The GWS Giants are 11th on the AFL ladder. They have the same number of wins as North Melbourne. They have lost to some absolute brumbies. They are still wildly inconsistent from week to week, even from half hour to half hour. But the Giants save their best for the best. They have beaten all the main premiership aspirants. They pegged back a 39-point deficit against Geelong to claim a 12.14 (86) to 11.7 (73) victory on Saturday. If your imagination allows it, and if they deign to turn up, they are not only capable of shaping the final series, but making a deep run themselves.
Cats coach Chris Scott was asked whether he rated the Giants as a contender. “I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t analysed their season.” To kick off his presser, he had pored over the stats sheet and then crumpled it into a ball. It was as though he was saying “the only statistic that mattered tonight was the number of my players being taken out of Olympic Park in an ambulance”. Tanner Bruhn wrenched his neck, Jack Henry hurt his throat and Jeremy Cameron spent the last quarter in a wheelchair sucking on a green whistle.
