Despite some saying it’s all doom and gloom at the GIANTS, professional footballer and part-time farmer Harry Perryman still thinks 2020 will be a big year - both on and off the field. 

While the GIANTS are yet to find their rhythm since the COVID19 break, Perryman has been a shining light and has surprised many by leading the Coleman Medal race after three rounds.

Playing predominantly as a wingman, the 21-year old has kicked eight goals for the season and was the only GIANT to receive votes from the two coaches after Friday night’s game.

With 39 games behind him, Perryman says he’s been quick to remind the club’s eight-time leading goal kicker Jeremy Cameron who’s hit the scoreboard more often in 2020.

“I’ve definitely been letting him (Cameron) know about it,” said Perryman.

“We are in these little small groups and I’m in his group so I’ve definitely been giving it to him.”

Perryman has quickly become a cult favourite amongst GIANTS fans with loyal member and club ambassador Alex Williams reworking the Chris De Burgh classic Don't Pay the Ferryman in honour of the Academy product.

Perryman joined the Big Sports Breakfast radio show on Wednesday morning and spoke passionately about his time spent on the family farm near Collingullie during the recent shutdown and how conditions are looking good for a bumper crop. 

“It was good to get back there at that time of year,” said Perryman.

“I’m usually back there when we are harvesting so it was good to be back there for when we were putting the crop in.

“I could just get on the tractor, set the GPS up and go up and down all day so it was a pretty cruisy lifestyle back there.

“The last three years on the farm have been pretty ordinary but this year has been a good start with a fair bit of rain back there.

“I was talking to Dad earlier in the week and he said they’d had a fair bit of rain at the start of this week so he’s pretty up and about at the moment but hopefully we can keep getting that rain consistently throughout the year and we can have a decent year.”

The GIANTS’ search for consistency on-field begins this Friday night with Perryman coming up against the team he grew up supporting.

While his childhood hero and inspiration for wearing number 36, Dane Swan, has retired, Collingwood has still featured prominently in the early stages of Perryman’s career.

He played a key role in last year’s memorable Preliminary Final victory by keeping ball magnet Steele Sidebottom in-check.

With Collingwood being the early benchmark of the 2020 season, Perryman knows they have plenty of strengths the GIANTS will have to mitigate.

“They’re a pretty settled side. They run deep through the midfield, they’ve got a pretty solid backline and they’ve got some guns up forward so they’re pretty well rounded,” he said. 

“We had a good run against them in the Prelim’ last year when we had our backs against the wall so we’d like to think we’ll be able to go in pretty confident.”

Now in his fourth season at the club, Perryman has seen the GIANTS dig deep when required and is expecting a strong showing at GIANTS Stadium in round four.

“Usually after a couple of bad performances we’ve usually bounced back pretty well so we’ll be looking at doing that this Friday night.”