\n Former No.1 pick Aaron Cadman dreams of one day captaining the Giants\n <\/p>\n
Aaron Cadman celebrates a goal during Greater Western Sydney’s clash against Geelong in round 18, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
AARON Cadman wants to be the player to lead Greater Western Sydney to a premiership.<\/p>\n
While not in the immediate future, the former No.1 pick says captaining the Giants is part of his “master plan”.<\/p>\n
Bacchus Marsh product Cadman has already alleviated fears of being lured back to Victoria, after signing a contract extension with the Giants until 2030.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old key forward enters his fourth season next year following a career-best campaign, which included game-winning performances across 24 matches.<\/p>\n
He kicked 44 goals, surpassing his 2024 haul of 30 majors across 23 games.<\/p>\n
GWS is led by Toby Greene, who was named All-Australian captain in 2023 for his role in guiding the Giants to a fairytale finals campaign.<\/p>\n
Aaron Cadman celebrates kicking a goal during the match between Greater Western Sydney and Sydney at Engie Stadium in round 20, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
Greene is supported by vice-captains Stephen Coniglio and Josh Kelly, with fellow leader and 24-year-old Tom Green also touted as a future captain.<\/p>\n
Cadman is not yet part of the leadership group under coach Adam Kingsley, but feels the call-up is not far away.<\/p>\n
After joining the AFL in 2012, the Giants’ search for the club’s first flag will go into a 15th season after an elimination final loss to Hawthorn.<\/p>\n
“That’s where I want to be. My master plan is to hopefully be captain of the club,” Cadman told AAP.<\/p>\n
“I want to be looked up to. I want to be the one leading us in.<\/p>\n
Aaron Cadman kicks a goal during Greater Western Sydney’s clash against Brisbane in round 14, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
“I feel like I’m in a really strong spot to perform and to really take that next step and be that man down there.<\/p>\n
“It’s just up to me to take my game to the next level for my team and for my teammates.”<\/p>\n
The Giants are also set to benefit from a new-look “bromance”, with Jake Stringer reuniting with close mate and former Essendon teammate Jayden Laverde.<\/p>\n
The veteran duo had played together since 2018 until Stringer landed a trade to the Giants for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
Key defender Laverde moved to GWS after being delisted by the Bombers last season.<\/p>\n
Jayden Laverde at Giants training on December 8, 2025. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
Stringer \u2013 who battled soft-tissue injuries \u2013 was also delisted by the Giants, but was re-drafted with pick No.59 in November.<\/p>\n
“There is a bit of a bromance going on there,” Cadman said.<\/p>\n
“They’re lucky that they’re not in the same line group, or else they would be spending genuinely every second together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Both of them are one-of-a-kind people, so it’s funny when they get together.<\/p>\n
“It’s really beneficial for Jayden that he’s got someone so close to him that knows what’s going on so well, and vice versa.<\/p>\n
“They can really help each other, push each other to the next level.”<\/p>\n
Jayden Laverde and Clayton Oliver at GWS training on November 24, 2025. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
Laverde becomes another cog in an already stacked defence, which boasts the likes of Sam Taylor, Lachie Ash and Connor Idun.<\/p>\n
Hawthorn is first up next season, with the two sides to meet in the Opening Round March 7 fixture at Engie Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Giants sensationally clawed back a 42-point deficit in the elimination final this year to level the scores at 13.7 (85) early in the fourth quarter, but eventually fell to the Hawks by 19 points.<\/p>\n
“I’m now just starting to realise how cruel a game AFL football is because you just continually show up and 99 per cent of the time you don’t win it,” Cadman said.<\/p>\n
“It’s a cruel cycle, a vicious cycle. It’s just going to make it even more rewarding when it does pay off.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully this will be the year.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former No.1 pick Aaron Cadman dreams of one day captaining the Giants Aaron Cadman celebrates a goal during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-354931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}