‘What is Wardy?’: Kingsley’s key message to Giants
Tom Wark |
Callan Ward’s stirring speech is becoming the stuff of legend, now Adam Kingsley wants the message to linger long beyond the club’s epic comeback win.
Ward composed himself after suffering a likely career-ending knee injury in Saturday’s clash with Richmond, addressing teammates at three-quarter time.
The Giants proceeded to overcome Richmond’s 28-point lead and snatch a memorable victory that kept them in the AFL’s top eight.
Kingsley is calling on his team to emulate the approach Ward adopted throughout his 327-game career, by priding themselves on being dependable through all four quarters.
“What is Wardy? He’s reliable,” Kingsley said as GWS prepared to tackle Port Adelaide in Canberra.
“You know what you’re going to get every single week and that’s what we need to become both individually and as a team.
“I thought the way he spoke to our group … you could see players were locked in and absorbing each and every word, and we got the response we needed.”
Set to undergo surgery in Melbourne later this month, 35-year-old Ward has yet to make a formal decision on his playing future or what his off-field role at the club will look like this season.
“Last year was his call to come back and continue to play, we’ll allow him to make the call again and see what happens,” Kingsley said.
“We’ll get through all this surgery and he’ll come back up to Sydney, then we’ll sit down and discuss what that looks like.”
The Giants will at least welcome back small forward Brent Daniels from an abdominal strain.
Saturday’s meeting with 15th-placed Port Adelaide (4-7) shapes as a must-win clash.
It is the first of three matches before the Giants’ mid-season bye, with top-four sides Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast up next.
“Structurally, we’re fine. We’ve just got to have a little bit better impact in some moments, both individually and as a group,” Kingsley said.
“Once we do that, we know we’re a pretty good team, a pretty capable stoppage team.
“We’ve just got – to Wardy’s point – find a little more reliability and be the same team in the last quarter as we were in the first quarter.”
Kingsley is also hopeful veteran midfielder Stephen Coniglio may finally be on the road to recovery from a nerve issue in his glute that has kept him out since round three.
“He (Coniglio) actually ran freely today from what I understand and is in pretty good shape,” Kingsley said.
“It feels like he might have turned the corner.”
AAP
