News Giants in the Media
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Smile and wave boys, smile and wave....
- Apr 12, 2012
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Actually, I don't mind the story. Yes, towards the end a nod to the perennial criticism of the number of start-up concessions, but that's just mainly factual and we're always going to have to deal with it. But much of the story had some good analysis. And even the comments at the end had some useful facts thrown back at those who just wanted to throw mud. We'll never convince the inward-looking Melbournites and those similarly-minded from SA & WA, so I'm with GWS_Tragic:
Drezdyn
All Australian
- Apr 12, 2012
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http://m.smh.com.au/afl/greater-wes...etnam-20160526-gp4svw.html?platform=hootsuite
Loyalty: The Giants don't have a lot of fans compared with other AFL teams but they are building their membership base.Photo: Ryan Pierse
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By ANDREW WEBSTER
Whatever you do, don't mention the war.
When Greater Western Sydney were in their infancy, then AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and foundation coach Kevin Sheedy banned officials and players from referring to the sprawling suburbs of the west as a battleground with rival codes.
"I remember someone saying it would be my Vietnam," says Demetriou in a rare interview since he left the AFL two years ago. "Sheeds and I were on the same wavelength: there was no benefit in war discussion or going head-to-head. We were all of the view there would be enough population and diversity in one of the largest population bases in Australia for all the sports to co-exist. We saw benefit in collaborating with soccer and rugby league and union – and we also saw an opportunity."
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Even though AFL clubs sanctioned the creation of the Giants, Demetriou received a savage backlash as millions were invested setting up a new franchise and luring Israel Folau from rugby league. Then the club was gifted favourable draft picks as it built its young squad.
"We took a generational view," Demetriou continues. "Talk to us about GWS in 30 years, when you will see the benefits, just like the Swans. I'm not surprised by their success. The only surprise is that it's ahead of schedule."
The "someone" Demetriou refers to is former Australian Rugby League chief executive Geoff Carr, who in 2009 said: "It is a huge risk for the AFL and a lot of people say it will be their Vietnam. If they want to fight out there that is their call."
Emerging from their formative years when their young players were bashed and bruised and the club's very existence ridiculed, the Giants have become the real deal in their fifth season: third on the AFL ladder after nine rounds, just ahead of the Swans on percentage.
There's simmering talk about an all-Sydney grand final. The Giants are receiving as many column inches and as much airtime as the Swans.
And Collingwood boss Eddie McGuire is howling like the wind about the club's exclusive access to junior players in the sporting factory of the Riverina.
The pressing issue is no longer about whether the Giants will claim a breakthrough premiership. It's about how many people will really care when they do?
Last Sunday, Fairfax Media stalked every inch of Spotless Stadium looking for the answer to this very question as the Giants took on the Western Bulldogs. An early Instagram post from the ground sparked a barrage of criticism from rugby league fans, questioning where your humble correspondent's loyalties rested. Rugby league roundsmen since then have been just as critical.
But don't mention the war.
Pretty as a picture: The Giants take on the Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium. Photo: Getty Images
Before the match, as the players warm up in front of us, coach Leon Cameron explains how 95 per cent of his squad come from outside of Sydney.
"That's been the greatest challenge," he says. "We had a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds who had to move away from home for the first time. We had to build a very strong, family culture. We had to develop them as footballers but also off the field as good people. Hopefully, building that culture makes the player want to stay here. We also feel like players now want to start coming here, like Heath Shaw, Shane Mumford and Steve Johnson."
Talk to others within the club and they tell you they have one distinct advantage: humility. In Melbourne, AFL players are feted like rockstars. In Western Sydney, they're just another bloke at the service station waiting in line to pay for their petrol.
"I don't look at that as an advantage," says Cameron. "We want our egos parked on the hook when we come in. We have that. We live by a set of values that support that."
That said, though, players from other clubs report that the Giants' young players had a reputation in the early years for being lippy with their opponents.
As the game starts, chairman Tony Shepherd explains in the chairman's lounge how he has just hosted a citizenship ceremony in the adjacent room for 21 people from a range of countries including Thailand, China, Nigeria and Iraq.
It lines up perfectly with the club's desire to be all things to all people. He promised all of them free tickets to the home game against Collingwood on July 9.
"But as new Australians there is one thing you need to remember," he told them. "You hateCollingwood."
Patton emerging: Jonathon Patton celebrates after beating the Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium.Photo: Ryan Pierse
Out on the balcony, chief executive Dave Matthews is riding every moment like he's in the coach's box. When the Giants' best player, Jeremy Cameron, kicks his second goal of the first term, the crowd roars.
"They're getting louder and louder with each game," Matthews says.
And this is where we get to the tricky part about how much of the market the Giants can actually capture.
Membership is up more than 15 per cent this year compared to last and the club says it's on track to exceed 15,000 members for the first time. Of those members, 39 per cent are families and 35 per cent are female.
In terms of television ratings, the Giants are averaging an uplift of more than 30 per cent compared to last year.
What the television coverage often shows is a bank of empty seats bathed in sunlight on the far side of the ground. Fans would prefer to sit on the shaded side of the oval but the "arc" of the TV coverage gives those at home the impression that nobody is there.
Even though crowds are building, many inside and outside the AFL would argue the crowd of 9612 who turned up on this afternoon highlights that the Giants do not resonate.
Demetriou has said all along that the AFL is playing the long game.
"It may well be they have a small supporter base for a while," he says. "They hold their own compared to rugby league crowds, who have been around for 100-plus years. They hold their own against the Western Wanderers …"
Well, that's not entirely correct.
Winners are grinners: The Giants sing the club song after the round nine match between Greater Western Sydney and the Western Bulldogs. Photo: Ryan Pierse
Last season, the Wanderers averaged 14,297 a game. This year, the Giants sit on 11,0740 – although that's expected to spike with matches against Collingwood, the Swans and Carlton.
"Given that AFL football doesn't roll off the tongue in Western Sydney, [the small crowds] do not surprise," Demetriou continues. "It was never anticipated it was going to be a large membership or supporter base in the early years. In fact, on some occasions when the crowd has been 8000 to 9000, it's been a pleasant surprise. But I don't imagine it will go anywhere but north."
At three-quarter time, the Giants hold a six-goal lead. Time to get amongst the punters.
There are kids everywhere, kicking mini Sherrins around the concourse. Adults line-up for hotdogs and beer. Others scoff down gozleme and falafel wraps. There's a fan wearing a Bulldogs jumper, which is interesting because his team is burying the Roosters next door at ANZ Stadium.
Down behind the goals in the Giants' cheer squad, with the sun now gone, we find Paula Strother, 63, and her son Steven, 32.
They moved to Sydney from Adelaide. Paula was once a Crows fan. Now, orange is her new black. Paula and Steven haven't missed a single Giants game in five years.
"Kevin Sheedy always said it takes five seasons to make a club," she says. "Now, we're in our fifth year … Every game for us is a milestone. There are a lot of people standing right here who had been NRL fans but they jumped across – or they are fans of both."
And there's the siren! The Giants win by 25 points.
Heading into the match, they were the best attacking team in the league (they're now second). This result, against the competition's best defensive team, showed they could win tough. They lost defenders Matt Buntine (concussion) and Tim Mohr (hamstring) in the first quarter and still ground out the victory.
Wild scenes: The Giants celebrate after beating the Bulldogs. Photo: Ryan Pierse
The next three matches will reveal more: away to Adelaide this Saturday night; then it's second-placed Geelong in Geelong; and then the derby against the Swans that will attract a full house at Spotless.
It is also the Giants' 100th match. And they said they'd never make it …
"Our players want to be here and build something that will be here for a long, long time," says Cameron.
As for the condemnation of others who believe he and his players are wasting their time, the coach says this: "It drives our players to say: 'You're wrong, come and have a look at us'. It's not to say: 'You're wrong, up your arse'. We're good human beings trying to make a mark in this competition in the right way."
There is certainly a feeling down south that a premiership so soon would be a stain, not a mark; that a manufactured club with a small supporter base snatching the holy grail would annoy more fans than it would please.
The counter-argument is that a flag ahead of schedule would send interest in GWS skywards.
"Everyone should take a deep breath and wait," says Demetriou. "They haven't won a finals match yet. They haven't started a dynasty. They haven't won three flags in a row.
"Hopefully we can all revel in the beauty of a success down the track, whether it's this year, the next or the season after."
Loyalty: The Giants don't have a lot of fans compared with other AFL teams but they are building their membership base.Photo: Ryan Pierse
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By ANDREW WEBSTER
Whatever you do, don't mention the war.
When Greater Western Sydney were in their infancy, then AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and foundation coach Kevin Sheedy banned officials and players from referring to the sprawling suburbs of the west as a battleground with rival codes.
"I remember someone saying it would be my Vietnam," says Demetriou in a rare interview since he left the AFL two years ago. "Sheeds and I were on the same wavelength: there was no benefit in war discussion or going head-to-head. We were all of the view there would be enough population and diversity in one of the largest population bases in Australia for all the sports to co-exist. We saw benefit in collaborating with soccer and rugby league and union – and we also saw an opportunity."
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Even though AFL clubs sanctioned the creation of the Giants, Demetriou received a savage backlash as millions were invested setting up a new franchise and luring Israel Folau from rugby league. Then the club was gifted favourable draft picks as it built its young squad.
"We took a generational view," Demetriou continues. "Talk to us about GWS in 30 years, when you will see the benefits, just like the Swans. I'm not surprised by their success. The only surprise is that it's ahead of schedule."
The "someone" Demetriou refers to is former Australian Rugby League chief executive Geoff Carr, who in 2009 said: "It is a huge risk for the AFL and a lot of people say it will be their Vietnam. If they want to fight out there that is their call."
Emerging from their formative years when their young players were bashed and bruised and the club's very existence ridiculed, the Giants have become the real deal in their fifth season: third on the AFL ladder after nine rounds, just ahead of the Swans on percentage.
There's simmering talk about an all-Sydney grand final. The Giants are receiving as many column inches and as much airtime as the Swans.
And Collingwood boss Eddie McGuire is howling like the wind about the club's exclusive access to junior players in the sporting factory of the Riverina.
The pressing issue is no longer about whether the Giants will claim a breakthrough premiership. It's about how many people will really care when they do?
Last Sunday, Fairfax Media stalked every inch of Spotless Stadium looking for the answer to this very question as the Giants took on the Western Bulldogs. An early Instagram post from the ground sparked a barrage of criticism from rugby league fans, questioning where your humble correspondent's loyalties rested. Rugby league roundsmen since then have been just as critical.
But don't mention the war.
Pretty as a picture: The Giants take on the Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium. Photo: Getty Images
Before the match, as the players warm up in front of us, coach Leon Cameron explains how 95 per cent of his squad come from outside of Sydney.
"That's been the greatest challenge," he says. "We had a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds who had to move away from home for the first time. We had to build a very strong, family culture. We had to develop them as footballers but also off the field as good people. Hopefully, building that culture makes the player want to stay here. We also feel like players now want to start coming here, like Heath Shaw, Shane Mumford and Steve Johnson."
Talk to others within the club and they tell you they have one distinct advantage: humility. In Melbourne, AFL players are feted like rockstars. In Western Sydney, they're just another bloke at the service station waiting in line to pay for their petrol.
"I don't look at that as an advantage," says Cameron. "We want our egos parked on the hook when we come in. We have that. We live by a set of values that support that."
That said, though, players from other clubs report that the Giants' young players had a reputation in the early years for being lippy with their opponents.
As the game starts, chairman Tony Shepherd explains in the chairman's lounge how he has just hosted a citizenship ceremony in the adjacent room for 21 people from a range of countries including Thailand, China, Nigeria and Iraq.
It lines up perfectly with the club's desire to be all things to all people. He promised all of them free tickets to the home game against Collingwood on July 9.
"But as new Australians there is one thing you need to remember," he told them. "You hateCollingwood."
Patton emerging: Jonathon Patton celebrates after beating the Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium.Photo: Ryan Pierse
Out on the balcony, chief executive Dave Matthews is riding every moment like he's in the coach's box. When the Giants' best player, Jeremy Cameron, kicks his second goal of the first term, the crowd roars.
"They're getting louder and louder with each game," Matthews says.
And this is where we get to the tricky part about how much of the market the Giants can actually capture.
Membership is up more than 15 per cent this year compared to last and the club says it's on track to exceed 15,000 members for the first time. Of those members, 39 per cent are families and 35 per cent are female.
In terms of television ratings, the Giants are averaging an uplift of more than 30 per cent compared to last year.
What the television coverage often shows is a bank of empty seats bathed in sunlight on the far side of the ground. Fans would prefer to sit on the shaded side of the oval but the "arc" of the TV coverage gives those at home the impression that nobody is there.
Even though crowds are building, many inside and outside the AFL would argue the crowd of 9612 who turned up on this afternoon highlights that the Giants do not resonate.
Demetriou has said all along that the AFL is playing the long game.
"It may well be they have a small supporter base for a while," he says. "They hold their own compared to rugby league crowds, who have been around for 100-plus years. They hold their own against the Western Wanderers …"
Well, that's not entirely correct.
Winners are grinners: The Giants sing the club song after the round nine match between Greater Western Sydney and the Western Bulldogs. Photo: Ryan Pierse
Last season, the Wanderers averaged 14,297 a game. This year, the Giants sit on 11,0740 – although that's expected to spike with matches against Collingwood, the Swans and Carlton.
"Given that AFL football doesn't roll off the tongue in Western Sydney, [the small crowds] do not surprise," Demetriou continues. "It was never anticipated it was going to be a large membership or supporter base in the early years. In fact, on some occasions when the crowd has been 8000 to 9000, it's been a pleasant surprise. But I don't imagine it will go anywhere but north."
At three-quarter time, the Giants hold a six-goal lead. Time to get amongst the punters.
There are kids everywhere, kicking mini Sherrins around the concourse. Adults line-up for hotdogs and beer. Others scoff down gozleme and falafel wraps. There's a fan wearing a Bulldogs jumper, which is interesting because his team is burying the Roosters next door at ANZ Stadium.
Down behind the goals in the Giants' cheer squad, with the sun now gone, we find Paula Strother, 63, and her son Steven, 32.
They moved to Sydney from Adelaide. Paula was once a Crows fan. Now, orange is her new black. Paula and Steven haven't missed a single Giants game in five years.
"Kevin Sheedy always said it takes five seasons to make a club," she says. "Now, we're in our fifth year … Every game for us is a milestone. There are a lot of people standing right here who had been NRL fans but they jumped across – or they are fans of both."
And there's the siren! The Giants win by 25 points.
Heading into the match, they were the best attacking team in the league (they're now second). This result, against the competition's best defensive team, showed they could win tough. They lost defenders Matt Buntine (concussion) and Tim Mohr (hamstring) in the first quarter and still ground out the victory.
Wild scenes: The Giants celebrate after beating the Bulldogs. Photo: Ryan Pierse
The next three matches will reveal more: away to Adelaide this Saturday night; then it's second-placed Geelong in Geelong; and then the derby against the Swans that will attract a full house at Spotless.
It is also the Giants' 100th match. And they said they'd never make it …
"Our players want to be here and build something that will be here for a long, long time," says Cameron.
As for the condemnation of others who believe he and his players are wasting their time, the coach says this: "It drives our players to say: 'You're wrong, come and have a look at us'. It's not to say: 'You're wrong, up your arse'. We're good human beings trying to make a mark in this competition in the right way."
There is certainly a feeling down south that a premiership so soon would be a stain, not a mark; that a manufactured club with a small supporter base snatching the holy grail would annoy more fans than it would please.
The counter-argument is that a flag ahead of schedule would send interest in GWS skywards.
"Everyone should take a deep breath and wait," says Demetriou. "They haven't won a finals match yet. They haven't started a dynasty. They haven't won three flags in a row.
"Hopefully we can all revel in the beauty of a success down the track, whether it's this year, the next or the season after."
We're starting to get alot more real estate in the telegraph pages of late, and good to get something relatively positive out of the league writers.
Brick by brick, we continue to build ...
- Apr 12, 2012
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- #535
Hmmm, perhaps not yet, not pervasively at least. Win a premiership in the next 6 years and then probably yes.
Unlike what some posters on the BF main board want to believe, I do understand that GWS (and GCS) were given a large leg up to start in the comp. But unlike their fundamental position that the new clubs should have been made to emulate the Brisbane Bears and languish down the table until they earned the right to be successful, I understand that ultimately the AFL is a business--yes, sorry traditional fans, the VFL died in the mid-80s when it went broke, and the new VFL/AFL needed to recognise modern business principles--and needs new clubs to be reasonably successful to gain a foothold in their market. But there are so many variables in AFL--the player talent, the coaching (head & support) talent & methods, training facilities, game tactics, ability to respond to other teams' tactics, luck in respect of drafting, injuries etc--that the level of concessions is an inexact science. VFL/AFL got it right with WCE, Adelaide & Port, horribly wrong with the Bears, and were middling with Freo who then poorly used what they were given. Were the startup concessions for GCS and GWS the largest yet seen--yes, but they needed to be given the BB & Freo examples, in a hostile market. Were they too large? Perhaps--I'm probably one who thinks that there should not have been any difference between the GCS concessions and GWS concessions.
But this is the quote which resonates with me: 'Funny thing, though. No one's moaning about the Suns right now, who languish in 15th spot on the ladder. You've still got to take that talent and mould it into something. And that's what the Giants are doing so well now.' Ultimately, no-one is 'guaranteed success'. I can't deny that GWS has been given a pretty good opportunity, but it's certainly not guaranteed and until it actually arrives, I won't be taking anything for granted. Still, it has been an exciting journey since I first started following in 2012, and good luck to the club.
P.S. I normally don't particularly like Andrew Webster's articles, but his article (previous post) was also all right, pretty even-handed and reasonable in discussing the issues.
- Nov 1, 2012
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Interestingly WCE, Adelaide and Port won their first premiership in about 5-7 years in the V/AFL
- Nov 23, 2015
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- #537
Yes, Ellie, I made that point in posts in a couple of the threads on the main boards ... that us making finals this year would only be on the average for expansion teams, premiership in the next few years would be around the average for those clubs who did (BB & Freo obviously haven't done that yet). Responses were basically that GWS was given everything rather than growing it themselves, that we needed to be given BB-type concessions and be rubbish for a decade to have done it by ourselves. Hope none of these guys run a business, which AFL basically is today.
- Apr 12, 2012
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https://prestoninstitute.wordpress....he-success-of-the-giants-and-victorian-media/
Interesting article.
Interesting article.
- Nov 1, 2012
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Preston's a long term member and has been doing a lot of defence of the Giants on Twitter.
The New Daily article to which it responds is, unfortunately, typical.
- May 13, 2012
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- Brumbies, Socceroos
6th, 7th and 7th seasons respectively - they all made finals within a couple of seasons of being in the comp too.
But obviously they must have earned it, and clearly we are incapable of earning it.
SenatorSmith
Rookie
- May 18, 2015
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Not only an article in the sports section of today's telegraph but also an 8 page lift out on the derby
- Apr 12, 2012
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Sydney Swans and GWS Giants must work together to conquer the monsters that confront them
Rebecca Wilson, The Daily Telegraph
June 10, 2016 5:16pm
IT IS A hell of a job running an AFL team outside Melbourne.
In Bleak City, you can be broke, bereft of player talent, have no sponsorship and lose for a living.
Teams like Richmond and Collingwood can drown in mediocrity every week and still boast home crowds that make rugby league look like the under eights.
But in Brisbane, you can win three premierships and still threaten to go belly up the moment things look a bit grim.
At the Gold Coast, millions of dollars have been ploughed into the Suns and they don’t look like a team that could beat time with a stick.
There is no culture, nothing to recommend going to a game for a non-AFL person keen to be part of the allegedly thriving Aussie rules scene at the Gold Coast.
Don’t tell the AFL but a dicky little code called rugby league with a team called the Titans suddenly has some momentum behind it.
AFL want the GWS development program shredded. They’ve done that to the Swans, along with other actions that no Melbourne team would ever be asked to accept.
The fickle white shoe brigade has deserted the Suns in their droves and headed back to the beach.
Then we find ourselves in Sydney, where the Swans chip away at finals footy nearly every season, membership numbers are on the rise and the grand old dame at the SCG welcomes the red and whites with a warm heart at every home game.
Even for a team that boasts the code’s number one player in Lance Franklin and a winning percentage Eddie McGuire would kill for, there is a down side.
As hard as the dedicated team at Sydney work, as much as fans say they love the Bloods and promise they will go to a game, the Swans rarely sell out.
You can always find a seat at the SCG.
Despite boasting the No 1 player in the code Lance Franklin there are plenty of downsides for Swans
The directors bailed them out once in the 80s and turning a profit worth not much more than the price of a player is a regular occurrence.
Little wonder the Swans administration wanted to strangle themselves with their red and white streamers when another lot turned up down the road with a fat $18 million cheque from AFL headquarters.
The GWS Giants are an invention of Andrew Demetriou who defiantly dived into the Melbourne and Swans dogfight to offer up a second Sydney team that boasts just about everything but the kitchen sink. They set up camp in Blacktown, Homebush or wherever else they could annoy rugby league and lit the campfire.
The Swans thought it would take 20 years. Demetriou thought around 15. The Giants said they would play finals within a decade (and real optimists said five).
This weekend we get a glimpse of how they are traveling and I suspect that the answer is pretty damned well. You know you’ve achieved something when Eddie McGuire wants to cut your legs off.
Two Sydney teams staring down the barrel of enormous success can thrive and conquer only if the enemy stuff stays on the field.
Here again, however, comes the crunch. The player group gets a big tick. So, too, the coaching staff. The home ground is perfect for a young franchise. The crowds? Don’t mention the war but they are rubbish.
For no matter what Demetriou did and Gill McLachlan is now doing, not many people want to go and watch the Giants play. Just last weekend, the suburban rugby union competition outrated the GWS/Geelong game on Channel Seven’s two minor channels.
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While the media rave about them, while Fox Footy preaches to the converted about this side’s ability, home games attract crowds that are lucky to top 10,000 unless the team happens to be playing the Swans.
This is a seriously long and worrying haul. It will take both the Swans and GWS to put their heads together to conquer the monsters that confront them, both in this market and from across the border in the Wicked Empire.
GWS play their 100th game this weekend
One GWS tragic (there are a few) told me at a recent Sydney home game that he’d signed up with the Giants because he hated the Swans so much.
He singled out for particular attention the Swans chairman Andrew Pridham.
My only thought was how bloody pointless. You can hate whoever you like when they are playing against each other. But unless you want to end up like the Suns and the Lions in Queensland — no success, no money and no crowd — you’d better learn how to work together to conquer the giant that is Melbourne.
For the Bleak City teams, anyone from the east coast represents broadcast fodder and not much else.
Already, the AFL want the GWS development program shredded. They’ve done that to the Swans, along with other actions that no Melbourne team would ever be asked to accept.
Two Sydney teams staring down the barrel of enormous success can thrive and conquer only if the enemy stuff stays on the field. Form a working group called “The AFL commission did what?” and take the baddies on.
This battle is for the whole of Sydney to win and only then can we expect to see those house full signs up
Rebecca Wilson, The Daily Telegraph
June 10, 2016 5:16pm
IT IS A hell of a job running an AFL team outside Melbourne.
In Bleak City, you can be broke, bereft of player talent, have no sponsorship and lose for a living.
Teams like Richmond and Collingwood can drown in mediocrity every week and still boast home crowds that make rugby league look like the under eights.
But in Brisbane, you can win three premierships and still threaten to go belly up the moment things look a bit grim.
At the Gold Coast, millions of dollars have been ploughed into the Suns and they don’t look like a team that could beat time with a stick.
There is no culture, nothing to recommend going to a game for a non-AFL person keen to be part of the allegedly thriving Aussie rules scene at the Gold Coast.
Don’t tell the AFL but a dicky little code called rugby league with a team called the Titans suddenly has some momentum behind it.
AFL want the GWS development program shredded. They’ve done that to the Swans, along with other actions that no Melbourne team would ever be asked to accept.
The fickle white shoe brigade has deserted the Suns in their droves and headed back to the beach.
Then we find ourselves in Sydney, where the Swans chip away at finals footy nearly every season, membership numbers are on the rise and the grand old dame at the SCG welcomes the red and whites with a warm heart at every home game.
Even for a team that boasts the code’s number one player in Lance Franklin and a winning percentage Eddie McGuire would kill for, there is a down side.
As hard as the dedicated team at Sydney work, as much as fans say they love the Bloods and promise they will go to a game, the Swans rarely sell out.
You can always find a seat at the SCG.
Despite boasting the No 1 player in the code Lance Franklin there are plenty of downsides for Swans
The directors bailed them out once in the 80s and turning a profit worth not much more than the price of a player is a regular occurrence.
Little wonder the Swans administration wanted to strangle themselves with their red and white streamers when another lot turned up down the road with a fat $18 million cheque from AFL headquarters.
The GWS Giants are an invention of Andrew Demetriou who defiantly dived into the Melbourne and Swans dogfight to offer up a second Sydney team that boasts just about everything but the kitchen sink. They set up camp in Blacktown, Homebush or wherever else they could annoy rugby league and lit the campfire.
The Swans thought it would take 20 years. Demetriou thought around 15. The Giants said they would play finals within a decade (and real optimists said five).
This weekend we get a glimpse of how they are traveling and I suspect that the answer is pretty damned well. You know you’ve achieved something when Eddie McGuire wants to cut your legs off.
Two Sydney teams staring down the barrel of enormous success can thrive and conquer only if the enemy stuff stays on the field.
Here again, however, comes the crunch. The player group gets a big tick. So, too, the coaching staff. The home ground is perfect for a young franchise. The crowds? Don’t mention the war but they are rubbish.
For no matter what Demetriou did and Gill McLachlan is now doing, not many people want to go and watch the Giants play. Just last weekend, the suburban rugby union competition outrated the GWS/Geelong game on Channel Seven’s two minor channels.
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While the media rave about them, while Fox Footy preaches to the converted about this side’s ability, home games attract crowds that are lucky to top 10,000 unless the team happens to be playing the Swans.
This is a seriously long and worrying haul. It will take both the Swans and GWS to put their heads together to conquer the monsters that confront them, both in this market and from across the border in the Wicked Empire.
GWS play their 100th game this weekend
One GWS tragic (there are a few) told me at a recent Sydney home game that he’d signed up with the Giants because he hated the Swans so much.
He singled out for particular attention the Swans chairman Andrew Pridham.
My only thought was how bloody pointless. You can hate whoever you like when they are playing against each other. But unless you want to end up like the Suns and the Lions in Queensland — no success, no money and no crowd — you’d better learn how to work together to conquer the giant that is Melbourne.
For the Bleak City teams, anyone from the east coast represents broadcast fodder and not much else.
Already, the AFL want the GWS development program shredded. They’ve done that to the Swans, along with other actions that no Melbourne team would ever be asked to accept.
Two Sydney teams staring down the barrel of enormous success can thrive and conquer only if the enemy stuff stays on the field. Form a working group called “The AFL commission did what?” and take the baddies on.
This battle is for the whole of Sydney to win and only then can we expect to see those house full signs up
isamedthegiants
Club Legend
- May 3, 2016
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- #545
There was a really good one on page 66. I tried uploading a photo but it failed to load for some stupid reason.
- Apr 12, 2012
- 46,168
- 41,966
- AFL Club
- GWS
- Apr 12, 2012
- 46,168
- 41,966
- AFL Club
- GWS
GWS Giants star Jeremy Cameron talking about the evolution of the team from easybeats to finals contender as they prepare for the club's 100th game on Sunday.
NSW
GWS Giants a triumph for true believers
BEN HORNE, The Daily Telegraph
June 11, 2016 10:04am
Trudging his way to the back of the Rooty Hill grandstand that was now his makeshift office, Tony Shepherd had the brutal advice he’d just ignored ringing in his ears.
“This is the AFL’s Vietnam,” the GWS Giants’ recently appointed chairman had been told in no uncertain terms by one of his best friends.
“You’re going to fail.”
“Why would you ever take this job?” asked another of the successful businessman’s closest confidants.
“Are you mad? You will have to retreat with the tail between your legs.”
When Shepherd couldn’t find people prepared to even come on to the board for a football side that barely existed, he couldn’t help but question whether his friends might have been right.
Jonathon Patton of the Giants celebrates a goal during the 2016 AFL Round 11 match between the Geelong Cats and the GWS Giants at Simonds Stadium on June 4. Picture: Getty
Without a base to call home in rugby league heartland, the Giants were offered two rooms by the Rooty Hill RSL from where they could run their business. Seventeen-year-old kids would have to walk past poker machines on their way to team meetings.
These were humble beginnings a million miles from the professionalism of the AFL, but all of a sudden, the Giants’ wide-eyed teenagers were mixing it with the big boys.
“Sometimes you got beaten by 120 points, or something, and you’re flying home thinking, ‘Oh my God, have I done the right thing? Is this ever going to work out’?” Shepherd told The Saturday Daily Telegraph. “But we held it together.”
That was 2012.
Now as the Giants prepare for their 100th AFL match tomorrow against cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans, Shepherd has had some of those same close friends back on the phone begging to join the GWS board.
“You know what Sydney is like. Bandwagon people,” laughs Shepherd.
“They all now want to get on. We’re looking for some directors at the moment and I tell you what, I reckon half of Sydney have put their hands up, all wanting to become directors for the Giants now.
“Sydney just loves winners and the bandwagon is moving.”
Kevin Sheedy, centre, pictured at the GWS Giants first match against the Sydney Swans. Picture: Phil Hillyard
From the despair of 150-point floggings, and the days when GWS relied so heavily on the marketing tool that was Israel Folau for any traction in Sydney, the Giants are now entrenched in the AFL top eight and appear finals bound for the very first time.
So jealous is the club mafia in Melbourne that Shepherd has threatened to resign if the AFL caves in to pressure and takes away the academies that have helped make them so strong.
“You’re getting marked as though you’ve won a grand final, and you haven’t even made the finals yet,” Shepherd says.
Inaugural players such as star forward Jeremy Cameron certainly haven’t forgotten where it all began.
“We didn’t know any better to be honest,” Cameron says. “So I thought the facilities were pretty good back then!
“Now knowing what it’s like to have a fantastic facility at Sydney Olympic Park,
it’s pretty funny really,
looking back.
NSW
GWS Giants a triumph for true believers
BEN HORNE, The Daily Telegraph
June 11, 2016 10:04am
Trudging his way to the back of the Rooty Hill grandstand that was now his makeshift office, Tony Shepherd had the brutal advice he’d just ignored ringing in his ears.
“This is the AFL’s Vietnam,” the GWS Giants’ recently appointed chairman had been told in no uncertain terms by one of his best friends.
“You’re going to fail.”
“Why would you ever take this job?” asked another of the successful businessman’s closest confidants.
“Are you mad? You will have to retreat with the tail between your legs.”
When Shepherd couldn’t find people prepared to even come on to the board for a football side that barely existed, he couldn’t help but question whether his friends might have been right.
Jonathon Patton of the Giants celebrates a goal during the 2016 AFL Round 11 match between the Geelong Cats and the GWS Giants at Simonds Stadium on June 4. Picture: Getty
Without a base to call home in rugby league heartland, the Giants were offered two rooms by the Rooty Hill RSL from where they could run their business. Seventeen-year-old kids would have to walk past poker machines on their way to team meetings.
These were humble beginnings a million miles from the professionalism of the AFL, but all of a sudden, the Giants’ wide-eyed teenagers were mixing it with the big boys.
“Sometimes you got beaten by 120 points, or something, and you’re flying home thinking, ‘Oh my God, have I done the right thing? Is this ever going to work out’?” Shepherd told The Saturday Daily Telegraph. “But we held it together.”
That was 2012.
Now as the Giants prepare for their 100th AFL match tomorrow against cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans, Shepherd has had some of those same close friends back on the phone begging to join the GWS board.
“You know what Sydney is like. Bandwagon people,” laughs Shepherd.
“They all now want to get on. We’re looking for some directors at the moment and I tell you what, I reckon half of Sydney have put their hands up, all wanting to become directors for the Giants now.
“Sydney just loves winners and the bandwagon is moving.”
Kevin Sheedy, centre, pictured at the GWS Giants first match against the Sydney Swans. Picture: Phil Hillyard
From the despair of 150-point floggings, and the days when GWS relied so heavily on the marketing tool that was Israel Folau for any traction in Sydney, the Giants are now entrenched in the AFL top eight and appear finals bound for the very first time.
So jealous is the club mafia in Melbourne that Shepherd has threatened to resign if the AFL caves in to pressure and takes away the academies that have helped make them so strong.
“You’re getting marked as though you’ve won a grand final, and you haven’t even made the finals yet,” Shepherd says.
Inaugural players such as star forward Jeremy Cameron certainly haven’t forgotten where it all began.
“We didn’t know any better to be honest,” Cameron says. “So I thought the facilities were pretty good back then!
“Now knowing what it’s like to have a fantastic facility at Sydney Olympic Park,
it’s pretty funny really,
looking back.
- May 13, 2012
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- Brumbies, Socceroos
^ that's a funny quote by Jezza at the end of that article, about not knowing any better.
Read a thing in the Terrorgraph today by Richard Hinds musing on whether we have our own fans or are just pinching Sydney's. He pointed to the guy who won $100k as an example of an allegiance shifter. In, I don't know how many column inches, he failed to as the first question I did - let alone do any research to answer it - and that's, what has happened to Sydney's membership and crowd numbers since the introduction of the Giants?
I would have thought than any article musing on the issue of whether we're growing the pie or simply taking a slice out of it, would have asked that very simple question.
I thought that Hind's middle page spread in the 8page lift out in the lead up to the derby was a bit d#ckish - but this article just confirmed in my mind that Richard Hinds is a total flog.
I would have thought than any article musing on the issue of whether we're growing the pie or simply taking a slice out of it, would have asked that very simple question.
I thought that Hind's middle page spread in the 8page lift out in the lead up to the derby was a bit d#ckish - but this article just confirmed in my mind that Richard Hinds is a total flog.
