn’t be a team that gets exposed on the outside for pace.

Josh Kelly’s re-signing was a major coup for GWS. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Re-signing Kelly was a major bonus for this club.

The Giants have lost a number of good players, including Adam Treloar, Taylor Adams, Tom Boyd and now Devon Smith, so securing Kelly’s signature was a coup and should provide the players with an extra boost over pre-season to work hard to achieve the success they know is within reach.

WHAT THEY NEED

GWS has a well-balanced list, but there are two areas that require attention.

One is it desperately needs a dynamic small forward that applies pressure and can crumb off the pack and create scoring opportunities.

Toby Greene is a great player but he’s more of a midfielder/forward.

There are a couple of nice small forwards in this draft I think will strongly appeal to the Giants.

The other need is for a developing ruckman.

With Lobb now the No.1 man and Dawson Simpson and potentially recruit Lachie Keeffe as experienced back-up, the club would be well-served looking for a young big man for the future. Matthew Flynn is the only young ruckman on the list and has been around for a couple of years. I’m not sure he will be up to the level.

Brett Deledio is under enormous pressure to perform next year and pay the Giants back for the high price it paid to get him from Richmond. Picture: Phil Hillyard

UNDER THE PUMP

The Giants gave up first-round and third-round picks to get Brett Deledio from Richmond last year, but the former No.1 draft pick didn’t deliver at all in his first year at the club because of a mixture of injury and form.

We know he’s got a history of soft-tissue injuries and the medical team at GWS will need to find a plan to get him up and running early in the season.

Deledio himself will be under the pump to make sure he’s doing all the right things during the off-season and during the pre-season itself to ensure he’s in top shape and can work into some good form.

He will surely be hurting after his old club won a premiership without him — and defeated the Giants in the preliminary final to do it — so that should provide him with great hunger to work really hard over the summer.

He moved to GWS to win a flag.

Ryan Griffen is in the same boat.

He played just three matches in 2017 and didn’t look like the Ryan Griffen we’re used to.

At 31 the clock is ticking for him to be part of a premiership, and with a heap of talent on the GWS list, he doesn’t want to be left stranded in the NEAFL as younger players go past him if he can’t get on the park.

Will Setterfield and the younger Giants will need to push their case hard to play senior footy for at least the next two years. Picture: Getty

There are also a few young players under the pump because we are yet to see much of them — given the talent on GWS’s list, you don’t want to be stuck in a position where you’re just there for depth, or are removed from the list because you haven’t shown much development.

It extends from first-round picks like Will Setterfield, Harry Perryman and Jacob Hopper — who had injury problems this year — to players like Flynn, Isaac Cumming, Harry Himmelberg and Zach Sproule.

GWS will need to make decisions on these players quickly — a lot quicker than other clubs at the moment — because there is no doubt clubs will come asking about them at trade time and will be tracking them, be it next year or the year after, as we saw with Carlton and Matthew Kennedy.

The Giants will need to know whether these guys can play at the level and are worth keeping or trading out for draft picks or players.

BUCKY’S LIST CHANGES

Mumford, Steve Johnson, Tom Downie and Tendai Mzungu have retired, Sam Reid has been delisted and Kennedy, Devon Smith and Nathan Wilson have been traded, so that leaves eight spots available on the senior and rookie lists combined.

That’s a lot of changes, but I would also delist Tim Mohr, who has been around for a long time and just hasn’t had a run at it.

With Keeffe coming onto the list he takes up that depth role because he’s so flexible.

CRYSTAL BALL

The Giants will be one of the premiership favourites next year and for at least the next five years.

As a club they will be thinking within the next two-to-three years they should at least have won their first premiership and by the end of the five years have multiple flags.

GWS is the team to beat.

Gary Buckenara helped build Hawthorn’s three-peat premiership list and now he runs a rule over club lists in an exclusive column for the Herald Sun.

Buckenara was a major part of Hawthorn’s recruiting team between 2004-2015 and was responsible for bringing Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jordan Lewis to the Hawks in 2004 when he was the Hawks’ sole full-time recruiter.