This year started off looking bleak for the Giants, with hardly anyone predicting they would make finals, let alone a prelim. Yet, after some patchy early form, that's exactly what they did, becoming the dark horse for the flag that no one wanted to come up against.
Following a bottom six finish in 2022, the Giants weren't expected to be much better this year and their early season form did nothing to convince anyone otherwise. The turnaround had to be seen to be believed.
From roughly the midway point of the year, the Giants lost just three of the next 14 games, wreaking havoc on the competition as they climbed into the top eight and quickly became the team most likely to cause an upset in September.
A heartbreaking one-point loss to eventual premiers Collingwood indicates that this team could achieve great things in the coming years and season 2024 will be a tough first step towards a premiership tilt.
With what has been graded as the toughest fixture in the AFL for 2024, not to mention having to overcome any mental scars from the brutal loss to the Pies, the Giants will have the chance to show everyone if they are the real deal.
The critical re-signings of Harry Himmelberg and Finn Callaghan are a huge boost to a club that has bled too much talent over the years, while the additions of Phoenix Gothard and James Leake on draft night ensure they continue to have young talent coming through.
Here's how we think they'll be named in 2024...
2. Midfielders
The Giants boast one of the most well-balanced and potent midfields in the competition, a perfect mix of skill, strength, running power and football nous. The emergence of Kieren Briggs as one of the competition's best ruckmen has certainly taken them to another level.
Aside from Briggs' late run at an All-Australian jacket, the midfield was in danger of losing some of its lustre following the departures of Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
Enter Tom Green.
Having already shown that he can dominate games in 2022, Green took his game to another level in 2023, establishing himself as one of the most powerful and dominant midfielders in the AFL.
His career-best season was matched by the vast improvement of young gun Finn Callaghan, who began to show exactly why the Giants drafted him with Pick 3 in 2021. Callaghan's endurance, skill and athleticism have him earmarked as a star of the future.
Complementing these three tyros are veterans Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio, both already established stars of the game, while Isaac Cumming mans the opposite wing to Kelly.
Throw in Callan Ward's experience and brute force around the contest and the Giants' midfield ticks every box, not to mention the fact that they can run Whitfield and superstar Toby Greene through the centre bounces, it's clear they bat very deep.
