With five seconds left in the preliminary final three years ago, Sam Taylor backed back towards the goal square, raised his right fist and thumped the ball straight back into play. Luckily, it fell to Daniel Lloyd, and the team held on to win by four points. In the rooms after the game, the then 19-year-old bemoaned his decision to spoil rather than mark, but it didn’t matter. The GIANTS were through to the club’s first grand final and in just his 29^th game the young defender had played an enormous part in making sure they got there. 

Some things have changed since then, and some have stayed exactly the same. Adam Kennedy knows that if he turned around late in a close game now, with the ball flying over his head towards the opposition goal square, Sam Taylor would be there, ready and waiting to save the day. He knows he would be competing as hard as he could, like it was the most important contest of his career: Taylor has never known how to give less than everything. But he thinks if he had that moment again, one thing would change: he’d just take the mark.

“I reckon he would. He’s always been competitive, but I think every year he’s grown more and more. He steps up in so many big moments, which is hard to do. Everyone wishes they could have one of those moments but he does it over and over, he does it all the time. The more close games and the more big moments we have, he just stands taller,” Kennedy said.

“I love playing with him. Everyone in the backline does. I must admit every time an opposition kick comes in and I see him there in a pack situation or one-on-one I think, ‘well we’re not going to get beaten here.’ He just wins them. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more competitive person, in everything he does. It makes him special, the will and desire he has to never lose. 

“It can be a bit annoying, that’s the only thing I’d say. We play a bit of online chess, and I can never beat him. He’s a bit of a wizard, and he never lets me beat him. It does my head in.”

Taylor was competitive when he arrived at the GIANTS, as a second-round pick from Swan Districts in the 2017 draft; it was his No. 1 trait. But in his five years at the club he has kept adding things to his game. His intercept marks have gone from an average of two per game in 2019 to 3.2 this season. His one-on-one win and half rate has moved from 77% to 87% in that same time, while his spoils are up to 8.1 from 6.2. His possession gains have increased from 5.6 to 9.5 per game, and his disposal count has gone from 10.8 in 2019 to 15.2 this year.

He's done all of his after having his third season, 2020, wiped out by a horrible infection – septic arthritis - that put him in hospital for weeks and stripped kilograms from his body, which needed to be rebuilt almost from scratch. The illness put doubt into his head as to whether he would ever play footy again, as well as a desperate resolve to make sure he did get better and that when he was, he would come back an even stronger player than before.

What he has been from the start is fun to play alongside – reliable, trustworthy and entertaining at the same time. Connor Idun joined the GIANTS 12 months after Taylor did, and for the last two years has played almost every game alongside him in the backline. He knows that if things ever go wrong down there, Taylor is going to have everyone else’s back.

“You know that if you ever make a little mistake, he’s going to be there cleaning it up for you. He’s the janitor. Sometimes you feel lucky just to be watching him play. The closer it is or the tighter the game is, it’s almost like he gets better or goes to a new level,” Idun said.

“He always used to be very single-minded with his focus. He just wanted to beat his player, but now it’s all about the back six or seven and growing what we’ve got down there as a group.

“If he makes a tiny error and gets beaten he’s filthy, but at the same time he loves all of his teammates and loves the little efforts. He celebrates them, which gets everyone up and about.

“He’s so competitive it gets annoying at times. He’s given me a few sprays for not helping him out, but when he’s on your side it’s a pretty good thing to have. You know he’s going to front up every week, every single contest and put his body on the line. He never, ever gives up.”

From the start, Sam has been Sam – unassuming, grateful, just himself. But as his football has improved and the backline has started to change shape so have other things: his talk, his direction, his leadership. They’re things his teammates expect to get better again as he goes.

“He actually stayed with me and Harry Perryman for his first week or two at the club,” said Isaac Cumming. “And I just remember him being pretty quiet, pretty shy. I didn’t know much about him but as soon as we started training he still wasn’t saying a word but he wanted to play against Jeremy Cameron every session and we were all thinking, ‘have a look at this kid.’

“He’s still just the same old Slammer, but he’s absolutely the man back there now. He’s stepping into the shoes of Phil as the leader back there and he’s come a long way with that stuff, the talking and direction. And he’s playing on the best forwards in the competition as well, every week. It was something he’s had to develop, and he’s really leading the charge now.”

Kennedy agrees. “That’s something Craig Jennings as the backline coach has really tried to develop in his game. He’s normally the deepest defender, and you see the game really well from back there, so he’s just starting now to talk more and get more confident. It’s something he’s still working on because he normally has his hands pretty full with the forwards he has to play on, but I can see it coming through more and more and he’s only going to get better from here.

“He marks himself really hard and he’s had the benefit of being able to train and play alongside Phil Davis, who in my opinion has been one of the best defenders in the comp for a long time. Slammer does it his own way, but to have Phil there to watch on the field and off has been great for him. Phil is the best person to watch and learn from, and now Sam’s starting to do the same and help guys like Callum Brown and Leek Aleer, which is what we need.

“He’s the best guy to play with and unless something bizarre happens, I’m expecting him to win the best and fairest this week. I hope he does. I can’t wait to hear his speech. You never quite know what Sam’s going to say next, so it will be one to look forward to and I think it will be pretty good.”