'Kind of lost it': Giants coach Adam Kingsley reveals truth behind locker room spray that went viral
GWS coach Adam Kingsley has revealed the truth behind a recent viral video of his expletive-filled rant to the playing group at half-time of their clash with crosstown rivals Sydney last season.
The Giants were down by five goals and struggling at the main break, but came out in the third quarter breathing fire and outscored the Swans 57-6 in a remarkable come-from-behind victory.
They kicked 12 goals to just one after half time in one of the most jarring turnarounds of the year.
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As part of a club documentary that is being released before the 2026 season, Kingsley was shown tearing the group to shreds at half time, sparking the huge comeback.
The speech featured 24 bleeped out words, he described the playing group as "weak as piss" on two occasions, punched the whiteboard once and veterans including Toby Greene, Stephen Coniglio and Josh Kelly were targeted with tough, direct criticism.
Adam Kingsley targets Josh Kelly during his spray. GWS Giants
The clip has made headlines and been applauded and critiqued in the aftermath, with many comparing it to a more old school type of spray.
However, Kingsley has revealed that captain Greene, the first player he directly targeted in the speech, actually pushed him to go as hard as possible on the group.
The 50-year-old also said he isn't particularly pleased with such an inner-sanctum moment going public.
"(I was) not all that comfortable, to be fair," Kingsley told SEN.
"It was one of those moments ... probably the only time I've kind of lost it or been as animated as that at any time.
"In the lead up, it was a really important game for us, clearly, and Toby (Greene) was pretty desperate for that sort of address to his teammates and himself, there was a bit of encouragement behind it which isn't seen in the documentary.
"Fortunately it worked out OK. Yeah ... we'll see."
Adam Kingsley unleashes on his playing group. GWS Giants
Kingsley said it's not the kind of spray you can use too often and it has to be well thought through beforehand, rather than shooting from the hip.
"Very (calculated). You need to be who you think your players need you to be at any specific moment and that's how I treat it," he said.
"It's very calculated. It's very deliberate. There were reasons behind it obviously with the issues we were having, but you're deliberate with who you speak to, what you're saying, it's always like that when you're a coach."
It's been a horror week for the Giants, with arguably their two best players suffering long term injuries within three days of each other.
Star midfielder Tom Green tore his ACL at a club intra-club match before All-Australian defender Sam Taylor suffered a significant hamstring tear in State of Origin.
Lachie Ash of Victoria. Getty
On the flip side, the Giants swept both best on ground medals in Origin, with Jesse Hogan winning for WA and Lachie Ash taking it home for Victoria.
"It's a bit like that with the injuries, while also watching our boys succeed on the big stage during State of Origin was outstanding," Kingsley said.
"I thought all our guys did our club proud. Not dismissing Sam's injury, but I though to that point he had been really strong too.
"That suggests we've had a good summer, but unfortunately we've lost a couple over the weekend with both Sam and Toby (Bedford) going down with hamstring injuries, but the big one for us obviously was Tom Green which puts him out for the year.
"It's certainly a disruption, but everyone has their story to tell and they've got to overcome those. If you look at Brisbane a few years ago, they suffered some really big injuries and they managed to recover and overcome that.
"I see us being the same, certainly hoping to be, but we do need to shuffle the deck chairs. Fortunately we have two practice games to work out our best mix."
Tom Green injured at training. News Corp
Kingsley loved Origin and was glad his players got the experience, but wonders whether playing such a high-intensity game is too much for February.
"To me it's more about the timing of the (Origin) game," he said.
"Are we a much better chance of protecting our players if that game is in the middle of the year and we have a unified bye.
"Players are a lot more conditioned in that time of the year. It was a long game, it was high intensity, there was a lot of running, it was fantastic to watch.
"I just wonder whether the timing is in the middle of the year as opposed to February, which is the highest risk month in the year for all sorts of soft tissue and joint injuries.
"(Toby Greene) tripled his output based on his training loads (during Origin). That wasn't Sam and fortunately he did get through, but you hold your breath a little bit. That's the competitive nature of him and the want to win for Victoria got the better of him."
Toby Greene runs laps during a GWS Giants training session. Darrian Traynor via Getty Images
GWS will take on Collingwood in Victoria on Friday in a scratch match before facing Sydney in their AAMI Community Series match on February 26.
They will not only be without Green and Taylor, but also tagger Toby Bedford, who suffered a hamstring injury at training, defender Leek Aleer who is battling a groin problem and star midfielder Finn Callaghan who is dealing with a hip issue.
Veteran Josh Kelly is already out long-term following significant hip surgery and small forward Darcy Jones will miss most of the season recovering from a torn ACL in 2025.
