GWS captain Stephen Coniglio failed to make an impact in either of the club’s finals in 2021.
The 27-year-old followed up his 11-disposal outing against the Swans with just a 14-touch game against the Cats, far below the numbers you’d expect from a midfielder earning $1 million a season across a seven-year deal.
With his form not befitting that of a captain, Kane Cornes was asked whether Coniglio was the right man to lead the side again in 2022.
“No, he’s not, he can’t be (captain),” Cornes said on AFL.com.au’s The Round So Far.
“You can’t have the captain wondering whether he’ll get a game each week, unfortunately that’s been the situation for Stephen Coniglio in the past two years.
“He just looks unfortunately nowhere near the player we know he has been prior to that seven-year deal
“14 touches playing in the midfield, seven kicks – he just looks bereft of all confidence.”
While Cornes doesn’t think Coniglio can be captain, he also thinks the club should aggressively look to trade him this off-season, even offering to pay a portion of the remaining five years of his contract.
“He can’t be captain, but it’s more what do you do about that,” Cornes added.
“Is there a club like a Fremantle willing to pick that up and the Giants pay some of it? It is a rather large elephant in the room that they’ll have to deal with a bit awkwardly like they tried to do last year.
“This isn’t going to go away anytime soon.”