Co-captain Phil Davis is confident the GIANTS will be in a position to challenge for the ultimate prize in footy once again in 2019, but admits some tough calls need to be made in the coming months.
Speaking on the final episode of ‘The Footy Phil’ podcast for the 2018 season, Davis said despite bowing out of finals a week earlier than the 2016 and 2017 campaigns, the GIANTS had shown good progress this season.
“I think we’re in a position where we’ve got a lot of things in order,” he said. “However, we do have to improve. Where that is specifically, I’d probably need a bit more time to address that, but when you get knocked out in the Semi Final, you’re still three wins away from the ultimate.
“But we’re definitely in a position where we can challenge again next year – I’m very confident of that – but the trade period is going to be interesting for us, the draft is going to be interesting for us.
“We’ve got to make some tough decisions, some strong decisions there, but also I think we’ve got a group that is hungry and wants to be here and wants to be successful.”
The GIANTS had made it as far as the penultimate week of finals in their first two finals campaigns, but another injury-laden season and a winless May made a third-consecutive finals appearance look unlikely midway through the season.
But the GIANTS dug in and turned their season around, winning nine of their next 10 matches to climb from 11th to third on the AFL ladder.
Consecutive losses to close the home-and-away season saw them slip to seventh, but they advanced to a Semi Final against Collingwood after comprehensively defeating arch rival the Swans in an Elimination Final.
Davis said the effort showed the growth of the GIANTS in 2018, labelling it a “more impressive” year than 2017.
“We actually learnt a different way to play,” he said.
“We’ve always go the nice, sharp-looking footy, but I thought we found a way to score big goals and keep teams to low scores this year – I think defensively it was our best year.
“I thought we took a bigger step forward that we did last year. We learnt more – I think we’re better prepared for 2019 than we were for 2018.”
He lauded the GIANTS’ ability to address the aspects of their game that weren’t working and turn things around – as they did from round 11 with an historical victory over Adelaide, their first win over the Crows at Adelaide Oval – but lamented that two 15-minute lapses cost them during the Semi Final.
“We need to continue to look at that and assess and improve, and have a hungry group individually and collectively, because that’s the challenge,” Davis said.
Guide for the final episode of The Footy Phil for the 2018 season as Phil Davis and Alison Zell re-cap:
- Saturday night
- Ryan Griffen’s retirement
- What’s the feeling like post-match?
- How do we compare the last three years?
- How do you look back on 2018?
- What have we achieved this season?
- Where does that leave us going forward?
- Off-season - Do you find it an odd time of year with players retiring, moving on?
- Mad Monday: Best dressed, 3, 2, 1
- Rest of the round: Predictions for this week, Brownlow Medal (attending), Grand Final, Norm Smith, Sheedy Medal
- What are your plans for the off-season?
