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Leek Aleer on Harry McKay battle and GWS Giants defence

By LACHLAN MCKIRDY

NSW AFL REPORTER

NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA SPORTS NEWSROOM

22 APRIL 2024

It was the five-minute stretch that turned the Carlton-Giants encounter on its head.

Halfway through the third quarter, the returning Leek Aleer found himself on the sidelines as Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow tipped the game in the Blues’ favour.

They combined for five of Carlton’s seven goals in the term as they opened up a lead that the Giants couldn’t run down.

As Aleer finally returned to the ground, his direct opponent, McKay, had a cheeky message for him.

“He said, ‘You were gone for five minutes’,” Aleer recalled. “That was basically all he said, I don’t know what he was implying, but yeah.

“It’s definitely frustrating. When you’re playing on a forward like Harry McKay, it’s a battle and you want to win the battle. You want to do your best to nullify him to have as little effect on the game (as possible).

“It stings when you’re on the bench (and he kicks a few), but at the end of the day, you can’t really do much about that. It’s just my competitive nature.”

The result might not have gone the Giants’ way, but it was hard for Aleer to not feel some sense of positivity after his first AFL game in 609 days.

The 22-year-old finished with a game-high 13 spoils, the third-most by any AFL player in 2024, including one that nearly took the roof off Marvel Stadium.

And despite having such a long stretch out of the game, he knew he had the trust of his coach and teammates to do a job against one of the best forward lines in the competition.

“The first (spoil) felt good,” Aleer said. “Looking back I probably could have marked it. But going out there, I’d spoil 100 times if that’s what I’m required to do.

“Losing never feels great, so regardless of whether you played well, it stings a bit. But if I’m to take anything out of it, I’m just glad to be back out with the boys again and playing some footy.

“For Kingers (Kingsley) and his team to have that belief and faith in me that I can get the job done on arguably one of the best key forwards in the comp, it really gives me a lot of positive confidence. It shows they believe in me and what I have to offer to the team and the football club.”

Reflecting on the past two years, Aleer admitted it was a tough mental challenge building his body up to be ready for the rigours of the AFL again. Rather than one big injury, several incidents contributed to keeping Aleer on the sidelines for all of 2023.

“It was a pretty big rollercoaster ride how the year panned out,” he said. “I had a pretty solid pre-season and I was in for round one.

“I wasn’t able to make it to that game and play that weekend. Then I came back after a five-week rehab stint to play half a game and got injured again. Another 10 or 11 weeks later, I had another setback that ruled me out for the rest of the season.

“It was quite harsh, but that’s footy and that’s life. It taught me a lot of perseverance, a lot of resilience and I just put it on my shoulders and identified it as a year of growth. Hopefully from here on out just keep going upwards and onwards.”

Despite his impressive match against Carlton, Aleer knows nothing is guaranteed this season.

Kingsley is relatively set on his best back seven that helped carry them all the way to last year’s preliminary final. The former number 15 draft pick only came into the side as a result of Sam Taylor’s concussion and will have at least one more chance to make it permanent against the Lions on Anzac Day in Canberra.

However, Aleer knows that learning his craft alongside some of the competition’s best defenders will only make him a better player in the long run. And with Jack Buckley in particular, he has the perfect role model of a player who pushed through adversity to make the most of an opportunity later in his career.

“As much as it’s extremely difficult at times, particularly last year and early this year to crack into the side, it gives me a lot of confidence because I’m competing against guys that are the best at their craft,” Aleer said.

“I take a lot of learnings from them and how hard they work, their dedication to their craft and their desire to be the best. That’s something that’s rubbed off on me.

“Something we all have in common as a backline group is resilience. A guy like Bucks, he’s had to persevere through a lot. You can tell by the way he plays, he’s very precise and he goes 100 per cent at everything.

“Regardless of whether I’m struggling to make the team, I try to make myself better each day because these guys are the best at what they do. For me to be on par with them, I need to always be on my A-game to be the best I possibly can be.”
 
Tom Green’s interview with the local Canberra regional media that was published before the Manuka match- Tom obviously values his family, but tongue in cheek comments about the Giants player he finds annoying

canberradaily.com.au

AFL player profile: Tom Green from the Giants | Canberra Daily

Canberra product and GWS Giants star Tom Green answers a few quick questions.
canberradaily.com.au canberradaily.com.au
 
Giants star Tom Green talks his role design of GWS’ Anzac Day guernsey

By LACHLAN MCKIRDY

NSW AFL REPORTER

NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA SPORTS NEWSROOM

1:03PM APRIL 24, 2024

Tom Green never needs too much incentive to put on a show in Canberra. Every time the Giants play in his hometown, he has his own fan club sitting together behind the Manuka Oval boundary line.

However, the 23-year-old knows Thursday night’s clash against the Lions will be one of the most significant in his career to date.

The midfielder played a big role in designing the guernsey that the Giants will wear on Anzac Day, combining with the Australian Defence Force to help create a jumper honouring his links to the Army.

1713956896532.png

The camouflage design on the Giants’ guernsey has been inspired by Green’s own links to the army. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“It is a really important day in the Australian calendar,” Green said. “It’s made more special by my father being a helicopter pilot in the army.

“I was approached a couple of years ago looking forward to helping design (the guernsey). It’s something I’m really proud of, I think it looks cool with the camouflage inspiration from what the army wears, I think it looks good and hopefully, the fans agree.

“You look at other sports that have done similar things, Spurs (NBA) used to have the camouflage jersey so I thought that was cool. To bring it in for us is really nice.”

While he didn’t go to his dad for too much advice on the design – “I more took it off my own bat,” Green said – he did find himself looking through old photo books to find different sources of inspiration.

“There’s a photo of me as a kid with my brothers and dad, for a day at school and we wanted to go as soldiers so dad decked us out in proper camouflage and face paint,” Green said.

“It’s a very funny and cute photo I suppose as a kid.”

As part of the Giants’ commemorations, the Australian Defence Force and NSW Police women’s team will also play a curtain raiser before the AFL match begins.

It will be the second time the Giants have played at Manuka Oval on Anzac Day following a game against the Suns in 2015.

However, Green is hopeful this can become a permanent fixture on the AFL calendar particularly with so many links between Canberra and the armed forces.

“I love playing in Canberra, so being able to host it there is amazing,” he said.

“I think the traditional Anzac game is such a fantastic occasion and we’re not going to try and pretend this is on a similar scale, but to get the opportunity to play on Anzac Day is great and something I’m really looking forward to being a part of.

“I love seeing us on any big stage, so this is another we can hopefully make a bit of an event and turn it into a regular fixture.”
 
They are paying the bills all for it.

Can’t get high and mighty when we get money from the AFL and they have fast food, sports gambling, alcohol etc etc etc

Battlepants said:
www.gwsgiants.com.au

Welcoming Crown Sydney – Where GIANTS Go to Celebrate

The GIANTS are delighted to announce a new and exciting partnership with world-class integrated resort, Crown Sydney.
www.gwsgiants.com.au www.gwsgiants.com.au

So we're partnering with a Casino now? I guess we need the money but jeez, between this, Engie and TAB it's like we're trying to pick the most unlikable sponsors possible.
Click to expand...
 
www.smh.com.au

The family toll at the heart of an AFL coaching crisis

Five AFL assistant coaches are living away from their families to pursue their careers, and one big factor is housing costs.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au

The family toll at the heart of an AFL coaching crisis

By Caroline Wilson

April 27, 2024 — 5.30am

The unique challenges of living their best football life in Sydney had rarely been better explained by coaches John Longmire and Adam Kingsley than when they dined out on the eve of the 2024 season with the visiting AFL posse of Andrew Dillon, Laura Kane and Daniel Richardson.

Rule changes, game trends and the match review system were off the menu when the group, on a warm night in early March, sat down over Middle Eastern fare in the Harbour City. Kingsley was quieter than his more experienced Swans counterpart but voiced his concern about the game’s struggle to attract Indigenous talent from among the big numbers living in Sydney’s west.

Longmire, a passionate campaigner for better wages for assistant coaches, said he feared football would be worse off in the long term if coaching was no longer an attractive pathway for the game’s most respected on-field leaders. He lamented that Luke Hodge, Joel Selwood and potentially Scott Pendlebury were not exactly beating down the door to become an assistant coach.

The Sydney and GWS coaches spoke with AFL bosses about ways to attract more supporters into footy’s toughest market, to their games and via TV ratings.

And Longmire spoke yet again about the prohibitive cost of the housing market in Sydney compared with every other AFL town. Although he stressed how fortunate the Swans had been in attracting high-quality football staff, Longmire’s comment that the game should be looking after its people better seems to have finally hit home with head office.

Of Kingsley’s five assistant coaches, three are living away from their families. Ben Hart’s and Craig Jennings’ families remain in Victoria while Brent Montgomery’s stayed in Adelaide. All three men are into their second season of commuting with Jennings living in a mobile home.

When Kingsley was appointed as Giants coach in late 2022, he came close to luring his close friend and former premiership teammate, Brendon Lade, to the club as his assistant, but the financial difference proved a significant impediment for Lade’s family.

While Kingsley’s assistants are paid their market value, they would struggle to break even financially living in the Sydney market in an area comparable with Melbourne. Add to that the fact that the Giants are a recipient club, meaning coaches cannot sign long-term deals guaranteeing security.

Longmire’s assistant, Ben Matthews, lives in a one-bedroom apartment away from his family who remain in Queensland while Mark McVeigh commutes from the NSW central coast.

“It’s telling that five coaches across the two clubs have those challenging family issues,” Longmire said this week. “I’m not sure that’s the best way to be looking after some of the most important people in the game. Trying to attract coaches and football staff to Sydney is just a major challenge because the cost of housing is just so significant.

“We’ve been fortunate to have done that, but if you did an analysis of who lives in their own property in Sydney compared with who rents, it would be pretty telling. Too often, coaches are approached who are based in Melbourne to come here and when they look at the hard, fixed costs it’s just not worth it.

“If they stay in Melbourne, the job opportunities are just so much more widespread.”

While the AFL’s soft cap now allows for a small rental subsidy in Sydney for football staff earning less than $200,000, both GWS and the Swans have continued to lobby for a greater financial benefit in recognition of the housing cost challenges. Sydney are also pushing for the soft cap to return to levels comparable with the pre-COVID-19 era.

The most recent pay deal with the players mandated a major review into competitive balance across the competition, which is being run by new AFL boss Dillon, his football lieutenant Kane and with heavy consultation from veteran football administrator Geoff Walsh and Kane’s team.

Projected headline changes include a national reserves competition, on target for 2026, and tougher restrictions for father-son and academy bidding. Not only are the Sydney clubs looking for a recognition of the prohibitive housing costs, but so are Gold Coast where housing costs have dramatically increased since the pandemic.

In Sydney, where Swans football boss Leon Cameron and two of Longmire’s assistants, Mark McVeigh and Amon Buchanan, have crossed from the Giants, underlining the restricted nature of the coaching pool, the view is that Dillon’s new head office team is more sympathetic to the market challenges in Sydney.

Dillon has already demonstrated through this season’s opening round a preparedness to make radical changes in recognition of the need to lift the profile of the national game in Sydney and also search for more creative ways to boost the Giants’ low profile and lack of support.

Significant changes to the AFL Commission’s profile – which now includes Queensland football pioneer and former Lions and Swans CEO Andrew Ireland and former Giant Matt de Boer – at the very least guarantees a greater recognition from head office of those challenges.

But back to the assistant coaching issue. Said Longmire: “The industry thinks it is important to have a psychologist at every club, and it is important, but I can guarantee you if a player has a genuine issue, the first person they will talk to about it is their assistant coach. That’s the level of respect they hold.

“The AFL attitude in the past was along the lines of, ‘If they won’t do it, someone else will do the job’. But I think the mood has moved from being dismissive to, ‘there may be an issue here’.

“As an industry, we should be concerned at a deeper level when some of our retiring champions aren’t excited about being an assistant coach. The game in the long term will be worse off for it.”
Click to expand...
 

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Is this weekend's game getting much, if any media in Sydney? The afl are apparently tipping more money into promotion so would be interesting to hear if it's making a difference. Local derby, 2 v 3, it should be a cracker. It is on 7 main which is good.

I noticed sen 1170 haven't even mentioned it (to which I might fire off a text pointing it out tomorrow morning, if others wish to as well 0457 736 736). I'm still disappointed in the clubs not proactively pushing for interviews on these stations, you have to force your way in imo, but anyway.
 
Bjo187 said:
Is this weekend's game getting much, if any media in Sydney? The afl are apparently tipping more money into promotion so would be interesting to hear if it's making a difference. Local derby, 2 v 3, it should be a cracker. It is on 7 main which is good.

I noticed sen 1170 haven't even mentioned it (to which I might fire off a text pointing it out tomorrow morning, if others wish to as well 0457 736 736). I'm still disappointed in the clubs not proactively pushing for interviews on these stations, you have to force your way in imo, but anyway.
Click to expand...
Ahh SEN Sydney, the self proclaimed “Home Of Sport in Sydney”. Should be renamed to Sydney NRL.

Unfortunately as a fan in Sydney we are told by SEN in Sydney that they are part of a network and they are the NRL part. Have rung them and emailed many a time and was simply brushed.
The Vic side of things basically ignore us, Wheatley probably won’t even mention the game

The promotion part is more ads, a full time AFL reporter at News Ltd papers Etc.

NRL run Sydney and unless you are cricket, which is no danger and just as powerful as the NRL here, you have buckleys of getting any coverage, our amazing finals run last year for instance.
 
Colonial said:
Ahh SEN Sydney, the self proclaimed “Home Of Sport in Sydney”. Should be renamed to Sydney NRL.

Unfortunately as a fan in Sydney we are told by SEN in Sydney that they are part of a network and they are the NRL part. Have rung them and emailed many a time and was simply brushed.
The Vic side of things basically ignore us, Wheatley probably won’t even mention the game

The promotion part is more ads, a full time AFL reporter at News Ltd papers Etc.

NRL run Sydney and unless you are cricket, which is no danger and just as powerful as the NRL here, you have buckleys of getting any coverage, our amazing finals run last year for instance.
Click to expand...

I understand it being 80 percent nrl, but it is specifically anti AFL. The reason I know this is, because any time the afl is brought up they get all funny and bitter and they give more promotion to C grade sports like nbl, A league and even overseas sports. The other funny thing is, when they do across the divide with whateley, watch them dodge and weave their way across a whole segment trying to not mention the afl, or intentionally as little as possible. Then the sen Melbourne version is filled with nrl narrative from 'vossy'.

That's the worst part. I mentioned previously, hutchie I messaged about this a few times so he is aware, but he is an NRL sycophant and lies through his teeth about the situation there. I raised this to Eddie and he saw the question a week or two ago, so that was in the hope that he gets on hutchies case about it.

Where as sen Melbourne gives weekly interviews to storm people, despite on every measure the afl being significantly more popular in Sydney, than the NRL is in Melbourne.

The game got mentioned a bit on the couch last night which was good, but surely a game of this magnitude you'd think the afl would be running promotion on tv, radio, bus stops etc in Sydney. I mean how often do you get 2 local clubs in the top 4 in an 18 team competition?
 
Bjo187 said:
I understand it being 80 percent nrl, but it is specifically anti AFL. The reason I know this is, because any time the afl is brought up they get all funny and bitter and they give more promotion to C grade sports like nbl, A league and even overseas sports. The other funny thing is, when they do across the divide with whateley, watch them dodge and weave their way across a whole segment trying to not mention the afl, or intentionally as little as possible. Then the sen Melbourne version is filled with nrl narrative from 'vossy'.
Click to expand...
was pretty much laughed off the radio when called in last year asking why in the lead up to that final against the Pies and there had been zero coverage.

Through laughter was told it’s an NRL station and “his show” so he will talk about what he want.(Jimmy Smith).
When I said the station pushes themselves as the home of sport in Sydney which was blatantly wrong he hung up
 
Colonial said:
was pretty much laughed off the radio when called in last year asking why in the lead up to that final against the Pies and there had been zero coverage.

Through laughter was told it’s an NRL station and “his show” so he will talk about what he want.(Jimmy Smith).
When I said the station pushes themselves as the home of sport in Sydney which was blatantly wrong he hung up
Click to expand...

I find it amazing that the owner of the station is seen as an AFL person, yet they are so blatant in their biased against it. In what other organisation would staff actively mock the industry their ceo is most wedded to and feel comfortable to do so?

Can you imagine if Paul Kent owned sen that the Melbourne crew would be mocking the nrl and have it black banned from being mentioned? It just shows how weak and pathetic hutchie is really. If I owned the station, I'd use it as a platform to cross promote my favourite sport (whilst concious of not upsetting the locals). But after a while it becomes the norm and people stop getting so worked up about it.
 
Bjo187 said:
Is this weekend's game getting much, if any media in Sydney? The afl are apparently tipping more money into promotion so would be interesting to hear if it's making a difference. Local derby, 2 v 3, it should be a cracker. It is on 7 main which is good.

I noticed sen 1170 haven't even mentioned it (to which I might fire off a text pointing it out tomorrow morning, if others wish to as well 0457 736 736). I'm still disappointed in the clubs not proactively pushing for interviews on these stations, you have to force your way in imo, but anyway.
Click to expand...

Print/written media, as far I can tell seems to be okay with the story from yesterday.

It was front page on the SMH website yesterday - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/th...ipe-at-smug-chirpy-swans-20240429-p5fnbv.html

1714442610414.png
Other sources:
au.sports.yahoo.com

High-flying Swans amped for Giant midfield battle

Swans star Isaac Heeney and Giants gun Tom Green headline a pair of red-hot midfield units gearing up for what Chad Warner expects to be a fiery Sydney derby.
au.sports.yahoo.com au.sports.yahoo.com
www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/gws-defender-sam-taylor-opens-up-war-of-words-ahead-of-grudge-match-with-sydney/news-story/26df1a5ddf2406851eaa415f6f82c09c

The derby has been on some of the nightly sports news segments.

I have seen the ad for the derby on BigFooty and a couple of different websites so not sure where else it has been displayed.

There are large screens at Central train station that I saw with the ad for the game two weeks ago which was good to see. Though, it's not unusual to see ads for Swans games at Town Hall so really wasn't anything out of character. First time I've seen it on the larger screens (due to Central station upgrades).

I know Westfield in Western Sydney was showing the AFL rounds 1-15 on sale now ads recently. Not sure if these had reverted to showing ads for the Derby.

Outside of that, can't say I've seen any TV ads or anything like that. I don't have a yardstick from previous years so not sure if there's been an improvement.
 
Bjo187 said:
I find it amazing that the owner of the station is seen as an AFL person, yet they are so blatant in their biased against it. In what other organisation would staff actively mock the industry their ceo is most wedded to and feel comfortable to do so?

Can you imagine if Paul Kent owned sen that the Melbourne crew would be mocking the nrl and have it black banned from being mentioned? It just shows how weak and pathetic hutchie is really. If I owned the station, I'd use it as a platform to cross promote my favourite sport (whilst concious of not upsetting the locals). But after a while it becomes the norm and people stop getting so worked up about it.
Click to expand...
Yeah but Hutchie on his television appearances/shows admitted and says week in week out how he hates the club. No fear from him when he says it.

Even had Caro jump to our defence numerous times.

He is scum.
 
Colonial said:
Yeah but Hutchie on his television appearances/shows admitted and says week in week out how he hates the club. No fear from him when he says it.

Even had Caro jump to our defence numerous times.

He is scum.
Click to expand...

Agree, I retract a little what I said this morning. Just listened to across the divide with whateley, vossy said it's getting more coverage than usual from their listeners and they had will hayward on the program this morning. So off a base of usually nothing it probably seems like a bit to them. It's a shame the weather is going to be s**t.

Giant YoYo said:
Print/written media, as far I can tell seems to be okay with the story from yesterday.

It was front page on the SMH website yesterday - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/th...ipe-at-smug-chirpy-swans-20240429-p5fnbv.html

View attachment 1975110
Other sources:
au.sports.yahoo.com

High-flying Swans amped for Giant midfield battle

Swans star Isaac Heeney and Giants gun Tom Green headline a pair of red-hot midfield units gearing up for what Chad Warner expects to be a fiery Sydney derby.
au.sports.yahoo.com au.sports.yahoo.com
www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/gws-defender-sam-taylor-opens-up-war-of-words-ahead-of-grudge-match-with-sydney/news-story/26df1a5ddf2406851eaa415f6f82c09c

The derby has been on some of the nightly sports news segments.

I have seen the ad for the derby on BigFooty and a couple of different websites so not sure where else it has been displayed.

There are large screens at Central train station that I saw with the ad for the game two weeks ago which was good to see. Though, it's not unusual to see ads for Swans games at Town Hall so really wasn't anything out of character. First time I've seen it on the larger screens (due to Central station upgrades).

I know Westfield in Western Sydney was showing the AFL rounds 1-15 on sale now ads recently. Not sure if these had reverted to showing ads for the Derby.

Outside of that, can't say I've seen any TV ads or anything like that. I don't have a yardstick from previous years so not sure if there's been an improvement.
Click to expand...

I've always said the 9 network including the smh give better coverage than the afl rights holders.

I know the afl spend 4 mill compared to the nrl 2 mill on promotion themselves per year. The afl concentrate on 'in person' marketing. So signs at train stations, shopping centres etc, the nrl do there's through the old avenues of fta tv, radio etc. There was an article on it last year I think which was very interesting.
 
Just noticed this also appear so I'd say that's probably a good chunk of Sydney media quite easily covered for the upcoming derby:



Good to see. Hopefully plenty of media/promotion when the derby is held at Engie stadium too.
 
Bjo187 said:
I've always said the 9 network including the smh give better coverage than the afl rights holders.

I know the afl spend 4 mill compared to the nrl 2 mill on promotion themselves per year. The afl concentrate on 'in person' marketing. So signs at train stations, shopping centres etc, the nrl do there's through the old avenues of fta tv, radio etc. There was an article on it last year I think which was very interesting.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Not sure if I've seen that article before but would be good to see.

Given that the SCG derby is almost sold out and Engie will too. Hopefully we build up a bit of FOMO for the game and in upcoming years they turn the derby into a bit more of an event to get more eyes onto the game that haven't already started following.

Wouldn't mind a Sherrin at Parramatta and a bit of a promotional event couple weeks out from the upcoming derby at Engie, for example.
 
Giant YoYo said:
Interesting. Not sure if I've seen that article before but would be good to see.

Given that the SCG derby is almost sold out and Engie will too. Hopefully we build up a bit of FOMO for the game and in upcoming years they turn the derby into a bit more of an event to get more eyes onto the game that haven't already started following.

Wouldn't mind a Sherrin at Parramatta and a bit of a promotional event couple weeks out from the upcoming derby at Engie, for example.
Click to expand...

Yeah agree. I found that article, it's actually a couple of years old and my figures were off numbers wise, but percentage of comparative marketing spend I was close.

bigdatr.com

A tale of two sports: how the AFL and NRL played with their marketing budgets last season - Bigdatr

We used Bigdatr’s platform to find out how the AFL and NRL spent their marketing budgets last season. Get insider insights today.
bigdatr.com

In terms of promotion, I wonder if anybody has been going to the pub sites as being advertised on the podcast and by the club and what the turnout has been like?
 
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