GWS defender Sam Taylor has heaped enormous praise on a pair of his young teammates.
Taylor, 23, who won the club’s best and fairest award and was an All-Australian in 2022 expects Tom Green and Finn Callaghan to have breakout seasons in 2023.
Under new coach Adam Kingsley, Taylor says the young midfield duo – who were taken with pick no.10 in the 2019 Draft and pick no.3 in the 2021 Draft respectively – have dominated throughout the pre-season.
While Taylor admitted he didn’t want to set expectations too high for the duo, he did compare them to perhaps the best midfield combination in the AFL in Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca.
“Obviously, we’ve got a new strategy and game plan going forward,” Taylor told SEN WA Breakfast.
“Realistically it could be a tough first 10 weeks, but by the last 10 weeks we could be winning every game.
“Like I said before, players like Tom Green, he could be a Brownlow medallist in a few years.
“Finn Callaghan, who is probably one of the Rising Stars, he is a special player.
“I haven’t seen two people dominate a pre-season like those two, I don’t want to hype them up too much, but they could be an Oliver and Petracca like duo.”
With young stars improving, Taylor feels the Giants can be “really strong” in 2023 once they get past initial growing pains under their new coach.
“Then we’ve got class players like Toby Greene and Jesse Hogan, and we have an experienced backline now,” Taylor explained.
“Once we get things to click, I think we could be a really strong team this year.
“There’s plenty of energy and the new coaches have brought things with them and their stories and experience.
“I’m sort of sick of pre-season, I just want to start playing and get stuck into it.
“I’m confident.”
The Giants open their season with a Round 1 clash at home against Adelaide on Sunday, March 19.