{"id":526584,"date":"2026-03-08T10:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526584\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T10:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:43:11","slug":"why-jake-stringer-worked-hard-to-recruit-jayden-laverde-from-essendon-to-gws-talks-win-over-hawthorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526584\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jake Stringer worked hard to recruit Jayden Laverde from Essendon to GWS; Talks win over Hawthorn"},"content":{"rendered":"

GWS<\/a> star forward Jake Stringer spent most of 2025 praying that Essendon<\/a> would delist defender Jayden Laverde.<\/p>\n

Not due to some grudge against his former teammate, but in the hopes that it would allow the Giants to snap him up in the summer. <\/p>\n

And that they did, with Laverde joining the club via the supplemental selection period after parting ways with the Bombers.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE: Australian Grand Prix live coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Jayden Laverde of the Giants is presented with his jumper by Lachlan Keeffe as Jake Stringer looks on.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The move immediately paid dividends for the Giants. The 29-year-old key defender stepped up in Opening Round to play an important defensive post.<\/p>\n

A significantly undermanned GWS looked brilliant on Saturday in their 27-point win<\/a> over Hawthorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They dominated despite missing star key defenders Sam Taylor and Leek Aleer, in part because Laverde was able to fill the void.<\/p>\n

He and Stringer spent seven years together at Essendon, and the latter is glad he pushed hard for the Giants to bring him across.<\/p>\n

“Yeah I definitely (played a role in bringing him to the Giants),” Stringer told Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.<\/p>\n

“I was pushing for him the moment I stepped foot in the door because I knew he was going to be out of contract.<\/p>\n

“I just put the early word in and prayed all year that Essendon wouldn’t re-sign him and then when the opportunity came, I’m glad they went after him because as he proved yesterday, in a good system and the way the defenders defended yesterday was outstanding and he was definitely a highlight of them.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jayden Laverde of the Giants. \u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Laverde isn’t a flashy player by any means, finding 14 disposals and taking seven marks against the Hawks and their tall forward line.<\/p>\n

Stringer however had arguably his best game as a Giant, kicking five goals from nine shots at goal.<\/p>\n

Of his 14 disposals, nine were shots at goal and a 10th was a goal assist in what was a dominant display, sans some accuracy.<\/p>\n

“It was obviously nice to hit the scoreboard, but I definitely didn’t have my kicking boots on mate, I left quite a few out there,” Stringer admitted.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully I can tidy that up.”<\/p>\n

GWS heads to Victoria to take on the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in round one, while Hawthorn faces Essendon in a grudge match at the MCG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GWS star forward Jake Stringer spent most of 2025 praying that Essendon would delist defender Jayden Laverde. Not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-526584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526584","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=526584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}