Greater Western Sydney ended a year-long winning drought and heaped further misery on Melbourne with a 37-point AFL victory over the Demons at Skoda Stadium on Saturday.
The Giants kicked seven goals to three in the final quarter to record a 19.10 (124) to 12.15 (87) victory and snap a 21-match losing streak.
Ahead at every change, GWS kicked their highest ever score and notched their largest winning margin.
It was their first win since beating Port Adelaide in the corresponding round last year.
The Giants achieved their first win over a Victorian club following their only previous victories against Gold Coast and Port Adelaide.
The last-placed Giants closed within four points of second-from bottom Melbourne, who suffered a fifth straight loss.
GWS led by as much as 31 after kicking the first two goals of the third quarter, but the Demons closed to within 13 at the last change.
Jeremy Cameron and Devon Smith kicked the first two goals of the final quarter to settle the Giants’ nerves.
Cameron kicked four goals, boosting his tally for the season to 54, while Callan Ward also booted four majors and notched a game-high 31 touches.
Smith bagged all three of his majors in the final term.
Jack Watts and Dean Kent each kicked two goals for Melbourne and Nathan Jones accumulated 29 possessions.
The Giants set up their win with six straight goals either side of the first quarter after Melbourne held an early 13-point lead.
Ian
Guest
so AR is saying Stavros and himself don't throw barbs and only provide objective 'advice' on why aussie rules is the best game on football articles? I looked at this article because GWS won their first game in a year. Then i saw the usual suspects who appear constantly on football articles yet accuse others of reading sports they don't like.
TW
Guest
I actually meant NRL games further west - If you are going to quibble over a 2000 difference. A 10,000 NRL crowd average after a 100 year presence says something about Sydney and moving about there. It was bad enough when I lived there a few years ago and so the fans resort to TV. Ians comments about the number of kids there is quite significant long term if they stick.
Australian Rules
Guest
That's right SFM. The irony in Ian's post is pretty comical. Of course, if he wants to debate the *issues*, then he's quite free to - like we all are. But jumping on a tab to throw barbs, sling mud and run away...well, you look like a bit of a dill.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Ian your suggestion that “if you don’t take out a membership you are disowned by your relatives, friends and neighbours” is as stupid as it is lazy and ignorant. Get a clue and realize that people buy a membership because they want to be involved with their club and want to contribute. Interstate and International fixtures? Really?? Wow you must be bored if you are going to spend your time on the AFL tab and drop in those comments. My suggestion would be to spend time on the threads that you enjoy – otherwise you will just be angry and sad
ciudadmarron
Guest
AR, GWS average at Skoda is 7.8k. Your figure would have included the swans game and possibly manuka figures. So, sub 8k. And that's including all the free tickets. It's difficult to say of course what happens when they start winning. But this is conjecture. People have been saying that Sydney fans are fairweather and so the crowds will automatically increase at that point, but if you look at the differences in attendances percentage wise over the last 10 years, Sydney crowds are actually on par with Melbourne in terms of the percentage drop when a team is performing badly (i.e., not making the finals).
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Ian is there any reason you are on the AFL tab if you have no interest in the sport? Or do you like being a hypocrite? You criticise AR and Stavros for being on other tabs on the site however here you are doing the exact same thing. You and Allan are quite amusing to watch on this site - find GWS article, write negative comment - seems to be your mindset on a Monday morning first thing. Whatever floats your boat I guess...
Ian
Guest
That's because if you don't take out a membership you are disowned by your relatives, friends and neighbours. you're the guy who used to be called The Cattery and lives on the Gold Coast aren't you? How are the interstate and international games going? and being the most popular game for half of one country must fill you with pride while you think about 'real footy' all the time.
Ian
Guest
Good to see Australian Rules and Stavros on an afl article for a change. how is the 'sporting capital of the universe going'? the difference being no one cares about GWS. no victorian AFL fans actually give a hoot.
Ian
Guest
+1. there are more important issues for the use of that word.
Australian Rules
Guest
Latest available figures for "average home attendances": GWS - 9.4k (Raiders - 10k) Penrith - 10.7k Wests - 11.4k Wanderes - 12.4k Parramatta - 13k For a brand new team in a "non-heartland" area with just 1 win all season, I think the baby Giants stack up pretty well. Imagine when they actually start winning... Keep at it Allen.
Allan
Guest
Because the A League made a ruling after Sydney FC to give them time to build a supporter base. I don't speak for 2 million people, the crowd figures at skoda stadium do.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Nah, you can only be optimistic there - they can't realistically get worse!
Martyn50
Roar Rookie
I've been saying for the last 5 years that Melbourne football club should merger with another city based club or move interstate
Stavros
Guest
Allan, that's because they don't really care about their team. Not as much as AFL fans anyway. A real sign of love for your team is to turn up to matches (where logistically possible). Anyone can just plonk themselves in front of a tv.
Stavros
Guest
Allan - how would you know what the Western Sydney people want? We are talking about a population of 2m people here. You would have no idea what people in suburbs 10km away are thinking. If soccer is so big in WS, then why did it take so long to get a team there? Why weren't the people demanding a team earlier?
Penster
Guest
People aren't interested in the team? They said the same thing about the Swans, Suns & Lions, they'll get a few wins then a few more and gain huge traction in Western Sydney. You'll be eating your words Allan ... use the wooden spoon!
Allan
Guest
Everyone north of the VIC border knows NRL fans would rather sit home and watch the match on TV, the sooner you accept this the sooner you will realise that AFL is nowhere near as popular as NRL so all these comments about being on par are hilarious !
Australian Rules
Guest
Keep fighting the good fight Allan!
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
http://stats.rleague.com/rl/crowds/2013.html Thats my go-to site for crowds, and - yup - all the western Sydney league teams have averaged 10k or better this year.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
If you think that, just dont hang around with melbourne supporters right now