Giants run and gun to comeback victory over Gold Coast
A powerhouse performance from Tom Green and a scintillating fourth term motored the GWS Giants to a show-stopping win in a thriller against the Gold Coast Suns at Engie Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The midfield master produced his best outing for the season which, teamed with an all-out blitz from his entire team in the fourth, saw the hosts erase a 22-point three-quarter-time deficit and snatch victory from the Suns’ hands 16.10 (106) to 14.15 (99).
Green and Noah Anderson produced one of the best midfield duels of the season, both compiling insane statistical lines, but this enthralling encounter featured highlights and elite performances across the board.
Suns star, Jarrod Witts, was a man-mountain against the inexperienced Nick Madden in the ruck. Giants skipper, Toby Greene, was prolific and the likes of Finn Callaghan and Matt Rowell both stood up late.
But while the superstars did their thing, you could easily argue it was the Giants’ buzzing outside runners that secured this win for them.
Toby Bedford played at a high level both defensively and offensively, and was joined by the likes of Harvey Thomas, Darcy Jones and Ryan Angwin in forming key passages of play when they were needed late.
But as good as they were in the end, it took the Giants some time to get moving in this one, as the Gold Coast threw all the initial punches in the first term.
The Suns absolutely barnstormed out of the gates, with Ben Long booting the first goal of the day in just 15 seconds. They went on to kick the opening four for the match, with Anderson among the early scorers as he ran riot through the middle.
It was a rough start for young Madden in the ruck, as he had a hand in giving away all of the first three majors through free kicks and turnovers.
To the bloke’s credit, he responded with some nice hitouts that helped GWS snare back-to-back majors through Jake Riccardi.
None of that phased the Suns though, as they went on to finish the opening term with seven goals from 13 scoring opportunities.
One moment that will come back to haunt them did happen in the first quarter, though, when Jed Walter missed an absolute sitter from point blank range.
Poor set shot kicking was ultimately what killed the Suns in this one, but the Walter one was particularly unforgivable given his complacency in not running through his routine. He took the goal for granted, and it wasn’t to be…
That’s not to say he was alone in missing gettable shots, though. Long, Ben King, Bailey Humphrey and a few others also sprayed their share of chances, which you just can’t do on the road against GWS.
It wasn’t looking pretty for the Giants in the second term either, however, with Lachie Whitfield subbed out after feeling the brunt of a collision with King.
The Suns were breaking further away, with Anderson already up to eight score involvements just five minutes into the term (which is absolutely nuts, by the way) and an early goal to Humphrey.
But while Anderson piled up score involvements, Green was dominating on the other side with eight clearances at the same time juncture.
His efforts helped Aaron Cadman and Jesse Hogan snare goals before the long break, and cut the lead to 13.
The third term went back-and-forth with neither side really able to make inroads, but a woeful piece of play from Lachie Ash gifted the Suns a late one to provide some breathing space.
The star half back enjoyed a pretty good day, if not a touch quiet for the lofty standards he has set this season, but he’d love to have his time again after blindly running into a pair of Suns before turning it over to cough up the open goal.
Xavier O’Halloran (another one who enjoyed a nice day overall) also did his best to gift wrap a late one for the visitors when the umpire called him for a deliberate rushed behind, but Connor Budarick missed the ensuing shot around the body and failed to make him pay full price.
And now comes the really interesting part!
The fourth term was an absolute spectacle, and it was the Giants in the spotlight.
Cadman scored the first that got the ball rolling with a glorious strike after Toby Greene hit him on the chest inside 50m, followed by goals to Bedford, Tom Green and another Cadman major which gave the Giants the lead in the blink of an eye.
Green’s goal was a serious highlight, as he stepped around a couple of defenders in Gazza-esque fashion before sending it through.
For most of the game it felt like two sides playing very different styles, with the Giants wanting to own the outside run while the Gold Coast dominated inside contests.
The fourth quarter was a microcosm of this, with the Giants booting goals from dash and dare, but eventually giving up the ensuing centre clearance to the likes of Rowell and Anderson.
Which makes now the perfect time to talk about Finn Callaghan, who gave GWS the best of both worlds in the fourth.
Nine of his 28 disposals came in the fourth quarter. He dominated the outside as we’ve grown accustomed to, but also laid four tackles for the term and got to work in and under as well.
He was the perfect complement to the four-quarter effort of Green, and continually drove his side forward.
The subbed on Jake Stringer was also a big player in the fourth, booting a pair of goals both from impossible angles on opposite sides of the ground.
The second of these goals all but put the game out of reach, with a late one to Anderson proving too little too late.
In the end, GWS overcame a 22-point margin at three-quarter-time to post a ripping win, while the Suns slipped to a third straight defeat following losses to the Cats and Dockers in the past month.
This was an outstanding contest between two sides playing at a high level. I was totally absorbed in it, which means I have lots to talk about, so let’s get into some takeaways now!
A midfield duel for the ages
Watching Noah Anderson and Tom Green go at it for their respective sides in this one reminded me of a certain Nat Fyfe vs Patrick Dangerfield clash some years ago.
That’s a lofty standard, but man, these two were on another level in this game.
Their stats read as:
- Anderson: 42 disposals, two goals, seven clearances, 15 score involvements (FIFTEEN!)
- Green: 31 disposals, 1 goal, nine tackles, 16 clearances (SIXTEEN!)
Both come from the star-studded 2019 draft crop, and both were on an absolute tear in this one.
Anderson had the better start as some of Green’s possessions and clearances were ineffective early, but I thought the latter took the honours in the second half as he overworked any who dared to stand in his way.
Not sure where the Brownlow votes fall for this one. Either way, the three-vote winner will have thoroughly deserved it.
Also, side note while I’m thinking of that 2019 draft class, what a fantastic draft it was for both of these teams with Matt Rowell and Lachie Ash also selected that year.
In fact, it’s got a chance to be one of the best drafts we’ve ever seen. Think of the names. Luke Jackson, Caleb Serong, Kysaiah Pickett, Hayden Young, Sam Flanders, Will Day, Chad Warner, Sam De Koning, Mitch Georgiades. The list goes on and on!
The old beats the young in the ruck today
Jarrod Witts took advantage of his match-up with Nick Madden, piling up 20 disposals, 54 hitouts, seven tackles and a goal.
But while the man-mountain was impressive, I did like that Madden made him earn it a bit more than Witts might have been expecting.
Madden was serviceable with 31 hitouts of his own, and played a role in winning a big contest at the end of the game to help his side ice it.
He’ll learn a fair bit competing against a seasoned warriors like Witts, but overall the ruck honours belonged to the Suns veteran today.
At least one reason for Gold Coast fans to smile
Mid-game was a weird time for the news to break, but in the end the announcement of Matt Rowell having signed with the Suns for a further two years was a welcome one for Gold Coast supporters.
The inside-bull was among his side’s best today with 34 disposals, eight tackles and 12 clearances.
Fears had been increasing around his future with the team, with a few pesky Collingwood rumours swirling around, but the ginger ninja will be grazing on Queensland grass for a little while longer now.
It’s a bad loss for the Suns, but this is a ray of sunshine.
Where does this loss leave the Suns?
From an 8-2 start to now being 8-5 and now outside of the top eight (albeit with a home game against the Bombers to make up on the rest of the comp), the Suns need to get motoring soon.
While we were all enamored with their early season record, it shouldn’t be lost on us that the Suns had their fair share of easy games in the opening rounds.
They do have some wins against quality opposition like Adelaide (let’s not go there, Crows fans), Hawthorn and the Bulldogs, but they’ve fallen short against top eight sides for the past three weeks now.
They’ll have a chance to turn things around with games against Melbourne and Essendon in the coming fortnight, but there will be pressure on them to make the most of those opportunities with a three game run against top four sides Collingwood, Adelaide (on the road) and Brisbane to follow.
Yet to play finals, and now no certainty to do so this year, the Gold Coast are in crunch time.
And some final quick hitters because it’s Sunday and I’ve run out steam:
- Ben King should have nothing to answer for with the Whitfield incident. Was clearly going for the footy (which, funnily enough, is not always the case with King). However, we live in a world of MRO uncertainty, so who knows?
- GWS won this game with outside run, which should be alarming for the Gold Coast given they invested in two running half-backs over the off-season. Neither Rioli or Noble were disgraced in this one, but they certainly weren’t as impactful as Bedford, Jones, Thomas and the rest.
- Connor Idun – good footballer.
- Still waiting on Jed Walter to do something. Missed two easy chances to finish with four disposals and zero goals. The wheels will turn for the big fella eventually, but he’s not getting any traction at the moment.
- Thought Leek Aleer was good in the absence of Sam Taylor (how the fuck did I get this far into the read without mentioning Taylor?!).
- Young Harry Rowston is a goer.
- Touk Miller had 37 disposals and two goals. Feel like I should probably mention that.
Okay, hooroo!
