The Roar
The Roar

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Record low AFL crowd for GWS home match

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On and off the field, AFL club Greater Western Sydney were singing the second-year blues on Sunday.

Adelaide dished out a 135-point thumping at Showground Stadium, with a crowd of just 5,830 on hand for the Giants’ first game of the year at their Sydney Olympic Park home.

It was the lowest attendance figure for a regular-season AFL match since 5,083 showed up to Fitzroy’s one and only win in 1996, the Lions’ final season before merging with Brisbane.

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy flagged the fact it was Mother’s Day and nearly a third of the way through the season before their opening game at the venue, which was unavailable earlier due to the Royal Sydney Show.

But the four-time premiership coach seemed let down by the turnout, especially after the Giants far exceeded expectations in their last start.

“We’ve got to play better than that to attract a crowd,” Sheedy said of the team’s one-sided loss to the Crows.

“It’s a pity because in the end that’s how many turned up after a pretty solid performance against Essendon (a 39-point loss) last week.

“…That was probably a reminder of what the Swans have been telling us. (Sydney chairman) Richard Colless says you’re going to do it hard early.

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“So it just tells everybody how tough it’s going to be to build the club.

“We don’t have the recruiting officer called the immigration department, recruiting fans for (successful A-League soccer club) Western Sydney Wanderers.

“We’ve got to start a whole new ballpark and go and find fans.”

The Giants have played away from Sydney since their opening-round derby against the Swans, a major hurdle in the hunt for crowds.

Sheedy, renowned for his outside-the-box ideas, had a novel solution to get the Giants onto their Olympic Park base earlier in the year.

“To get here in the middle of May (is not good enough),” Sheedy said.

“Even though the NAB Cup final might not have been played yet, we can still move in and start a season earlier.

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“Just like they have in England … the FA Cup is still running (at the same time as the Premier League) … so you can have a two-season prong.

“We’ve got to get our game here earlier.”

Sheedy also took a swipe at the AFL for scheduling Gold Coast and GWS on Mother’s Day.

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