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FWC on Sport Nation guide“Anything can happen”: Why Giants are big wildcard fans
Abby Crozier • July 10th, 2026 9:37 pm
The Wildcard Finals round concept has copped a bit of stick from some corners this year.
But the GWS Giants certainly aren’t in that camp, says Tom Green.
Adam Kingsley’s side has been a fascinating watch this year, beating teams they’re not expected to while losing games they really should be winning.
That was evident when they ended Fremantle’s 14-game winning run with a dominant 21-point victory at home last weekend.
As a result of that impressive triumph, the Giants find themselves sitting 13th - four points outside of the top 10 - ahead of Saturday’s massive clash with Geelong.
Injured midfielder Green says the 7-9 Giants are loving the fact their season is still alive even after a number of subpar performances.
“There are some really good sides we’ve beat this year, but our main focus is the consistency piece," the SEN Breakfast regular said.
“If we want to make something of this season, we’re going to need to find some consistency in the back end and start stringing together some wins.
“We’re really happy with (the wildcard). The season so far hasn’t gone to plan with how we would have liked, but it gives us a chance to really make something of this season.
“I think we’ve seen in other years, sometimes you just need to be in it to win it. If we can give ourselves an opportunity and start playing some football like we did on the weekend consistently, if we can get ourselves above the 10th spot, then anything can happen.
“It’s been great for us. It’s something that’s sort of designed to keep more teams motivated later into the season and it's certainly working for us."
Despite being sidelined, Green's dedication to the team has not wavered.
He is working hard in his rehab and doing a mountain of work with the playing group to continue pushing the club forward.
“I’m still in the building back strength phase. The main one is my calf – I haven’t got the biggest calves at the best of times, so they disappeared pretty quickly when I wasn’t doing much," he added.
"I'm doing some plyometric work now … and should be running hopefully next week, if everything goes well. The more I’m doing, the more confident I’m getting in my knee and I can start to feel a bit more normal about it.
"It can be really, really frustrating and boring – but I suppose it is what you make of it. That’s just my lot for the year, basically, is the rehab group so I can either disengage and have a shocking time or try and be up and about, get around the guys.
"We have a longer injury list this year than we would’ve liked, so there’s people around me to get involved with and to get fired up.
"The fact that I’ve also been training and still doing a lot of work with the midfield and some extra sort of coaching stuff on centre bounce and whatever else – that keeps me engaged with the main group as well.
"Not being able to get out there and help the boys has really frustrated me but there’s other ways I’ve been able to engage. I’m focused completely on my rehab and trying to get out there as soon as I can."
Green was also quizzed on the current player movement space.
He believes players will one day be given freedom to announce their next move, but right now he's unsure if fans are ready for it.
“I think it can happen at some point, but I think all the parties involved, whether it’s a level of maturity or acceptance, probably have to get around to it," Green said.
"I imagine if it happened now – teammates wouldn’t really be that happy with it, and fans would absolutely lose the plot.
"I couldn’t picture how Carlton or Collingwood fans would respond if one of their players came out and said they were leaving at the end of the year – or all fans for that matter.
"I don’t think supporter groups in the AFL are ready for it necessarily.
"I think it could happen, it doesn’t necessarily need to either. There would just have to be an acceptance from all different stakeholders in our game that that’s the way it is and everyone would have to handle that maturely if that makes sense.
"It would work well in the Toby Greene example, but I suppose the counter is if it wasn’t Toby who has already given 15 years of service and is a champion of the club already – I don’t know. With Zak Butters – would that be handled the same way? I’m not sure."
