The club you don’t want to play in the finals

DAVID King has circled the Giants as the squad that teams wouldn’t want to come up against in finals.

GWS currently sits middle of the ladder, however have been in excellent form in recent weeks, having won five of their last six.

While the Giants still have plenty to work to do if they’re to be playing football in September, King sees them as a tough matchup should they manage to sneak in.

“I’m seriously bullish about the Giants, I didn’t think I would be after what we saw the first for or five weeks,” he said on SEN’s The Picks.

“If they do [make finals] they’d be a disaster to play if you finish fifth or sixth.”

GWS’ recent success can be almost entirely credited to their defensive turnaround, having become one of the better teams in the competition on that side of the ball after a rough start to the season.

“For the first couple months of the year you could have your way with the Giants, you could move the ball at will, you could score when you went in, they were ordinary by foot and they gave you some luxuries to punish them,” King said.

“They really didn’t win the ball back between the arcs… if you cannot win the ball back between the arcs you have to defend real deep, and that’s a tough space to live in.

“Since the first couple months of the season, they’ve flipped it on its head. They’re now amongst the top four or five teams in all the key defensive indicators.

“This is a different product, built off the back of [Jack] Buckley and [Sam] Taylor down back, they are going beautifully and their small defenders have come to the party.”

King continued on to name the other biggest contributors to the Giants’ form.

“[Connor] Idun has become a serious player, [Callum] Brown up forward looks really good, really exciting, kicks the leather off the thing, he’s just a ripper,” he said.

“They’ve got the best captain in the competition at the moment in Toby Greene, just showing the way.

“[Nick] Haynes is back, I thought Haynes was done four weeks ago… when I saw the end of Glenn Archer, they’re just a metre late to all contests and it’s over as you’re getting there, [Haynes] was in that frame.

“Last weekend he was just extraordinary, intercept after intercept and I think you know what, maybe he has got another couple of years.

“All their leaders are delivering upon their status.”

– JACK MAKEHAM/ SEN