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Giants' Bruhn shows shade of Greene

3 minute read

Toby Greene and Tanner Bruhn kicked seven goals between them to lead GWS to a 28-point win over Sydney in an AFL pre-season game.

TOBY GREENE
TOBY GREENE Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

GWS coach Leon Cameron believes youngster Tanner Bruhn may be in the mould of star forward Toby Green, after the two men provided the goal-kicking power in the Giants' 28-point AFL pre-season win over local rivals Sydney.

The Giants kicked the first four goals of Sunday's game at Giants Stadium and surged to a 37-point lead in the second quarter, with GWS midfielder Jacob Hopper snaffling eight first-half clearances.

The Swans lifted their intensity in the third quarter, dominating clearances and kicked five goals to one to twice get within a point.

With the game on line in the last, Greene (3.1, 21 touches, four marks and four score assists) kicked truly from 50 metres and followed up with a typically-opportunistic effort from much closer.

Goals to Harry Himmelberg, Tom Greene and Bruhn, swelled the Giants' advantage to 23 points and they won the quarter 5.1 to 0.5 to score a 18.6 (114) to 12.14 (86) victory.

Bruhn, the Giants' first pick in the 2020 draft, kicked 4.1 to enhance his chances of a first-round AFL debut.

"He (Bruhn) is really creative," Cameron said.

"He's probably in that mould, of, I don't want to put too much pressure on him, but Toby Greene started out his career (as) just a ball hunter. They (both) want to get their hands on the footy.

"Tanner has played a lot of inside mid but also forward in his junior days."

Another potential first-round debutant is highly-rated Logan McDonald the young key forward drafted at No.4 by Sydney last year.

He kicked a goal from 49 metres and was just off target from 51 a few minutes later and finished with 1.2.

McDonald's chances have been boosted by news that star Sydney spearhead Lance Franklin won't be available for the March 20 opening-round clash with Brisbane.

Cameron said off-season forward recruit Jesse Hogan was unlikely to make his debut for the Giants in round one as he battled to recover from quadriceps tightness.

Hopper and Tim Taranto were strong performers in the GWS engine room and the Giants moved the ball more fluently than they did for much of last season.

"Clearly we've worked on probably coming through the corridor a little bit more from our back end," Cameron said.

"At times it worked, at times we turned out over, but we've got to be brave."

Bruhn apart, Cameron was excited by the efforts of several youngsters, with ruckman Kieren Briggs adding to the competition for that position.

Sydney coach John Longmire said his team's effort was good.

"We had 66 inside-50s, we just needed probably a bit more polish and a bit more efficiency going forward," Longmire said

Sydney veteran Luke Parker collected team highs of 22 possessions and three goals and Tom McCartin continued his strong transition to a key backline role.

Two 2020 draft picks, Braeden Campbell and Errol Gulden, could also be pushing for round one selection.

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