GWS are ready to make their mark

I'm stunned that anyone could honestly believe this.

The good thing about the two Giants' games on Seven is that they are both home games (last season the Suns had just two FTA games and both of them were away), the biggest of which is against Richmond in Canberra in Round 19, and the other against another team on the rise in the Western Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium in Round 9. It's also worth noting that the two times the Giants have had a Sunday afternoon home game on FTA, both times they attracted a crowd of at least 10K (R19 2015 vs Essendon and R22 2013 vs Richmond). But as the Western Bulldogs aren't a high-drawing club, it will be interesting to see how many people turn up for that one. The Giants' Round 11 trip to Geelong, their first since 2012, will also be interesting with Stevie J set to return to his old stomping ground, and that'll be a must-watch for those that have Foxtel and/or for those living in NSW.

That bloke in the right hand corner of the picture above looks a lot like Izzy.

Elton The Panthers are backed financially by a massive conglomerate, so what they earn via attendances and the such like don't really matter - it's true that GWS does not have that luxury (discounting the AFL, who do not want to remain the permanent banker forever, although as Clipper says above, they'll do it happily for at least another 10 years). Also for the moment, running costs for an AFL team are much higher, although I note that the NRL are introducing some changes which would mean the NRL list would only be about 9 players short of an AFL list.

Big call WIG! Let's book mark it, if it happens, you deserve the accolades for being the first to say it.

That is true, but are the Wanderers talking away from GWS crowds, which are fairly small, or NRL crowds, which declined significantly last year. Sydneysider, GWS do need to aim for 16,000 or more in the future, but with the AFL supporting them for 20 plus years, it's not an urgent aim.

So NRL, union and soccer clubs "can" survive on those low attendances but football cannot? Maybe they need poker machines to subsidise them like those other sports.

They look very talented. Attendances will go through the roof once they start making the finals. Western Sydney folks love their sports so I reckon this club could become anything down the track, maybe as big and loved as one of the old Victorian teams. I don't buy the arguments from the anti-AFL heads. It is a top level competition with clearly elite sportsmen which is an attraction to sporting followers. End of the day if a 3rd grade level soccer club in 3rd tier soccer league can sell a lot of tickets then there is absolutely no reason why a top level football club playing in the highest level football competition cannot sell even more tickets.

Penrith Panthers have survived for decades only averaging 11-12k most years. They don't need bigger crowds though as they own several league clubs with well over 100k members. They also have the largest junior base in Sydney. GWS don't have these luxuries.

That's not going to happen with the way the Wanderers are painting the area red and black.

I'm calling it now. GWS will finish higher than $ydney next year.

Clipper I think MF's logic is based on GWS being competitive against the big guns like Hawthorn, Collingwood, West Coast etc.... yes, GWS have a crowd average that is fine for the NRL or A-League but in the AFL to be truly competitive without massive assistance from the head body, GWS needs to attract double the crowds they are currently getting.... and then some (20,000+ in the future). it's ok for NRL and some A-League clubs to average 8 to 10 thousand because the NRL is entrenched in their heartland areas and the smalller A-League clubs run on a budget that is 20% of what GWS get. Look at Central Coast who run on the smell of an oily rag, they are no hope of making the finals this year. Basically it costs more to run an AFL club without big assistance from the AFL. MF is right, GWS needs to aim for at least 16,000 average crowds in the future.

Agree, although this is the Sydney market and crowd numbers are lower - 12-14,000 should be a pass mark for a couple of finals appearances, 16,000 if they get to the GF.

The truth is that an AFL side can't survive long term with those sorts of attendances. Even if we have lower expectations for the second Sydney team, it must aim for home averages of around half of the average AFL attendnace (which would mean a goal of round 16,000 per game). If they can't reach that even after a couple of years in the finals, then that would be a worrying sign.

You're forgetting the latent NRL supporter base clipper. Anything that helps the cause of the most unpopular team in Australian sporting history.

Doesn't help when they have their 5 best players out for most of the season. Towards the end of the season Rocket was struggling to name emgs!

If they can lift the average by a few hundred and overtake a couple of the lesser attended NRL teams, then they will be making inroads in Sydney. Of course if they start winning and look finals bound this task will become easier, although the Melbourne Storm have won and stayed near the top and are still aren't anywhere close to the worst performing AFL club in Melbourne, so nothing's guaranteed.

You could make a case for it being on the edge of the west / inner west, but there's no way you could make a case for it being part of the inner city.

GWS did have a lot more concessions than Gold Coast did, so the comparison probably isn't all that fair. What we do see is that these young teams can fall off the perch at the change of the breeze. Plus both teams development won't follow a steady upward track from year to year just yet and there'll be some off years along the way, so that "who's tracking better than whom" will vary from year to year.

It certainly is Terry, Manly, Canberra and The Riverina are also not the Western Suburbs.