Gold Coast’s historic Round 5 victory over Port Adelaide may have silenced some of the cynics taking aim at the AFL’s bold expansion project, but last weekend was a stark reminder of the reality of the situation. While the Suns were thumped in record fashion by Essendon by 139 points, the GWS Giants proved uncompetitive in a 89-point hammering from VFL club Northern Bullants in the Foxtel Cup. Ouch!
You wonder how those results would have been received had Gold Coast not beaten Port the week before.
Firstly, though, I’d say the majority of footy fans supported the AFL’s move to expand the game into new markets but one of the big questions has been the way they’ve gone about expansion this time around.
Gold Coast and GWS’s heavy reliance on youngsters is very different to the way Fremantle, Adelaide and Port Adelaide came into the AFL in the nineties.
Of course, stockpiling the two new clubs with the best young talent in the country ensures they should be looking forward to a premiership window in four or five years time. But in the meantime can an uncompetitive AFL team survive in a foreign market dominated by support for rival codes.
It’s a big question but you know the AFL will ensure the finances are covered (particularly following last week’s new broadcast deal) to keep the clubs afloat.
But the actual question is will these clubs garner support from the targeted markets? After all, that’s the point of expansion – attracting news fans to the game.
Watching your local team get thumped by 20 goals isn’t exactly an appealing Saturday afternoon, particularly if you’re not terribly fond of AFL.
And witnessing Saturday’s mauling of the Giants by the Bullants I’d suggest Western Sydneysiders should expect more of the same next year. Saturday’s game was a disaster for GWS, as the Bullants kicked 12 goals to nil by half-time to kill the contest. It was painful viewing.
Of course, Kevin Sheedy and the Giants have time to work on it but they’ve clearly got a long way to go.
And I often wonder if there will be a negative stigma attached to these clubs in their first few years among the local community if they get thumped every week, or whether there will be a sense of patience from the locals looking forward to that premiership window.
Perhaps on the Gold Coast where there is a big ex-Victorian population they will see the bigger picture.
But in Western Sydney, where rugby league and soccer are the codes of choice, I’m certain an uncompetitive AFL team won’t captivate the market and perhaps that negative stigma will pervade the club’s identity for years to come, even if the team improves.
This fear has prompted calls from many people to suggest GWS shouldn’t follow the Suns’ example of focusing on youth and rather stock up on mature-age recruits to ensure they will be competitive.
But, of course, there’s no guarantees that’s the recipe to being competitive and I’d argue it’s definitely not the recipe to a premiership window in four or five years time, despite the success of a sprinkling of mature-age players in the AFL in the past year or two.
So are people suggesting that’s the compromise which needs to taken in the Western Sydney market which may not be as forgiving as the Gold Coast. Immediate competitiveness over a premiership window in the near future?
It’s an interesting question.
But then again, you need to remind yourself that the Gold Coast example is five games old. Who knows where the Suns will be by the end of the season?
And fortunately for the Giants they don’t need to make any recruiting decisions until just then, the end of the season.
They’ve got two things going for them: the benefit of witnessing the Suns example and time. But given Saturday’s performance – for the sake of the club – let’s hope they follow the right path.
SABloke
Guest
I dont understand why it takes so long for these sorts of teams to get their act together. They have highly experienced coaching staff, if they draft the right players its just a matter of getting them to work together, which shouldnt actually take all that long seeing most of these boys have been playing footy most of their lives. but, give em time and they will be ok
JVGO
Guest
So on and on it goes. Please stop Cattery. You are merely identifying yourself as part of the problem rather than the solution.
Damo
Guest
I feel this topic and similar ones go down the path of no-brainers. There will be endless debating about new teams with endless comments re advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the day time is the only factor you can use to measure whether its successful or not. We are a sporting nation that leads the world per capita in literally dozens of sports. I think we do extremely well in dividing our population of 23 million amongst the sports we play. The Gold Coast has a population of approximately 600k and is one of our largest cities. Sydney is obviously our largest with 4.5 million. Both Sydney and the Gold Coast have an AFL 'heartland' background, along with league and union - so on face value (and over the short term) i can't see why having 2 new teams in these areas is a negative. As I mentioned time will be the benchmark that will determine whether or not it will work. Forget about results - supporters will turn up to a new franchise because there will always be a percentage of the population that will always support AFL. The fans will grant both the Suns and Giants a 2 season establishment period - to allow the sides to settle in with established players. Will we know whether it works in about 5 years time.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
The NSW ALP machine has had these problems forever. However, nepotism necessarily involves looking inward. To the credit of the Blacktown City council, on this occasion at least, they have very much looked outward, looked at what might be possible, looked well beyond the horizon.
JVGO
Guest
The NSW ALP machine that forged this deal at both state and local level reeks of graft, corruption, nepotism, and every other political sin imaginable. Quoting them in support of your cause in merely foolish Cattery. Maybe you should consider what the NSW people think instead.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
My comment about the rehabilitation of the region wasn't my personal view, I was paraphrasing the view of the Mayor, talking on behalf of the council. I don't really know the region, so I can't comment on whether he is right or wrong. All I say is that they went into it with their eyes open, they openly courted the AFL, and there was some strategic intent behind what they were doing - it wasn't done on a whim.
JVGO
Guest
C why do you feel compelled to so flagrantly misrepresentt the facts in terms so agreeable to the AFL's agenda. To compare the AFL to a bunch of trampolinists organising competitions is obviously ridiculous. The AFL is the richest and most powerful sporting organistion in the country who has deployed its immense resources of power influence and money so effectively that it has received a large measure of assistance from the NSW government and so that even further Blacktown residents now receive AFL promotions accompanying their council rate notices. Your comment to Mick H regarding the rehabilitation of the the regions image through the arrival of GWS is merely a piece of AFL serving PR style evasion and deflection that has nothing to do with the legitimate concerns of the local community. As far as I see it C there is no harm in AFL supporters occasionally glimpsing the way the AFL is actually spending their money and the reaction it provokes in Sydney.
The Recalcitrant
Guest
Whatever happens, I will guarentee you this. The Giants will remain in West Sydney longer than the Melbourne Storm stay in Melbourne. AFL has creeped up as far as Bateman's Bay in southern NSW, Broken Hill in the west of NSW and Cairns at the top of QLD. We have you pinned against the Pacific coast. This will not be AFL's Stalingrad, it will be NRL's Iwo Jima!
The Cattery
Roar Guru
No one is saying that kids are waiting around waiting for the indigenous game to come along. But do you write such diatribes when organisers are looking for hockey players, volleyballers, trampoliners, gymnasts, squash players, swimmers, little athletics, lacrosse players, basketballers, touch footballers, etc, etc Why get hot under the collar if there are some trying to establish leagues in the local area? What's the big deal? If kids want to play it, they will, if they don't, it's no skin off anyone's noses.
JVGO
Guest
Clipper you believe that the kids of western sydney are really sitting there waiting for AFL to come along and drag them away from their playstations onto the sporting fields? You victorians have attitudes that are what..maybe patronising?chauvinistec? unbelievable? and a ridiculous unshakable belief in the miracualous powers of your football code. Obviously the NSW ALP does whatever greases the wheels of the machine, nothing more, nothing less, they certainly have shown very little interest in the wishes of the people they represent.
clipper
Guest
NSW labor were dead ducks 3 years ago, and rightly so - it wouldn't have mattered what they did re sporting grants. After all they spent $45m to keep the NRL GF in Sydney - why couldn't Brisbane have had it - they always sell out the big RL events. I thought other sports also benefited from the Blacktown development e.g Cricket and Football (although I could be wrong), and anything that gets kids outside being active has got to be a good thing, although I take your point that $45m was quite a large sum, and together with the $45m to keep the GF in Sydney, could've gone to a more deserving sector.
THe great run into the finals by the Swans in 1996 was at a time when Rugby League was at its absolute lowest ebb due to Super League and many fans were (temporarily) turning away. Look at the crowd/membership figures following the Swans' last Grand Final win - they have steadily declined despite the team remaining competitive. With the Swans weakend and the GWS getting smashed, the Sydney AFL supporter base will diminish and be fractured. Also, the AFL should know by now that there is no such thing as a Western Sydney consciousness - clubs purporting to be from 'western Sydney' always fail to develop a tribal identity - the West is too diverse and different. You only need look at the Western Sydney Razorbacks as evidence. THe AFL would have been better to go down the A-League Melbourne route by creating a second team that has no specific geographical HQ, but still focussed on the West.
JVGO
Guest
Well in political terms it means Pendleton doesn't have the baggage that the other guy had. That's NSW Labor politics, and Blacktown Council is as Labor machine as you can get. You make an unpopular decision you change the leader, That's why we had 3 NSW Labor leaders in the last 3 years. Oh that's right, this happened federally as well, so you southerners may have noticed that. Doesn't mean the local community sporting groups are happy at all. It is merely the same Labor machine running the show that made the deals through NSW Sport and Rec. That this whole deal was run through the the carcass of the most corrupt and venal state govt in NSW history makes it just stink even worse. You can see what the NSW people made of that Redb. The biggest electoral defeat in Australian History.
TCunbeliever
Roar Guru
Thanks for responding, Ben. It's just that without any mention of the league that the Greater Western Giants are actually competing in, or not mentioning that they've been considerably successful there so far, it sounded like you weren't giving them a fair account to readers who might have been unaware. But you are right - the VFL is a much tougher competition than the NEAFL currently is.. But at the same time, most of the Gold Coast Suns who get listed for games are either former AFL players or '10 draftees, with only Matera, Hunt, Magin and Dixon regularly selected from the players who were part of the Suns' 2010 VFL team. If the Giants recruit/poach a larger number of players with AFL experience than the Suns did - which is quite possible - there will be even less room in their starting 22 for players currently playing in the NEAFL.
TCunbeliever
Roar Guru
Mango, there's a bit more to it than that.. There are AFL fans in Sydney who dislike Sydney Swans, and hated them when they were South Melbourne.. Say in the NRL, hypothetically if the Penrith Panthers were moved to Adelaide, there would be a fair bunch of NRL fans who currently go for Manly, the Storm, Canterbury, and Parramatta. All these fans wouldn't convert to the Panthers simply because they get moved to their city, but they would support an organic Adelaide NRL team. There are fans of Australian Football spread (perhaps thinly) throughout NSW and the ACT, who don't have a local team to support. They are the first bunch of people who are going to get behing the Greater Western Giants. As to your second point, yes everyone is well aware of the ingrained support for League all the new migrants to Australia have, and that's why so many of them choose to live in Western Sydney.
TCunbeliever
Roar Guru
Yes, Manuka Oval is another home ground that the Giants have, so conceivably they'll split them between ANZ and Manuka..
Redb
Roar Guru
that's a myth as the reason. The incumbent Blacktown Mayor is on record supporting the AFL at Blacktown. Get your facts rights. So if the AFL was the reason the next Mayor has put his head on the block as well. Keep trying.
woodsman
Guest
bwahaha- claim fail
JVGO
Guest
Lol. You are kidding. Why don't you address Mick H's point as to why the mayor was dumped after bringing such an AFL windfall and image upgrade to this previously AFL deprived region? So it has nothing to do with anger from local community sporting organisations? Oh that's right it's more important to the locals that they are highly thought of in suburban Melbourne and Adelaide than it is that their kids can play their preferred sport of choice. Maybe you should just fob him off with another piece of AFL HQ spindust Cattery, that's how to do it..
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Is that right? Ok, let's see some numbers. I back up what I say witih numbers, from verifiable sources.