GWS is the AFL's biggest problem - not North, GC, or Tassie

[Cmarsh]

GWS first game is going to be a sell out.

Suspect record membership numbers also.

Great stuff.

Look it's nice but it does hide deeper problems with fan engagement which will be a long term struggle.

 

[Walshawk]

GWS first game is going to be a sell out.

Suspect record membership numbers also.

Great stuff.

It will be mainly Pies fans. Pies v Hawks in Adelaide will also sell out. Pies are on a roll.

In fact all four games in Opening Round will likely sell out. This has been a good move.

 

[Bjo187]

Look it's nice but it does hide deeper problems with fan engagement which will be a long term struggle.

Interesting there was a replay of a 2017 game against Geelong on last night at the showgrounds. A very healthy crowd and much more giant support than we've seen in the stands the past couple of years, so there was a bit of momentum building back then.

 

[PaythePerryman]

It will be mainly Pies fans. Pies v Hawks in Adelaide will also sell out. Pies are on a roll.

In fact all four games in Opening Round will lowly sell out. This has been a good move.

I think there will be more Giants fans than Pies fans at this one.
Not by a huge amount but it'll do. Doesn't help that the members side isn't shown on the broadcast...two home games back to back in Sydney will help I think.

 

[PenrithGWS]

The mighty Giants are getting bigger.

 

[Aussie in exile]

I think there will be more Giants fans than Pies fans at this one.
Not by a huge amount but it'll do. Doesn't help that the members side isn't shown on the broadcast...two home games back to back in Sydney will help I think.

Like i have said many times before GWS should play all their home games in Sydney to build up their fan base and leave Canberra to have it's own team.

 

[Macca180]

Like i have said many times before GWS should play all their home games in Sydney to build up their fan base and leave Canberra to have it's own team.

Love your thinking here. And we should use taxpayers money to build a new stadium in Canberra for this new team to build the national game.

 

[Colonial]

 

[Aussie in exile]

Love your thinking here. And we should use taxpayers money to build a new stadium in Canberra for this new team to build the national game.

You not ever being married or having kids explains all i need to know about you, and still living at home with mum

 

[Colonial]

Love your thinking here. And we should use taxpayers money to build a new stadium in Canberra for this new team to build the national game.

Pretty sure there was private investment all lined up to renovate Manuka but the NIMBYs, * em, went nuts.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Pretty sure there was private investment all lined up to renovate Manuka but the NIMBYs, * em, went nuts.

The NIMBYs in Manuka aren't great, but Manuka Green was an unsolicited proposal.

My understanding is the developer was just after the development of all the land around it, and the stadium was just the door in. If it was just for the stadium, it probably would've sailed through.

 

[Colonial]

The NIMBYs in Manuka aren't great, but Manuka Green was an unsolicited proposal.

My understanding is the developer was just after the development of all the land around it, and the stadium was just the door in. If it was just for the stadium, it probably would've sailed through.

Why do people who live in cities hate development.
People whinged over the second Sydney airport too.
You live in a city. It gets developed.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Why do people who live in cities hate development.
People whinged over the second Sydney airport too.
You live in a city. It gets developed.

You're missing the nuance. It's not binary of to develop or to not develop.

While I personally would've loved the development, both for the stadium and the surrounding development, you can't just flash a shiny proposal in front of the government and expect them to hand over land.

 

[Colonial]

You're missing the nuance. It's not binary of to develop or to not develop.

While I personally would've loved the development, both for the stadium and the surrounding development, you can't just flash a shiny proposal in front of the government and expect them to hand over land.

But it obviously was a good development.
The only thing against was the NIMBYs holding it up.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Does anyone know roughly how many Giants members are based in Canberra?

 

[PaythePerryman]

Does anyone know roughly how many Giants members are based in Canberra?

Nah but it's usually pretty full there around 11k people or so.
I'd imagine we have around 7k members there but that's a massive guess.

I think having two home games straight up will be great for numbers to get going.

 

[Giant YoYo]

Does anyone know roughly how many Giants members are based in Canberra?

Reported as about 6,000 or so.

 

[Giant YoYo]

Nah but it's usually pretty full there around 11k people or so.
I'd imagine we have around 7k members there but that's a massive guess.

I think having two home games straight up will be great for numbers to get going.

Last season I went down for the Giants v Suns game.

I was expecting an all out Giants crowd and that wasn't my experience. Even though raw attendance numbers look great there are so many neutrals, made very obvious by so many donning their own team (non-Giants/non-Suns) guernseys.

Will be interesting to see if there's a shift when I go down this season off the back of the Giants finals run last season. I have seen commentary off the back off this run that people have started to take the Giants as more serious contenders/taking the club more seriously.

Other local posters have noted that it's slowly becoming more of a Giants crowd but I suspect we have a bit more of a way to go.

I suppose in both markets the club appears to have similar challenges/goal of converting Aussie rules fans that go for other clubs to the Giants.

Just that the raw attendance numbers appear better in Canberra than Sydney at the moment. Looking at the attendance numbers increase towards the end of last season at Giants stadium if we have healthy growth this season I suspect we could be nipping at the heels of Canberra numbers ( even if you exclude last season's derby) very soon.

My overall preference is for both markets to have healthy Giants numbers, aside from being better for the club makes the atmosphere much better when attending games in both cities.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Reported as about 6,000 or so.

It’s building nicely then. After a strong 2023, they should break their membership record again. Hopefully as Callaghan, Cadman etc start to come on over the next couple of years they can have another period near the top to assist with growing their supporter base and attendances.

 

[Canberra Pear]

It’s building nicely then. After a strong 2023, they should break their membership record again. Hopefully as Callaghan, Cadman etc start to come on over the next couple of years they can have another period near the top to assist with growing their supporter base and attendances.

Canberra has relatively consistently provided about 6k members (give or take a few hundred) for the entirety of the partnership.

In 2018, the Giants said about 71% of their members were from NSW. The Riverina contributed a bit over 1%. Probably similar amounts in the NSW areas around the ACT, so perhaps about 68% of their members in Greater Sydney? So, maybe 23-24k members in Sydney if they reach 35k this year.

 

[Bjo187]

Canberra has relatively consistently provided about 6k members (give or take a few hundred) for the entirety of the partnership.

In 2018, the Giants said about 71% of their members were from NSW. The Riverina contributed a bit over 1%. Probably similar amounts in the NSW areas around the ACT, so perhaps about 68% of their members in Greater Sydney? So, maybe 23-24k members in Sydney if they reach 35k this year.

The Giants claimed a couple of years ago their biggest membership was from Blacktown which I thought was good news. However if that's the case, play some pre season games out there, I think the swans are there next week instead.

 

[Canberra Pear]

The Giants claimed a couple of years ago their biggest membership was from Blacktown which I thought was good news. However if that's the case, play some pre season games out there, I think the swans are there next week instead.

Sorry, I found a newer one from 2019. It said NSW had 73% of members, compared to 15% in the ACT.

The top four suburbs in 2019 were Kellyville, Baulkham Hills, Camden and Wentworthville, all of which are in Greater Western Sydney.

2018 measured it in councils rather than suburbs and five of the top six were all in Greater Western Sydney (Hills Shire, Blacktown, Parramatta, Penrith and Macarthur). The sixth was Canada Bay in the inner west.

The Giants have definitely embedded themselves in Western Sydney, just need to grow an attendance culture.

 

[Giant YoYo]

The Giants claimed a couple of years ago their biggest membership was from Blacktown which I thought was good news. However if that's the case, play some pre season games out there, I think the swans are there next week instead.

The current partnership with Canberra pretty much guarantees a preseason game.

I suppose they could do a match simulation or other games there instead.

Really need to re-engage with this area / western Sydney a bit more as I've had a few conversations over the last few months with people who have recognised me wearing Giants gear "oh, you go for the Giants!" and it's a similar story with some of them them that have disengaged, disengaged after 2019/during covid.

I even had one tell me they went to games in Blacktown when the Giants started out but don't go to games as they have no one to go with to Giants stadium. Having no one to go with due to family/friends being into NRL and thus no one to go with seems to be another matter.

Bit frustrating to hear but will try to encourage people to go/come with to games where I can, even if I don't know them very well, lol.

 

[Giant YoYo]

Sorry, I found a newer one from 2019. It said NSW had 73% of members, compared to 15% in the ACT.

The top four suburbs in 2019 were Kellyville, Baulkham Hills, Camden and Wentworthville, all of which are in Greater Western Sydney.

2018 measured it in councils rather than suburbs and five of the top six were all in Greater Western Sydney (Hills Shire, Blacktown, Parramatta, Penrith and Macarthur). The sixth was Canada Bay in the inner west.

The Giants have definitely embedded themselves in Western Sydney, just need to grow an attendance culture.

Thanks for sharing this.

Do these stats come out year on year and where may we view this ? Would be keen to read last year's stats when it comes out.

Agree that the Giants have embedded themselves based on my observations.

After reading posts online that we have no fans I was pleasantly surprised to see Giants stickers on cars, people donning Giants clothing out and about in Western Sydney. I see it every so often, probably not with the same regularity of other sports teams but it's there.

The attendance culture is a tough one as it seems to transcend Sydney sport in general but it's not an insurmountable one to overcome. Will probably have a better handle on things in the next couple of seasons once the data comes through as we move further away from the years where the impacts of covid/flooding rains were felt.

 

[Bjo187]

Thanks for sharing this.

Do these stats come out year on year and where may we view this ? Would be keen to read last year's stats when it comes out.

Agree that the Giants have embedded themselves based on my observations.

After reading posts online that we have no fans I was pleasantly surprised to see Giants stickers on cars, people donning Giants clothing out and about in Western Sydney. I see it every so often, probably not with the same regularity of other sports teams but it's there.

The attendance culture is a tough one as it seems to transcend Sydney sport in general but it's not an insurmountable one to overcome. Will probably have a better handle on things in the next couple of seasons once the data comes through as we move further away from the years where the impacts of covid/flooding rains were felt.

The 2019 grand final thrashing didn't help, it was a big negative actually. Similar happened to port post their 2007 gf thrashing and that was with a rusted on supporter base let alone a new one.
I remember saying to a mate that it will damage them for a few years. Covid coming soon after was a double blow.

Good news is, the fresh bounce back is a massive positive. They are very popular amongst the general afl community too which is a plus, a lot of people's second team.