GIANTS young gun Joe Fonti is aiming to show off even more of his exciting flair in 2026 as the dashing defender looks to further cement his spot in the GIANTS’ best side.
Taken with pick 44 in the 2023 AFL Draft, Fonti showed glimpses of his immense talent throughout his debut season in 2024 to feature five times in Adam Kingsley’s senior side.
The speedster then took his game to a new level in 2025, with the 21-year-old featuring in 17 games and earning an AFL Rising Star nomination to quickly establish himself as one of the GIANTS’ most exciting young prospects.
A dynamic defender with a knack for high-flying marks and eye-catching runs out of defence, Fonti admits it’s always been his natural instinct to play with flair and says he won’t be changing that any time soon.
“As a kid I loved going for my marks, loved selling candy, loved trying to take hangers… playing with that freedom has always been a part of my game,” he said.
“The coaches encourage me to play like that,” he added.
“If I go too crazy with it and try and go for three hangers in a row and they don’t come off then I’ll be getting some feedback from ‘Kingers’ [Adam Kingsley] -but obviously they encourage me to try and play the way I play best.”
While it’s his flair that is loudest and stands out the most, Fonti has quietly gone about improving the defensive side of his game over the last two years - and it’s an area he’s determined to turn into a genuine weapon in 2026.
“This season I’ll work towards establishing myself as a real pest to play on. Someone that small forwards might see they’ll be matched up on in the week leading up [to the game] and dread the thought of playing on me – I’ve put a lot of work into my defensive stuff.
“But then also offensively a focus is trying to get involved and helping the boys going forward a bit more as well.”
While he’s got lofty ambitions, the level-headed youngster admits his main goal is ensuring he’s performing well enough to become a regular in Adam Kingsley’s side and building on his 17 games from last year.
“It’s a big focus,” he said.
“Obviously it’s still pretty early on, but I suppose a big focus is just to stay healthy and make myself available for each game and then work towards cementing that position and developing as a player.”
Fans will get their first glimpse of Fonti and many of his teammates for 2026 in the coming weeks in a pair of big pre-season clashes, first taking on the Pies on February 20 in Victoria before a pre-season Derby with the Swans on February 26 at Henson Park.
“They’re both really strong sides and have been for the past few years so it should be good to get a gauge on where they’re at and where we are early in the season,” Fonti said.
Less than two weeks later the GIANTS will kickstart their 2026 campaign with a huge Opening Round clash against the Hawks in a rematch of last year’s Elimination Final at ENGIE Stadium on Saturday, March 7.
“That’ll be really exciting,” Fonti said.
“Hopefully we can get ENGIE booked out. Obviously we’ll be looking to get revenge after what happened at the end of last year so it should be a competitive match up.”
