Fuelled by “why not us?” grit, GWS are daring to dream large on this AFL finals sequence.
While their 51-point spanking from Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval solely 4 video games in the past was a stark reminder of how shortly it may all finish, the Giants will take rising confidence into Saturday night time’s semi-final rematch.
GWS gained the following two video games after the Port loss to substantiate their finals berth after which had been too good for St Kilda in final Saturday’s elimination closing.
Giants defender Sam Taylor admits he has thought concerning the potential of a barnstorming run to the grand closing.
“I have. I’ve already started to plan,” Taylor mentioned.
“At the start of the year, no one gave us a chance and then we kept asking us, why not us? It’s pretty simple. Why can’t we do it?
“We’re a particular group and we have now a perception in ourselves to get the job completed.”
Giants key forward Jake Riccardi was more circumspect, but shared the sentiment.
“You know what, I’d like to say I have never (thought concerning the grand closing), however I’ve – simply as a dream, the actual faintest of desires,” Riccardi mentioned.
“I thought of it, like ‘wow that is us, we did that’.”
Taylor also admitted to some surprise how they had risen so rapidly with new coach Adam Kingsley from last year’s bottom-four finish.
“Even although the beginning of the 12 months seemed fairly dire, we nonetheless had confidence in ourselves that issues will lastly click on,” Taylor mentioned.
“Kingers all the time mentioned we had loads of honourable losses on the way in which and we knew it was shut. We did not realise it was this shut.
“So to finally start winning games and what Kingers has brought in has been incredible. Everyone has full belief to win every week. It’s a special thing to have and hopefully we keep hold of it.”
Taylor and Brent Daniels are veterans of the Giants’ solely grand closing in 2019, when Richmond humiliated them by 89 factors.
“I see it less as a negative, I see it more like we’ve gained experience from that. It was a great time,” Taylor mentioned.
“It was an awesome achievement to reach it and it just gives us more confidence that we can make it.”
While Daniels can also see the positives out of the 2019 finals sequence, he provides they’re a a lot totally different group now.
“2019 was really special time for me. I was in my second year and I got to play in the grand final which doesn’t happen very often,” he mentioned.
“We took experiences out of that, but we don’t think about it too much. It’s great to have finals experience but we’re a completely different side now.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
