- Apr 12, 2012
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- AFL Club
- GWS
GWS Giants defender Nick Haynes is producing a documentary capturing the AFL club’s journey
Jon Ritson, The Daily Telegraph
September 24, 2019 11:00pm
Subscriber only
It’s been called the stuff of Hollywood dreams and now the Giants’ very own budding filmmaker Nick Haynes is bringing the club’s blockbuster story to a screen near you.
He’s been one of the stars of the show on the field for GWS and the defender is working on a project that will capture the spirit of the club for generations to enjoy forever.
There is no title as yet, but a documentary celebrating the birth, growth and coming of age of the AFL’s newest club is earmarked for release around Christmas.
The motivation? To show the AFL world that those who belittle, patronise, sneer and accuse the club of lacking a soul couldn’t be further from the truth.
Haynes, who has long held an interest in filmmaking and video, is no amateur when it comes to capturing and telling a story.
Earlier this season he put together the club’s Acknowledgement of Country film ahead of indigenous round, a project he described as “pretty humbling”.
Featuring before each home game on the big screen at Giants Stadium, it involved indigenous stars Zac Williams, Jeremy Finlayson and Ian “Bobby” Hill.
Sports documentaries are his passion and in the Giants he has his perfect project. There’s hope, despair, tears and joy. The only part still to be scripted… the big finish.
As his Acknowledgement of Country feature was rolling out, the thought was already there for a Grand Final project to follow.
And while he desperately wants to wrap it up with a premiership triumph against Richmond on Saturday, a dream Hollywood ending won’t make or break the project.
“Win or lose (on Saturday) I’m still going to do this documentary,” Haynes told The Daily Telegraph. “Obviously, if we win it’s going to make it that much better.
“It’s already in the works although there isn’t a title yet. I’ve got some ripping old footage that I found from the archives and I’m sorting through that at the moment.
“The main reason is to show the AFL community what this club is made of.
“A lot of people call us fabricated and a ‘plastic club’. Well, I want to change that and show that this club is built off great people, a great culture and a great community. That’s the aim of it.
“Obviously, it’s also for the players and everyone who is and has been involved in the club to see where we started and where we’ve ended up. Everyone should be really pleased and grateful and proud of where we’ve come from and hopefully that gets showcased in this documentary.
“I’ll interview some original players, the captains — and they’ll be the narrators of it — and obviously flick back to old footage. There’ll be the wins, the finals defeats and (showing) how this club has become such a resilient club.
“Hopefully (it will be ready to be enjoyed) around Christmas time if all things go to plan and hopefully it comes out well.”
Others will need to take charge of the camera from 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon as Hayne swaps camera focus for game focus.
And the man who has bounced back from a fractured cricoid to help drive the club’s finals charge is expecting the game against Richmond to go down to the wire. All good for screen tension.
“We’re going to have our hands full as a backline, as a whole team, but we’ve been in good form. It’s going to be a tight battle,” he said.
I was wondering if something like this was in the works.
Hopefully with a blockbuster ending Saturday.
