As the 2015 season – Greater Western Sydney’s fourth since birth – is about to begin, it’s not quite time to trot out the old Elvis classic It’s Now or Never, but it’s rapidly heading towards D-Day for the Giants.
It’s certainly not time to pack them up and railroad the Orange people out of Sydney if they fail to reach the finals or get beaten badly once or twice during the year – nobody is expecting miracles – but I did read with great interest during last week the comments of GWS chairman Tony Shepherd.
At the club’s season launch, Shepherd outlined the goals for the Giants, both on and off the park, and in terms of football.
“Make no mistake, we want to play finals football and will be disappointed if we don’t achieve this in the next two years,” he declared.
“By 2018 we are hopefully contending for a premiership.”
Foolish, outlandish, headline grabbing comments or realistic?
It’s exactly what all supporters and members of the Giants wanted Shepherd to say, but as to how close to the mark it is … well we’ll all know a lot more by September.
Forget about the 2018 season, Giants fans have endured enough of the tough times – times they knew they would have to endure before reaching the good times. They naturally want, no, they need a massive step to be taken again this season.
Don’t forget that when they first entered the competition, many commentators believed that with the concessions they had, and were to receive, the Giants would be winning flags in five seasons.
Those supporters who jumped on board back then would no doubt be delighted with the six wins last season, particularly the one over the Swans, a marked improvement on the one from 2013, but now it’s time to take another step, a step into the finals.
Certainly – albeit before a footy has been seriously bounced in the real season – the signs have been good that the Giants can improve on their six-win, 16th ladder position in 2014.
I know practice matches – aka NAB Challenge games – mean little, but the signs I’ve seen on the park have been extremely positive. Two sound wins against weakened opponents, the Gold Coast and then Essendon, before running into their crosstown rivals the Swans in Canberra on Sunday.
And there was so much to like about that performance. A six-point loss to the grand finalists and the way they played was probably more significant than the other two wins.
This Giants side suddenly looks so much more polished, so much more experienced and so much more capable of matching it physically with even the top teams.
While early on they went with kids, veterans at the tail ends of their careers, and an NRL recruit, with experience now in the legs and heads of their blueblood youngsters, the club have added some class in former Western Bulldogs skipper Ryan Griffen. Time will tell, but he could prove to be the most significant recruit in the club’s short history.
Sure it may have cost a number one draft pick, in Tom Boyd, in a blockbuster deal, but I feel it was a great trade for the club and one they needed to make. I’m not saying you couldn’t use a Boyd in your forward line, but with Jeremy Cameron looking like he’s back ‘on’ and hopefully Jon Patton (surely he will get some luck with injuries in 2015) back by mid-season, it was worth trading Boyd, particularly when they were able to secure such quality as Griffen.
And won’t ruckman Shane Mumford enjoy having someone like Griffen at this feet?
But wait there’s more, the signing of Joel Patfull from the Brisbane Lions will add some valuable grunt to halfback line. Like Griffen he’s already looked to have made a very smooth transition into the Giants’ team.
All this, plus, as I said, all the senior football experience their kids now own – many with between 40 and 60 senior games – and there is no reason why the Giants can’t be competitive in every game they play this year, regardless of the opposition.
Finals? Who knows. Some might think it’s still a stretch, but footy can be a funny game, and with a good run of injuries, wins in the games they should be winning, getting their share of the 50-50 games, and possibly jagging a few upsets, who knows indeed, come September they might have snuck into the eight.
The Giants have again been given a perfect opportunity to get off to a flyer. They meet St Kilda first up, followed by Melbourne, then the Swans at the SCG, then at home to the Gold Coast.
Four games, which now look like: two wins, a potential upset, and one of those 50-50 games. Whether it’s a 2-2 start, a 3-1 start or even a 4-0 start, I think we are finally going to see some of what we have been promised for so long – a competitive GWS side, pushing for a finals berth.
Bondy
Guest
AR Th Wanderers were largely dregs from other A League clubs "discards" and those players were juniors in that region where they grew up as kids who were sold and unusual dream at the time . Those who suggest that 10 -15 visa players came here and gave them success are nothing more than xenophobic zealots . ___________________________ Brucie You dont care one bit for Assoc Football do you ? . Bagging The Wanderers of their initial success, and on another thread yesterday you were suggesting the Mariners should pack up as a professional sports club,dear oh dear. Where does the hatred come from .
conchie
Roar Rookie
GWS have no more artciles than any onther club, perhaps people like yourself just foam at the mouth more. Amazing how many non AFL fans read up on GWS, i guess given that the GC suns get bigger crowds than the GC Titans, the usual suspects complete with chips on shoulders just have GWS left to pick on and put down, but that may change this year as well. Have fun.
Stadia Cooperoz
Guest
yep fair enough and guilty as charged. I opened it up because given how average they are on several fronts its amazing how many pieces on this site are devoted to one club among seventeen.I suppose tomorrow we'll get a blog about how good the hot dogs are at Spotless or how the AFL is improving literacy rates m Botswana.
Stadia Cooperoz
Guest
That's about right for Canberra who attend any AFL games in a about that number. Its not about the giants drawing power and given that they are the less celebrated team from Sydney, I'd imagine Franklin and Sydney in general can take more credit for the turn out.
conchie
Roar Rookie
I opened this article to read about GWS, but as usual the usual suspects turned up to put down GWS and the AFL again.
LordBrucie
Guest
yewonk- You do not speak for the population of Western Sydney. Some of us want money spent on AFL and soccer. Not everyone is western Sydney wants only soccer related projects funded so stop pretending that everyone in western Sydney is only interested in soccer.
ciudadmarron
Guest
MF, no problem with welcoming country folk. The showground handled it all no problems without the need for an upgrade was my point.
yewonk
Guest
We voted for local members in a federal government with a population of 2 million we are entitled to our share of federal funded projects. Afl has taken more of peoples tax money than any other sport the height hypocrisy to deny otherwise meanwhile the sport itself is littered with drug problems because afl house wont follow up on compliance to its own policies.
LordBrucie
Guest
yewonk - you don't seem to understand how federal taxation works. All Australians paid for the federal grant through their tax not only soccer fans from Western Sydney- just like the money that went towards the failed bid for Australia to host the FiFa 2022 World Cup.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
What do you have against country folk? salt of the earth, we should be doing more to welcome country folk into our cities
yewonk
Guest
Help from the tax payer ? Difference is we as tax payers in western sydney are happy to pay for projects that benefits the majority of our community given football participation numbers in western sydney. No one asked for fifty million dollars to put in a stadium for better digs for country folk for a couple of weekends. more corporate tripe from the afl for its expected new customers. Anymore money for councils to put four posts on grounds for bogus afl games to be played there.
ciudadmarron
Guest
Yep. Now more people can watch animal parades once a year. What's that? They could before? Oh....
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The Royal Agricultrual Society of NSW is thankful for both the government's investment and the fact that the AFL itself chipped in with $20 mill. Everyone's a winner.
Avatar
Roar Guru
Can definitely see the Giants improving in 2015. While they were impressive in wins over the Gold Coast Suns and Essendon, they did face weakened opposition (the Suns were missing key players including Gary Ablett while Essendon had half their side out due to the supplements scandal). They also pushed the Swans hard before losing by a kick. Let's hope that this is indicative of the season they will embark on this year. I can see them beating St Kilda down at Etihad in Round 1, and then Melbourne in Canberra in Round 2, so it's possible that they could be 2-0 by the time they face the Swans at the SCG in Round 3. As another commentator pointed out, they did come within seven points of Hawthorn in Round 11 last year, while they also did come that close against the Cats in Round 18. It comes to show that they can compete with the top teams, but they should also try to improve against the middle-tier teams like Adelaide, West Coast and Richmond. Strong finish to last season + two experienced players = high hopes in 2015.
yewonk
Guest
Like 50 million for stadium for no one to sit in.
ciudadmarron
Guest
They didn't use all the visa spots. A huge number of these automatic awesome players from the lower divisions have been flops in the aleague so it's not like it was a huge advantage anyway when given. They had to recruit aleague cast offs, without allowances or Draft picks and the like. No living allowances or brand spanking new training facilities built. The FFA money was hardly an advantage. Anyone who saw the players train or spoke with them in season 1 and 2 about the shoestring level in house can tell you that. Volunteers galore and not much equipment. Every tipster and pundit had them finishing last. They all knew the score. But sure. Gillard sorted it.
andyincanberra
Guest
It sounds as though you have a contention with the entire draft system, not just the concessions given to GCS and GWS. My only response to that would be, compare the AFL's history of introducing new teams with any other competition in Australia. No other competition can compare to the AFL's success. This is due, in large part, to the fact that the draft gives struggling teams the opportunity to re-build. Look at the Canberra Raiders, they have absolutely the same salary cap as every other NRL team, but have no way to attract the players required to build a competitive list.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The Giants managed a decent turn out as well for a practice game played outside of their home city: 7,222. I was just checking the ratings. The Giants managed a respectable 65k for a practice game.
LordBrucie
Guest
The wanderers were also funded by a government grant weren't they? How is that not help? They were also able to source players from European lower leagues who are considered good players by a league standards. The local standard of association football is low compared to Europe and thus a bunch of players who were playing in the lower leagues of the smaller European league were able to finish top of the a league in their first season (although they have not been able to win a grand final yet. Strangely this season the wanderers have struggled and are currently bottom of the a league having lost almost every game). The Giants on the other hand were the opposite of the wanderers and lost almost all their games in the first two seasons before improving last year. Time will tell if the Giants can finish top of the league in the next few years but i would be impressed if they finished in the too 8 within 3 years.
AR
Guest
The Wanderers were given 7 visa players and had a marquee player fully funded by the FFA. As for "All they got was some start up money"... They were fully funded by the FFA...with some help from the taxpayer.