The GIANTS will kickstart their 2026 Smithy’s VFL season this weekend as they host the Saints at Tom Wills Oval at GIANTS HQ on Saturday morning.
The history-making clash will be the first time the GIANTS and the Saints have faced off in the VFL after the Saints ended their alignment with Sandringham in order to field their own standalone VFL team in 2026.
Ahead of his side’s season-opener against the Saints, we sat down with new GIANTS VFL Head Coach Robbie Chancellor to get his thoughts on the upcoming VFL campaign.
SEASON OPENER V THE SAINTS ON SATURDAY:
“I’m just excited for us to play,” Chancellor said.
“We’ve had four months of work to get ourselves to a point where we feel we are ready to go out and execute and play games.
“This week will very much be about us and going after what we’ve practiced and bringing our summer to life. But we’ll also respect that they’ve got some very talented players.
“Given they’re a new team and it’s their first game [as a standalone side] then I’m sure the energy and the fight will be up for them - so we’ll have to be prepared for that.
“But for us we’ll be focusing on getting done to a high level, what we’ve practiced all summer.”
VFL PROGRAM FOCUS FOR 2026:
“It’s obviously to prepare our AFL-listed players to be able to perform at AFL level.
“The VFL program is clearly part of your development program within AFL land, and we want to make sure our players are skilled up on the roles that they’ll need to execute at AFL level.
“And a part of that is performing that week in and week out at VFL level to prepare them for that.
“I think the second part to that is that winning plays a role in that. If you look at the success of a lot of [AFL] premiership teams in recent years, they’ve all had high performing VFL teams…it suggests that if your VFL team is winning then your seniors are in a good spot.
“So there’s certainly a development and educational focus, but we’ll be going into games with the expectation that we want to compete and win as many games as we can.”
THOUGHTS ON THE GIANTS’ VFL LIST:
“Obviously it’s my first year at the helm and there’s been a bit of turnover, but I think we’ve recruited really well.
“I think the work that Adrian [Caruso] has done to bring players into the club has been excellent. To get some guys who are a bit more experienced and mature-bodied at state-league level is huge. Players like James Bell and Harvey Hooper in particular are going to be massive assets for our team, but also as role models for our younger players coming through as to what it takes to be a consistent performer in senior footy.”
PRE-SEASON FOCUSES
“With high turnover of players you kind of have to go back to square one in terms of education. So our focus has really been on what a GIANTS game of football looks like and the roles within it.
“We’ve been working really hard to make sure the players have clarity on what’s expected of them in any position that they’re likely to play.
“You’d expect to see a very similar brand of footy to what you see in the AFL team. That’s been a real focus – we want to bring that brand to life at VFL level.”
NEW FACES LEARNING THEIR ROLES
“The enthusiasm and effort to buy into learning the GIANTS way has been really impressive.
“When players get an opportunity at this level for the first time they kind of don’t know what they don’t know and the expectation is raised and the level of detail in terms of what's required from individuals goes up significantly, but the group has been up for that challenge.
“I think the weekend [practice match against the Swans] was a good example of the work they’ve put in. We had six or seven AFL-listed [players] versus 16 for the Swans, and to lose by just 10 points but really play well enough to win that game, shows the boys have really put in the work in to get themselves up to speed.
“And for me, it’s very exciting to be back in footy. I guess the last couple of years back at community level [footy] got the passion back for coaching.
“You get to work with players with serious talent and drive to get the most out of themselves so it’s a fantastic environment to be in and I’m really grateful for the opportunity.”
AFL-LISTED PLAYER TO WATCH: JACK OUGH
“It’s his second year in the program and with that a second pre-season and with that, expectations on performance go up. And certainly based on the way he’s approached this summer and the improvement we’ve seen in his game – and in the Collingwood trial game – he showed he’s going to be capable at the [AFL] level.
“I’m really excited to see him put that into practice consistently at VFL level and if he does that he’ll give himself an opportunity to play some senior [AFL] footy in the next couple of months which is really exciting.”
3 VFL-LISTED PLAYERS TO WATCH:
JAMES BELL:
“Obviously he’s been with the senior [AFL] group the whole summer as a train-on and he’s just hungry to get the most out of himself.
“He’s obviously a very talented player with the skill and attributes that he possesses, but what’s really stood out is his work ethic, he’s hard and tough, and he’s really attacked every training session that he’s been involved in.
“He’s set himself up for a really big year. He’ll have high expectations on himself, and we’ll have high expectations on him given the quality of player he’s shown to be at this level over the last couple of years.
“I’ll be expecting him to play with plenty of fire in the belly.”
HARVEY HOOPER:
“He’s a veteran of the competition now and we were really lucky to have coaxed him out of retirement. It’s great to have someone of his experience – being a longtime captain at VFL level – join our program.
“He’s still got the hunger to try and win a premiership. He experienced one when he was quite young at Port Melbourne and I think he looked at our program – both AFL and VFL – and saw that as a real opportunity to achieve that here.
“He’s really invested in the club and the program and he’s been an excellent influence on the younger players since he’s come in.
“And from a playing point of view, he’s played a lot of different roles throughout his career and I think his ability to impact, whether he’s playing forward, mid, or back, is something that he’s always been able to do, and I’m sure that will continue here so I’m looking forward to him pulling on the orange jumper.”
LACHLAN GRUBB:
“Lachie was a really talented junior and had some bad luck with injuries in his first couple of years at senior footy but he’s strung together a couple of really consistent seasons at SANFL level.
“He comes across as a really exciting livewire small forward. He’s got really polished skills, he’s clever with ball in hand, and certainly plays with an aggressive edge which I think will really add to our young group in the front half.
“I think he’s built his game over the last couple of years to a point where its, hey, let's take the next step now and be a really consistent performer at state league level.”
GIANTS’ 2026 VFL LIST:
47 Ryan Hebron
48 James Bell
49 Nick Kelly
50 Louie Montgomery
51 Harvey Hooper
52 Lachlan Grubb
53 Lachlan McArthur
54 Izaac Hughes
55 Hugo Birks
56 Kye Pfrengle
57 Jerome Lawrence
58 Cameron Edwards
59 Mackenzie Allen
60 Riley Dillon
61 Ethan Roberts
62 Sam McMeeken
63 Tom Hitchens
64 Declan Fitzgerald
65 Mitch Szybkowski
66 Jaiden Butson
67 Taine Moraschi
68 Jaxon East
69 Toby Hunt
70 Jac Mifsud
71 Matthew Belbasis
The GIANTS will kickstart their VFL season on Saturday when they take on the Saints at Tom Wills Oval at GIANTS HQ at 11:05am.
Click here to view the GIANTS’ 2026 VFL fixture.
