- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Every team will go into season 2016 with different expectations, some reasonable and some perhaps fitting within the category of a pipe dream.
For GWS playing finals football should be seen as an achievable and realistic aim in 2016. GWS has shown genuine improvement since they entered the competition in 2012. Season five is the perfect time for the Giants to have their first taste of finals football.
GWS struggled on the field in their formative years, something that was expected given the age of the team which was the youngest in the competition.
It was always going to be a steep learning curve, not only with many players without AFL experience, but a club starting from scratch and trying to break into the difficult Western Sydney market.
Despite these difficulties it would be fair to say GWS are trending in the right direction. After losing five games by over 100 points in their first season, the Giants have gradually become more competitive. After a combined three wins in their first two seasons the Giants won six games in 2014 and won eleven games in 2015.
From a playing point of view the talent in the squad cannot be questioned. Despite losing Adam Treloar in the off-season the club is an extremely strong position with many of the initial draftees now having enough valuable AFL experience under their belt to be quality contributors at AFL level.
Jeremy Cameron and Dylan Shiel are two of the best youngsters in the league and the addition of experienced players in the last two years such as Heath Shaw, Ryan Griffen, and Joel Patfull and now Stevie Johnson has given GWS a lot more balance with top end AFL experience.
The return of ruckman Shane Mumford also cannot be underestimated. He is one of the most important players in the team who was playing career best football before injury in Round 11 finished his 2015 season.
Many pundits are still unsure on whether the GWS venture into the AFL has been a success or failure, maybe it is simply too early to tell. What would not have helped GWS initially is poor performance. But as the team performance has improved it does appear the club are starting to get the fans and community more involved. Last season saw GWS with their highest membership figure since their inception. They had 13,115 members, and a home crowd average of 10,786.
Coach Leon Cameron has been pleased with the development of the team in the last two years and has certainly put finals firmly on the agenda for 2016. The Giants are hopeful of breaking their membership record from 2015 and with some finals football on the agenda, the team once viewed as the easy beats of the competition are ready to make their mark.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.