The Greater Western Sydney Giants have continued their push towards making a top 4 spot on the AFL ladder by comfortably defeating the Gold Coast Suns by 83 points. Coleman medalist leader Jeremy Cameron added another 5 goals to his season tally of 38 goals, whilst midfielder Stephen Coniglio was easily best on ground with sold stats in all departments (36 disposals, 3 goals, 8 tackles). Josh Kelly also played well picking up 36 disposals and kicking a goal. For the struggling Suns Darcy MacPherson, Lachie Weller,Jarrod Witts and Anthony Miles were their better players.
Action from the Giants v Gold Coast game. Photo: Jodie Newell
The Gold Coast Suns were competitive for most part of the game, with the Giants holding the upper hand throughout the match. Early on the Suns were reasonably competitive with Darcy MacPherson and Ben King looking threatening up forward. MacPherson continued his good form of aggressive, contested attack on the ball. King provided a target up forward for the Suns, playing in only his third AFL game, he looked remarkably settled in his role.
That’s Ben King! King was promising up forward considering he’s only played 3 AFL games. Photo: Jodie Newell
A key component of the Grater Western Sydney success this season has been their offense set up. On Saturday, the potent Giants forward line of Himmelberg, Finlayson and Cameron kicked a combined total of 10 goals. Finlayson continues to be the surprise packet forward of the 2019 AFL season. He slotted home 2 goals against the Suns. The former defender has seamlessly fitted into the forward area and is currently running 7th in the Coleman medal with a current season tally of 24 goals. Remarkably, Finlayson is ahead of names such as Betts , De Goey, Bruest and Ablett.
Surprise packet. Jeremy Finlayson’s transition from defender to goal scoring forward has been seamless. Photo: Jodie Newell
In a pretty scrappy affair, It wasn’t until the final term where the Giants really snapped into another gear and booted 9 goals for the term. Their effort was a superb response to a last quarter fade out they experienced last week against Melbourne which saw a large lead evaporate. It was a scoring party with Stephen Coniglio running rampant booting 3 goals for the term. Any resistance the Gold Coast had shown disappeared as the Giants put on what was arguably their best quarter for the season. The Giants had a late injury scare with star midfielder Lachie Whitfield copping a nasty bump to the collar bone region. He was able to walk from the ground and gave the thumbs up to the fans. It’s unclear as to whether or not Whifield will play next week against the Crows.
Thumb up. Lachie Whitfield leaves the field after a nasty bump in the collar bone aregion. Photo: Jodie Newell
Giants Coach Leon Cameron was obviously delighted with the result “Our boys played a really tough brand of footy. We knew it was going to be tight for the first half and if we could keep hanging in there then we would get our opportunities and we did. You don’t predict to have a last quarter like that. I think our boys just wanted to make sure that defensively, we played well. I think the most pleasing thing is that we kept them to 6 or seven goals”.
“Our boys played a really tough brand of footy” – Leon Cameron. Photo: Jodie Newell
Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew thought the early effort was good but was disappointed in the last half fade out “I thought in the first half we were competitive, we didn’t capitalize on our shots, but the second half was really disappointing, obviously that last quarter. We were up against a formidable opponent, no doubt. But I think the standards we’ve set over the year have really improved, but we let ourselves down in the last quarter”.
“We let ourselves down in the last quarter” – Suns coach Stuart Dew. Photo: Jodie Newell
Next week the Greater Western Sydney Giants 2nd (8 wins, 3 losses) take on the Adelaide Crows 8th (6 wins, 5 losses) at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, whilst the Gold Coast Suns 17th (3 wins, 8 losses) return to Queensland to play North Melbourne 13th (4 wins, 7 losses) on Saturday afternoon.
Photo: Jodie Newell
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 4.2 6.5 10.7 19.12 (126)
GOLD COAST 3.3 3.4 4.7 6.7 (43)
GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 5, Coniglio 3, Himmelberg 3, Finlayson 2, de Boer 2, Hopper, Greene, Deledio, Kelly
Gold Coast: King, MacPherson, Swallow, Horlin-Smith, Powell, Sexton
BEST
Greater Western Sydney: Coniglio, Cameron, Kelly, Daniels
Gold Coast: Macpherson, Witts, Swallow, King
INJURIES
Greater Western Sydney: Lachie Whitfield (collarbone)
Gold Coast: Jack Bowes (quad)
Reports: –
Umpires: Leigh Fisher, Shaun Ryan, Elani Glouftsis
Official attendance: 7581 at Giants Stadium, Homebush, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
