The GWS Giants are forever knocking on the door.
They have been the matron of honour once, humiliated by the Tigers in 2019, but have just had to settle for being members of the bridal party, both before, and since.
They’ve perennially been close, yet so far from the flag, providing their supporters with copious amounts of hope, yet failing to deliver.
I genuinely thought this club would have broken through and won one by now. I am sure many of you feel the same way.
They are an exceptionally well-run club, and have navigated the expected, and repeated exodus (Is the plural of exodus also “exodus”?) from their ranks. You think about the players who have high-tailed it out town… there are some superstars of the game that have had a cup of coffee in Western Sydney.
But this team replaces them, and does so very effectively.
As we head into the 2026 season, we find the Giants in the mix, yet again.
A powerful forward line, headlined by the quartet of Jesse Hogan, Toby Greene, Aaron Cadman, and Jake Stringer, make this team one that could blow any opposition off the park.
Their defence is miserly, with Sam Taylor, Jack Buckley, and Connor Idun once of the best threesomes since… well, use your imagination.
And in the middle, Tom Green has become arguably the best contested ball winner in the game.
They have talent everywhere and are a persistent premiership threat.
And yet… there are no trophies in the cabinet.
Is 2026 the year the Giants finally get it done, and accomplish what many thought they would several years ago?
If you’re reading all our previews, you can skip ahead a little bit – It’s the standard intro.
We’re steaming toward a new season, and as we do, it is time to turn our attention away from the glory of last year and look at the possibilities of the new one.
The players have been on the track for a while now – the Christmas break is over, and as we work through January, the charge into the new season ramps right up.
This is where premierships are won and lost. This is where improvements are made and lists come together. This is where the kids show if they’re serious or not, and young projects become the next group of stars. New faces, new colours, old heads with renewed passion… so much feeds into the making of a contender. And as the days tick down toward the intra-club clashes, practice games, and eventually the real stuff, questions are raised about each team and how they’re going to perform in this new season.
And that’s where HB and The Mongrel come in.
We don’t do things by halves here, at The Mongrel Punt. When we do a season preview, we go all in to make sure it is the best, most comprehensive coverage you’ll receive. We pride ourselves on it. If you want to read one season preview for your team, or any team, this series will provide what you’re after.
The way it works is as follows.
Each club has a minimum of 15 questions asked about the upcoming season, their coaches, their players, and their expectations. The answers are not glossed over. We dive deep on each and every one of them – some singular answers would normally be long enough for an entire column. The first five questions/answers are free for you to consume. The next 10-14 for each club are for our members, including a special appearance from Mrs Mongrel to throw her two cents in the mix.
Isn’t it a bit early for a season preview? Well, I suppose, but do you know how long it takes to write seven-to-nine thousand words? That’s 18 x 8,000… gets out the calculator… that’s 144,000 words. The average novel is about 85,000 words, so buckle the hell up with these previews; HB goes deeper than anyone else covering the game..
Also, if there are any issues that arise after the publication of the preview for any team, they will be covered in standalone articles to act as additions to this preview.
You will not read a more comprehensive season preview than this – I guarantee it. This is where we start the run to the new season, and believe me – nobody does it better than The Mongrel.
Let’s jump into the season preview for the GWS Giants.
1 – IS THE 2025 OFF-SEASON THE KICK IN THE PANTS LEEK ALEER NEEDED?
I’m sure he didn’t want a kick in the pants, at all… but as a famous musician once said, you can’t always get what you want, and sometimes, you might find… you get what you need.
Aleer has been stuck behind Sam Taylor, Jack Buckley, and Harry Himmelberg for a couple of years, now. He has been injury insurance for the club, and saw an opportunity to be more than that at St Kilda.
We all know what happened – after being courted by the Saints, they did what Joe Ganino’s crushes all did and became pretty disinterested, all of a sudden. And it left Aleer feeling pretty down about himself.
The Giants swooped in, re-signed their defender for two years, and all was right with the world again, right?
Wrong!
Thai is something that should sit deep in the pit of Aleer’s stomach, and it should light a fire under him to both prove St Kilda wrong, and reward the Giants for welcoming him back with open arms. But this fire would have to be a raging inferno to displace either of Taylor or Buckley from their key defensive positions, wouldn’t it?
Maybe Aleer will learn to embrace the challenge? Maybe he will find a role that sees him adopt a dual role, relieving in the ruck (see a few sections below). Or maybe he fades into obscurity as the guy who was almost out the door, and had to come back with his tail between his legs?
Whilst some have questioned his ability to defend in a one-on-one situation, Aleer’s ability to make up ground and launch at the footy is in the top tier. His athleticism is through the roof, and whilst many saw him limp back to the Giants after his failed move, sometimes it takes something like this to truly kick a player into gear.
Whether he landed at St Kilda or came back to GWS, 2026 loomed as THE year for Aleer to establish himself. At 24 years of age, he has just 25 total games to his name, and if he is going to become a reliable contributor in this league, he simply needs to put so much pressure on Harry Himmelberg, that Adam Kingsley feels compelled to look for another option to accommodate Himmelberg.
The GWS back six is rock solid, but to me, it has always felt like it was settled. You had Taylor, Buckley, Himmelberg, Idun, Ash, and Whitfield.
And that was it. No questions about their place in the side.
It is time Aleer started to force people to ask some questions.
What can he offer that others cannot? Can he use that athleticism to launch into contention as a back up ruck? Particularly with the looming ruck rules apparently favouring the big leapers?
Inspiration comes in many shapes and forms. Tell someone they’re not good enough, and they’ll give it everything they’ve got to show you they are. This might just be the case for Leek Aleer. And if this is so, and he starts making competition for spots in the GWS defence a little tougher, then maybe his St Kilda snub could work out to be a great thing for GWS.
2 – HOW DOES CLAYTON OLIVER FIT WITH THIS MIDFIELD?
Well, this largely depends on which version of Clayton they’re getting, doesn’t it?
How closely have you watched Oliver over the last few years? I watch all teams every week, and the change in the way Oliver plays the game has not been lost on me, at all. If the Giants get the version of Oliver that the Dees have had running around out there, we are looking at a fringe Best-23 player.
That’s harsh, huh? Allow me to explain why.
Prior to the 2024 season, Clayton Oliver was a smashmouth type of AFL player. He was in your face, unafraid to get down and dirty, and would snatch the footy away from you and dish it off in one smooth movement. His hands were some of the best in the business – clean one-grab in traffic, and a slick handball out to a running teammate, saw him as a driving force in what was a premiership midfield.
He was on the fast track to becoming an all-time great at the Melbourne Football Club – twice named Coaches’ Association Player of the Year, three All-Australian blazers, and four Best and Fairest Awards… you could lock him in as one of the best.
And then, things fell apart. I don’t do gossip, but suffice to say, Clayton dropped the ball, and combined with a couple of injuries, that player ceased to exist. Those handballs out of traffic became panicked. The one-grabs became juggles, and the kicking… it was throw-it-on-your-boot-and-hope stuff more often than not.
His numbers fell off a cliff, and met his attitude on the way down.
So yes… how Oliver fits in and what he can provide, largely depends on whether he can rediscover the player he was, and recapture the form that made him one of the best players in the game.
Here is a wrinkle – he comes into a team that already has a player that now does all the things that Oliver used to do.
Tom Green has become almost a bizzaro version of Oliver over the last couple of seasons. As Clayton has fallen off, Green has risen, and he now sits as the best contested possession player in the game.
Whilst Oliver’s peak is arguably a little higher (He is one of three men to have 400+ contested possessions in a season… and he did it three times!), Green is doing similar things right now, and I doubt he will be asked to adjust his style too much to accommodate Oliver.
So, what does that mean for Clarrie?
Does he take a back seat? And is he in the back seat because Green is driving and Finn Callaghan called shotgun?
Does Callaghan move to more of an outside role to fill the void left by Josh Kelly, allowing Clayton more time at the coalface?
How this plays out is one of the stories of the season. I wrote above about how proving someone wrong can be a great drive for someone – Oliver has that about him. He has taken a couple of shots at his former club since departing, so there is genuine feeling involved. If he can translate that into once again becoming the player that sat close to the top of the league, the one-two punch of Green and Oliver in the middle is going to be a tough one to get the better of.
3 – DOES YEAR TWO OF THE JAKE STRINGER REDEMPTION ARC PAY OFF FOR GWS?
The Giants did not get the best of Jake Stringer in 2025. They didn’t give up much to get him, but nonetheless, when he had a delayed start to the season, people in the know nodded sagely.
Stringer and interrupted preseasons had become an iconic duo over the years.
When he returned to the team, he excelled at missing goals, before he re-injured his hamstring in Round Nine.
He did have moments late in the season, including a run that saw him kick 14 goals in five outings, however overall, you’d rate his season as about a four out of ten.
And that’s about what many expected from him.
Stringer has teased fans for years. He teased Essendon fans with what could be, showing up sporadically to remind them what he ‘could’ provide, only to have yet another poor preseason and struggle through the next year. It was a calculated gamble from the Giants to bring him into the team, knowing that his form, and his decision-making, had been something that had let so many down.
But in his second year, and possibly his final year of AFL footy, depending on how things go, he still has the chance to make it right.
With Stringer, there always seems to be a chance, doesn’t there? Kind of like the hot girl at high school who smiled at you a few times… always gave you that bit of hope.
I suppose the issue here, is that Stringer is not the number one option in the forward line at GWS, so it is difficult to weigh up expectations. He has Hogan, who is the first target, then Cadman and Toby Greene as the next in line. That leaves him as someone who has to use his brains to find ways to get involved.
And I am sure most of you don’t believe that is his strong suit, right?
I’ll challenge you, there – when it comes to footy, Jake Stringer is a savant. He has a knack of finding ways to do things that others didn’t know were possible. The issue is, and always has been, his ability to remain fit enough to do those things.
If he is able to get fit, stay fit, and play the season like his career depends on it (because it does), then yes, the Stringer Redemption Arc can still play out.
But if he gets stuck into one too many burgers here and there… well, at least GWS didn’t pay through the nose for him.
4 – IF AARON CADMAN’S TRAJECTORY CONTINUES, WHAT IS HIS 2026 CEILING?
I think we might start seeing a bit of torch-passing this season.
Not that I expect Aaron Cadman to tear the torch out of the hands of Toby Greene or Jesse Hogan, but I do expect the GWS attack to start focusing more on their burgeoning young star.
In his first three seasons in the league, Cadman has gone from hitting the scoreboard six times in 2023, to 30 in 2024, and then up to 44 in 2025.
Where he heads from here, particularly in a stacked GWS forward line, remains to be seen, but given that he is proving to be durable, and is getting bigger and stronger, you’d be a brave person to bet against him notching the 50-goal mark this year.
Much will probably depend on the form of those around him. If Hogan is dominating, a la 2024, and is kicking big bags en route to another Coleman, then Cadman will likely get less of the footy. If Toby starts to feel it and is commanding the footy, then he’ll probably get a ton of footy.
But what if they don’t?
Greene is now 32 years of age, and Hogan is coming off a season where he struggled with injury and played 16 games.
This is where the trajectory of Cadman becomes vital to the success of the Giants. They offered him a subsidiary role inside 50 to begin with. That role has increased incrementally over the next couple of years. Are we now at the point where he is ready to demonstrate exactly why the Giants were so eager to grab him at number one?
Whilst 50 goals is realistic, am I the only one who thinks that Cadman could make the leap to hit the 60-goal mark this year? I am probably not on an island with this, but I also don’t believe too many would agree with me.
If Hogan is at all struggling with fitness, then perhaps he becomes the decoy full forward?
If Toby sees that going through Cadman is his best chance to claw his way (pun intended) back into a Grand Final, then I could see him starting to defer.
During the off-season, I asked our readers about their preferred young forward – who would they want on their team?
They all wanted Sam Darcy or Riley Thilthorpe.
Aaron Cadman has the capacity to make them change their minds, and 2026 could be the year he does so.
5 – WHERE DO YOU SEE FINN CALLAGHAN RANKING AMONGST MIDFIELDERS BY THE END OF THE 2026 SEASON?
The pointiest of the pointy end.
We all heard the comparisons when he came into the league. People looked at his body shape, his running power, and his skill set, and started immediately equating him to Marcus Bontempelli.
Leigh Montagna didn’t shut up about it.
But it is often unfair to label players “the next anything” as it places unnecessary pressure on them.
Finn Callaghan has handled the pressure brilliantly, and I have to add, the Giants have brought him along with a maturity most clubs don’t possess, so as not to rush him into roles he was not yet prepared for.
You could convincingly argue that Finn’s breakout season was 2023. He averaged over 20 touches per game, and was racking them up on the outside. But things change when a player moves into the guts, and in 2025, Callaghan took the next step. As a full-time mid, he became one of the Giants’ prime movers, and one of the more damaging mids in the competition.
What sets Callaghan apart from your run of the mill, “i’ll get it and dish off sideways” type of footballer, is that even with the move into the guts, he remained a line breaker. When you’re out on the wing and able to get in space, it’s easier to grab the footy, tuck it under your arm and take off for a bounce. It is even easier for half-backs, as the opposition fold back to afford you space. In the middle, no such space is granted.
So, to see Callaghan average +236 metres gained per game on his 2024 numbers indicates that he is in elite company. Other midfielders who managed to crack the top five were Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (who also spent half a year at half-back), Bailey Smith, and Max Holmes (another who spelled at half-back).
Finn is now elite, without the fanfare.
With a +5.5 in disposals per game, and +1.5 in clearances, Callaghan’s power running was the perfect complement to Tom Green’s inside work. His +2.0 inside 50 deliveries and +2.0 score involvements justified his increased role, and with another preseason under his belt, this could be the year that Callaghan becomes the name on the tip of the experts’ tongues.
So, what’s his 2026 ceiling?
Well, he is eye-catching, and he wins his share of contested footy (8.8 contested touches per game), but Brownlow winners over the last ten years have all been big contested footy winners. Finn ranked 64th in that category, which makes a win unlikely.
That said, a club Best and Fairest and an All-Australian selection are well within his sights. If he has one more level to get to, we could be looking at the best inside/outside mid in the game by the end of the year.
And then, maybe people will start taking real notice.
The remainder of this article, and the next 15 questions are for our members. They support me, and I provide for them. It’s a good deal.
Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re on the march to the 2026 AFL season and it all begins here. The Mongrel’s Big Questions Season Previews are THE best in the business. If you know, you know… if not, maybe it’s time to find out. Pre-Season, Practice Games… we’re all in. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. You’re welcome to re-read the first five questions again, but if you do… there is a heap more below.
