Lachie Whitfield is feeling a “2016 vibe” concerning the GWS Giants as they journey a four-game successful streak right into a crunch round-18 encounter with Adelaide.
The Giants line-breaker says his facet’s cost from final 12 months’s Sixteenth-place end to finals rivalry this time round is paying homage to their star-studded 2016 outfit and their run to the preliminary ultimate.
GWS maybe blew arguably the membership’s finest probability thus far of a premiership with their preliminary-final loss to eventual champions the Western Bulldogs that 12 months however the run marked the beginning of the Giants’ most profitable stretch that ended with their 2019 grand-final look.
Under new boss Adam Kingsley, Whitfield believes the Giants are constructing in the direction of an analogous interval of success.
“You can put the last 10 or 11 years into chunks, and the vibe we’re getting at the moment is like that 2016 vibe when we started to get on a roll and win games,” Whitfield stated on Tuesday.
“We came from a pretty low base of not playing finals.
“It’s only a actually good vibe round with ‘Kingers’ and the brand new system we’re enjoying.
“It’s a full team basis, we don’t really rely on one bloke. It can be anyone on any given day.
“It’s a extremely enjoyable solution to play footy and everybody’s shopping for in.”
Whitfield will play his 200th game when he lines up against the Crows on Saturday, a week later than anticipated after serving the first on-field suspension of his career for a dumping tackle against Fremantle.
His family, having booked early to be present for his milestone in last weekend’s clash with Hawthorn, will now be doubling up and heading to Adelaide.
“I timed that properly,” Whitfield laughed.
“All my family and friends booked forward, considering it might most likely be a reasonably secure guess, me not getting suspended, as a result of I hadn’t been suspended earlier than in my profession.
“When you start playing footy, you probably dream of getting to 300 games, so 200 is hopefully just a stepping stone to more.
“It’s additionally an opportunity to mirror on what’s been a tricky however enjoyable profession so far, hopefully there’s much more.”
Sitting 10th on the ladder ahead of the clash with ninth-placed Adelaide, Whitfield insists the prospect of playing finals has not been discussed at the Giants.
After starting the season with three wins from 10 games, he said they were effectively playing with house money.
“Lots of people most likely dominated us out of finals rivalry anyway, so we’re nearly enjoying with just a little little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” he stated.
“Just to see how far we will get at this stage.
“We’re on a run. If we can continue that and get to the back end of the year and finals are a chance, that’s why you play footy.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
