The Greater Western Sydney Giants are having their best start to a season after five rounds, with a record of 3-2. Last year it was 2-3 after five rounds, while 2013 and 2012 both conjured 0-5 starts.
For a team that is trying to build in Sydney and build in an NRL-dominated state, they are doing quite well. The AFL has let them down with fixtures and GWS management have also done themselves no favours with poor planning.
By playing in Canberra, Giants are not only trying to endear a second fan-base but it is also an insult to their loyal supporters. Only teams that are reasonably established can afford to be playing at different venues to satisfy another fan-base.
Hawthorn and North Melbourne are two such sides as they already had 63,000 and 34,000 members accordingly at the end of 2013. The AFL reported that these clubs have increased membership by 5000 and 6000 respectively.
The Giants membership increased by a paltry 500. By delaying the Giants home games they have lost the buzz and excitement that can come with starting a footy season. There were a lot of reasons to have buzz around the Giants with Joel Patfull and Ryan Griffen adding some much needed experience and skill to the team. Now, as they prepare for their first real home game of the season, they are coming up against the reigning premiers.
This is terribly, terribly poor planning. While they may get a number of supporters to the game, I suspect many of them will be Hawthorn supporters. Yes, they are hosting a big club. But to do so as the first home game at their stadium is an idea fraught with serious dangers.
If we were to look at this fixture prior to the season, it would seem that we would pencil the Hawks in and not even be concerned whatsoever with the result.
The Giants have a slim chance with defenders and midfielders missing. But they could get smashed like North Melbourne did despite the Hawks missing a number of key defenders. If so, it is really hard to market the Giants from here onwards.
Have they done well thus far? Yes. But if you want to actually grow the game in rugby league heartland, which is Western Sydney, then having the first home game at Spotless Stadium in Round 6, when at this point the NRL are already up to Round 9, is folly.
There are issues I understand with the Easter Show at the start of the year rendering Spotless Stadium useless for home games in the first round, which has been the case during every season. But there are ways around it by playing at Blacktown International Sportspark.
At this point, the Giants don’t have too many members and there would not be too many people missing out, if it actually filled to capacity. The Giants need to actually establish a power base so then they can actually afford to hire somewhere like ANZ (not the best idea) or the Sydney Cricket Ground (a better idea, but not quite perfect).
Potential to upgrade the ground at Blacktown would a significant step to hold more people and accommodate the Giants fans during the Easter Show.
As it stands currently, the Giants are relatively easy to sell sitting at 3-2. However, the AFL and the Giants need to work out a better way to maintain a fan-base in Western Sydney or else the Giants could simply stagnate.
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