Giants coach Kevin Sheedy and Israel Folau take the stage during the Greater Western Sydney unveiling of its club name and colours at the Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney. Slattery Images
The news that Adelaide Crows defender Phil Davis has decided not to re-sign with the Crows, and wants to play for newcomers Greater Western Sydney in 2012, has been met with a frenzy of mistruths, exaggerations and over-reactionary panic.
To put the record straight from the start, Davis has not signed with the Giants. He isn’t allowed to. Under the AFL rules, Davis remains a contracted player at Adelaide until the conclusion of the 2011 season.
Had he chosen to, he could have re-signed with Adelaide while still under contract, but can’t sign elsewhere. But he has announced that he won’t be signing a new contract with the Crows.
But he won’t be signing with the Giants until after Adelaide’s 2011 season is over. Until then, it is far from a done deal.
Of course there are rumours and speculation of other AFL players also said to be linked to the Giants. But none of them will sign up until their current contracts have expired. They’re not allowed to. The suggestions that we’re hearing in the media and elsewhere that the Giants have already signed up players from other clubs is nothing more than blatant lies.
The only player that GWS signed up while still contracted elsewhere is Israel Folau. Folau signed with the Giants midway through last year, but continued to honour his NRL commitments with the Broncos until the end of the season.
We’re hearing whining from Adelaide, and no doubt will from other clubs in the near future, about the Giants devastating their clubs. But in the fair dinkum department, if your club gets devastated by losing one player, it wasn’t much of a list to start with.
And the Giants aren’t the first new club that will bring in experienced players. It seems that some in the Festival State have short memories. It was only 20 years ago that the Crows started up.
And when they did, Tony McGuinness joined the Crows from Footscray. Brisbane captain Mark Mickan also defected to Adelaide, as did Danny Hughes from Melbourne, Bruce Lindner from Geelong and Grantley Fielke from Collingwood.
Gold Coast signed up the likes of Ablett, Bock and Rischitelli. West Coast signed up Ross Glendinning, John Annear, Dean Turner, Phil Narkle and others. Brisbane had former captains Mark Williams and Jim Edmond and Brownlow medallist Brad Hardie. Fremantle had the likes of Ben Allan, Peter Mann and Dale Kickett.
And of course there’s reasons for bringing in experienced players. The Giants’ young list that are playing in the NEAFL this year have plenty of talent, but to put a side like that into the AFL will see them as cannon fodder.
The Giants won’t be world beaters from day one. In their early seasons, they’ll lose a lot more than they’ll win. But they will need to sign some experienced, quality players if they hope to be competitive. And where will such players come from, if not from other AFL clubs?
And with the Giants being unable to sign players until their current club’s season is over, their current club has the first opportunity to re-sign them.
I work a desk job in a non sports-related industry. The money’s not bad, and my employer treats me well. But if a new competitor offered me double my current salary to work for them, I’d quit my current job and work there instead. I’d be mad not to. You’d do the same.
Why shouldn’t players go where their job prospects are best? You can’t criticise them for that. Especially considering how little loyalty is shown to players by clubs. Players can be delisted on a whim, offered as trade bait or arbitrarily dropped. Sport is professional, it’s business; and players will treat it as such.
But there’s two other attractions besides money why a player would want to come to the Giants. There’s also the chance to be a part of history, being forever in the record books as being there from the start of a new club. And there’s the chance to play a part in growing the game in a new area of Australia which isn’t traditionally a stronghold of Australian football.
I have an interest, I am a Giants’ supporter and a foundation member. Of course I want to see the Giants field the best team they can, and win as many games as possible. But one would be kidding themselves to think the Giants will instantly be a team of world-beaters.
The mischief-makers are proclaiming the Giants to be gifted a string of undefeated premierships; but the reality is that we hope the Giants can sign enough quality players to be competitive. No club has made the finals in their debut season since the first ever competition in 1897, and that’s unlikely to change next year.
If Phil Davis ends up signing for the Giants, it will be a handy signing. And hopefully there will be some more quality pick-ups over the off-season. For any player who decides to come, it’s a challenge; but a rewarding one.
Whoever they are, wherever they come from, when they put on the charcoal and orange guernsey, they are Giants. And we’ll be in the stands, cheering them on as they have a red hot go.
Bayman
Guest
mds, "Tony McGuinness joined the Crows from Footscray. Brisbane captain Mark Mickan also defected to Adelaide, as did Danny Hughes from Melbourne, Bruce Lindner from Geelong and Grantley Fielke from Collingwood". Perhaps they did but I'm sure you don't need me to remind you that all of those players were originally from Adelaide and now had the opportunity to continue playing AFL footy from their preferred base of Adelaide. It is a different situation and a different sporting climate. In those days, South Australians left Adelaide because it was the only way to play AFL. Once the Crows joined the circumstances were quite different. Twenty years later and today's youngsters have mentally adjusted to the concept that if you want to be drafted the odds are you're going interstate. The old state loyalties are fast disappearing and even more so given the demise of the SANFL and the WAFL as real alternatives to footy fame and fortune. The Davis decision and that made by McGuinness and co. are poles apart. I don't necessarily blame Davis for the decision he made but I do argue that his decision was made in a completely different environment to that of the players you mentioned. Incidentally, by the same token, I doubt if those players of 1991 would all make the same decision today. I don't question the validity of your fact - I do question the implied conclusion to which you came. They were not the same thing.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/action-must-be-taken-to-stop-the-afl-killing-league-20110806-1igjb.html Don't you just love the sense of entitlement that Masters and Gould have about RL 'owning' NSW - that the people of NSW can't be allowed to fall into the clutches of the evil AFL and their marketing machine..lol... they are totally deluded... plenty of families who take their kids to GWS coaching clinics or to watch Giants games are non-aligned... there are hundreds of thousands of families who don't even follow RL that will have a look at an AFL club in their area - and they'll get a lot enjoyment from it.... Gould got one thing right... it it a 20 year strategy... the Giants are in for the long haul...but he needs to stop his crying... RL is in no real danger....RL will still rule the roost in NSW... there is no chance of it be obliterated as he alarmingly puts it..
Brady
Guest
5 other players that will no doubt be playing at gws next year-Tom Scully,Mitch Clark,Rhys Palmer,Callan Ward and Alipate Carlile
Kasey
Guest
GoGWS he appeals to people who don’t think too hard about the issues and who have no regard for facts He should be working for a News (very) Limited paper then shouldn't he? ;)
GoGWS
Roar Guru
He is obsessed....absolutely....never has there been a journalist who knows so little about the AFL who writes so much.... his worthless opinion articles must appeal to some readers though otherwise they'd cut him...he appeals to people who don't think too hard about the issues and who have no regard for facts,,,
Frankie
Guest
Roy Masters must be working for the AFL nowadays. Every article he writes is about the AFL. The man is obsessed.
Republican
Guest
Sport wasn't always a 'business' but since it is no longer 'sport' gives license to the endemic 'screw you' culture that is all about greed and avarice. If you don't like it, then get back to basics and support the amateur and grass roots of respective codes.
Kasey
Guest
About?
Kasey
Guest
Of course they do, sport is business, it was the point that Eddie made that one particular sport was worse than another because its business model is bigger? I predict a lot of screw you moments for Victorian teams in the AFL in the next 5 years as GWS flex their recruiting muscle, the HSun will have to print extra pages to encapsulate all the whining!
mds1970
Roar Guru
All professional sport exists on a screw you basis - but that's a subject for another article.
Horatio
Guest
2 prominent stories in the SMH this morning showing fairfax is still peeved that the AFL is spending its money in Murdoch publications rather than in the SMH in promting GWS http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/grassroots-gains-the-best-way-to-fight-against-afl-incursions-20110805-1ifch.html http://www.smh.com.au/sport/afls-slipups-smack-of-a-banana-republic-20110805-1ifdb.html
Horatio
Guest
Kasey - please enlighten us...
mds1970
Roar Guru
Unless Eddie Everywhere can show us the signature on the dotted line, and he can't because it hasn't happened - will he apologise for accusing the Giants of cheating?
Kasey
Guest
Given the recent revelations regarding match fixing, (the AFL euphemistically calls it 'tanking') and the sordid affair of young Davis leaving Adelaide for GWS, which the rest of the world calls tapping up, I wonder if Mr McGuire would care to revisit his recent public announcement regarding which sports exist on a screw you basis and which exist on a basis of harmonious goodwill?
GoGWS
Roar Guru
GWS are getting slammed by intellectual giants like Eddy Everywhere.... of course GWS is out there talking to the best players in each team...suck it up Eddy!!....just suck it up buddy!!... and all the cry babies in the RL media should suck it up as well - they repeatedly make the obvious point that yes GWS has nowhere near the support of the four NRL teams in the western region of Sydney - yes this is true but so what?...what is their point?...what exactly is wrong with the AFL putting a team there and offering local people an alternative, and offering kids a different sport to try out....what's wrong with doing that?,,..there is nothing at al wrong with doing that and all the knockers shouldn't waste their time airing their insecurities,,. the AFL is spot on to give the Suns and the Giants an inside run and make them competitive ...the Eagles came in with a virtual state of origin team with the cream of Subiaco and East Fremantle at a time when the WAFL was much stronger (Subiaco played Hawthorn in an end of season exhibition match and lost very narrowly)....and even with that hugely talented team and very strong home crowds it took them 5 years to win the premiership....GWS won't be winning a premiership in 5 years - not a chance... but with the advantages they are being given you'd hope they can make the top 8 in the first 5 years and I'm sure along the way there'll be plenty of great games and plenty to be excited about.. go the Giants in 2012!!