The GIANTS have named a strong line-up as they get set to take on Collingwood in their first JLT Community Series clash at UNSW Canberra Oval on Thursday night.
Co-captain Phil Davis will play his first match of the season when he takes to the field against the Magpies alongside the usual midfield brigade of Callan Ward, Dylan Shiel, Stephen Coniglio, Josh Kelly and Lachie Whitfield.
Jeremy Cameron and Jonny Patton will join forces up forward while Davis will lead a
West Australian draftee Zac Langdon will get his first chance in the orange and charcoal, playing as a small forward, with this week’s stand-in coach Mark McVeigh impressed with the mature-age recruit’s first pre-season.
“We think Zac Langdon is a really good talent and he gets his opportunity to impress,” he said.
“He’s been impressive all pre-season so he gets the opportunity to show us what he can do against an opposition.
“He and Daniel Lloyd have trained really well so we’re hoping their pre-season training form transfers over to opposition and we think it will.
“Those two guys have been really impressive, probably in our top five most impressive players over the pre-season.”
McVeigh was excited to have a strong line-up at his disposal as he takes the reins of the senior side.
“Our midfield looks really strong, arguably it’s our starting midfield for round one, and our forward line is starting to take shape,” he said.
“We’re excited because we feel like we’re starting to build closer to our main team with players in the wings that are training really hard at the moment and we’ll see another influx of senior players for our next JLT match too.”
After last week’s practice match against the Swans, the GIANTS’ players have two more opportunities to push their case for round one selection with Friday night’s JLT Community Series opener followed by another clash with the Swans on March 9.
“Last week was a really good hit-out for a number of reasons. We felt like we got a lot of pressure from our players back. We tackled really well. We’ve worked really hard on our tackling so we felt we tackled quite well.
“There were some really good moments in the game where our connection with our forward line was really sound.
“We feel like this week we’re going see improvement on what was not a bad performance last week.”
McVeigh is also relishing the opportunity to be the man in charge for Thursday night’s clash.
“Leon flagged it with me a while ago and he’ll be nice and close which is great,” he said.
“I know I’m coaching but I’ve got support
“Leon’s really passionate about both improving from within and giving people opportunities to experience what it’s like.
“We’re just lucky we’ve got a coach like him and he’s a great mentor for all of us.”
Be there for the GIANTS’ JLT Community Series clash with Collingwood at UNSW Canberra Oval on Thursday night at
Tickets are still available with Family tickets $40, junior tickets starting at $5 and adult tickets just $20. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for the game now.
Or why not grab a GIANTS membership and get in for FREE? GIANTS 2018 members get free general admission access to both JLT Community Series games. Visit memership.gwsgiants.com.au to sign up today or head to the membership marquee outside the main gate at the game.
Squad
1 - Phil Davis
3 – Stephen Coniglio
5 – Dylan Shiel
6 – Lachie Whitfield
8 – Callan Ward
12 – Jon Patton
14 – Tim Taranto
17 – Zac Langdon
18 – Jeremy Cameron
20 – Adam Tomlinson
22 – Josh Kelly
23 – Heath Shaw
24 – Matt De Boer
25 – Lachlan Keeffe
26 – Dawson Simpson
27 – Harry Himmelberg
30 – Matt Flynn
31 – Jeremy Finlayson
32 – Ryan Griffen
33 – Lachie Tiziani
34 – Nick Shipley
36 – Harry Perryman
38 – Daniel Lloyd
39 – Tim Mohr
50 – Sam Reid
Emergencies
41 – Jack Buckley
42 – Jake Stein
43 – Dylan Buckley
