Giants CEO Dave Matthews has confirmed the club has quickly moved on from the re-signing of Stephen Coniglio and is looking to next year’s class of free agents.
Lachie Whitfield and Jeremy Cameron headline the group and Matthews hopes that Coniglio’s seven-year recommitment to the club sways the duo to stick around as well.
“I stuck a contract under both of their noses straight away and said here’s the opportunity, let’s just get it out of the way,” Matthews told AFL Nation.
“They’re players that have been here for a long time and like Coniglio, they’ve been critical in building what we’ve got today.
“We’re confident that both of those players see their futures at the Giants.”
GWS managed to keep both Josh Kelly and Coniglio this year, but look as though they will lose Adam Tomlinson as the salary cap squeeze comes on.
They’ve lost a number of players over the years, including Dylan Shiel, Tom Scully, Rory Lobb and Will Setterfield last year.
Matthews believes the club has done a good job in working out who to keep and who they can let go.
“The best way to improve your list to retain the players that you’ve got,” he said.
“When you’re trying to build a club from scratch, you’ve got to make the right decisions on who you try to retain and make sure they do stay and then occasionally when you do spill players you’re spilling the right ones.”
Leon Cameron also goes into 2020 on the last year of his contract and Matthews remains confident that he is the man to take the club forward.
“We haven’t really sat down and talked about (Leon Cameron’s contract) just yet, we’re confident that we’ve got a really, really good coach,” he said.
“I think he gets unfairly criticised from time to time, but that doesn’t matter as much as how he’s seen internally and he’s viewed internally in a very positive way.
“I think he’s nurtured this group in an outstanding way. He’s showing every sign of being the first premiership coach of the Giants.”