From an observer’s point of view, the evolution of GWS over the past seven years reveals a club battling a plethora of issues.
These issues are not behaviour based but more about trying to cope with a raft of circumstances evolving after the club was established. As an outsider looking in, I don’t think the AFL adequately considered the issues around the largesse it bestowed on GWS and the complexities associated with managing them effectively.
In this regard, the AFL should be firmly in the crosshairs. I’ll borrow from Paul Keating, and have a dig at the AFL for giving us GWS, “the obsession we had to have.” The AFL’s expansion philosophy for the western suburbs of Sydney smacked of impatience and an unabashed desire to take advantage of what it saw, among other things a potentially untapped market.
I’ll cut the AFL some slack here, the proposal to establish GWS was backed by the other club presidents, so it wasn’t without support.
The generous, but necessary draft concessions were always going to be a list manager’s nightmare and player movement at GWS has been a revolving door. Apart from the player management issues, the other downside is the impact it’s had on GWS’ reputation as a destination club.
The amount of talent pillaged from GWS during its short history is mind-blowing, but hardly surprising given the bounty of talent acquired in the early days.
Another developing problem for GWS is their experienced and ageing marquee players. They have to develop and retain their own clutch of experienced players as they no longer have the luxury of being able to throw around money and draft picks with the abandon of the past to improve their list. Player retention is arguably their number one priority.
As mentioned above, the issue around GWS as a destination club is significant. Even if GWS has the currency to negotiate the acquisition of key players from other clubs, it’s unlikely to be seen as an attractive destination if their success on the field deteriorates. This same issue will also impact player retention from within its existing list.
There’s little doubt that the AFL’s benevolence and commitment to the accelerated success of the Giants has set them up for failure in the medium to long term. Since its inception in 2012, GWS really has existed in a bubble.
The draft concessions and other inducements gave them a good leg up in the short term but there were obvious problems with the AFL’s approach and they have been criticised by various AFL luminaries for being too trigger happy in their approach to establishing GWS.
If it was possible for any club to have too much of a good thing too quickly, then GWS is about as close as it gets. How well GWS have managed these circumstances will no doubt be the subject of much discussion if, or should I say when, the Giants’ fortunes start to deteriorate.
One would hope that GWS are strategically prepared for a seamless transition to a more “normal” operating environment enjoyed by the other 16 clubs (Gold Coast excluded) now that they’re on equal footing, but it seems unlikely.
Finally, home town support for the GWS has been underwhelming but hardly surprising in its formative years. The GWS team has enjoyed some success over the past three years and membership has almost doubled since 2015, but is still only around the 25,000 mark forming a trifecta in the bottom three with Brisbane and Gold Coast.
Average home crowd attendances have remained almost static over the same period with an average of around 12,000. Whether these issues impact on its on-field performance is questionable, but it does impact the marketability of the club as a whole, and that’s an ongoing concern for the AFL.
At best, I give GWS another two to three years as a competitive outfit before the worm turns and its on-field success begins to wane. The AFL will need to keep its powder dry and actively consider risk strategies to avoid another expansion club crisis.
No one wants to see such a scenario, but the circumstances as outlined above makes this outcome more likely than unlikely.
John
Guest
Full disclosure, I am not an AFL person. Born and bred Westie and I work at high school in Western Sydney. A colleague’s partner works for the Giants and he confirmed what everyone in the area already know, their crowds are not what they report. If the reported average is 12k, half it, and take off just a little bit more. Also, working with high school kids, they are always willing to share their thoughts, especially about sports. GWS never rate a mention, it’s as if they don’t exist. Just thought I would let you know as I am not sure what gets reported in Melbourne.
David Mohr
Roar Rookie
The population of Hobart is on par with Geelong. Our 'very small economy" seems to manage to pay 7 million a year to watch the Kangas vs Giants, the irony is when we don't pack the stands for Hawks vs Suns its our fault. Yep there it is the Gold Coast (650k pop) get gifted a team and 200 million and Tassie (we actually love the game) PAY 7 mill a year for no team and second rate fixtures. Anger is building.
anon
Roar Pro
7k would have meant the stadium was 1/3rd full which was an utter lie. The TV rights increased because of the 9th game. You could have placed those teams anywhere and the rights would have increased by the same likely more.
RT
Roar Rookie
I'm not going to argue the merits of GWS or Gold Coast for a long term plan, but the statement that they haven't cost much because of increased TV rights is both lame and incorrect. Just because revenue has gone up, it doesn't mean any increased expenditure doesn't count. If I won $1 million in Lotto and then invested it in a company that went bust, would you say it didn't cost me anything when I could have invested it in a company that returned a dividend? Two teams could have been put somewhere else, cost less and still had the increased TV rights. Therefore GWS and GC have cost a lot of money.
Sarah Holt
Guest
Generally the IQ would be higher amongst pies supporters... and that is saying something.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Absolutely agree. Tas and NT should've been up n running by now. Or at least Tasmania. And the ACT given its historical context. Like someone said it's not a product, it's a game passionately by fans and not knobs in Audis. (Fine if you own an Audi but you get the gist)
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Sorry, l disagree most vehemently.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Sorry, Wrong! Croweaters have the most guttural hate of Victoria.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Vic, SA & WA are on equal wins in the defunct AFL SOO. If my recollection serves me correctly.
Alicesprings
Guest
Would be great if the Wanderers released an annual report - than u could really compare the two clubs. Bitter pill for many to swallow the fact that GWS do indeed generate the level of sponsorship they do! GWS not be the biggest club in Sydney but in terms of national exposure it’s chalk and cheese. Also the fact that their sponsorship dwarfs the smaller Melbourne clubs should be ringing alarm bells for some of those down south - ie StKilda and North Melbourne.
Alicesprings
Guest
Agree NSW/ACT would seriously challenge SA in a SOO match. Just off the top of my head - they would have a forward line including Hawkins, Bruce, TWalker, Heeney, Breust and a backline with Rampe, Smith, Williams and Mills. Actually I’ll stick my neck out and say that NSW/ACT would start favourites in a match against SA.
Alicesprings
Guest
Could easily argue it has the poorest attendance culture in the country. Makes for interesting analysis.
RandyM
Guest
There was an increase in crowds for the NRL in 2018. You are probably going to say blah blah double headers but the NRL also plays several games in regional towns where the max capacity is 10k or less so it evens out.
Harold
Guest
NRL adult numbers have fallen off a cliff (don't count touch players please) and numbers in eastern and northern Sydney have dropped alarmingly in line with lesser declines in RU .Insurance, islander domination in youth , other factors have contributed
mds1970
Roar Guru
Haven't seen the numbers for last Sunday. GIANTS AFLW played at 2pm, Wanderers played at 7pm. Neither made the top 20 (both sub-30k nationally); and Mediaweek haven't tweeted the ratings for either event and I haven't seen either event's ratings anywhere else. The womens one-day international cricket dominated Fox's ratings last Sunday. The Saturday before - source https://twitter.com/Tenash921/status/1096985061134610433 #AFLWGiantsBlues : 30k * (4:30pm-6:30pm) #ADLvWSW : 29k * (I think it was 5:30pm-7:45pm) Those numbers are Fox national ratings. The AFLW was also on 7Mate in Sydney only, I don't have any numbers for that. The A-League game was not on FTA. OzTam don't give city-by-city breakdowns for pay-tv programming. The A-League may have outrated the AFLW in Sydney, but we'll never know. Fox has the same programming everywhere, so advertisers are only interested in the national total.
raj
Guest
the swans in the early 90s had less supporters! Just like a bell chart you can see the Giants are only 8 years into a 30 year plan. They started with absolutely nothing and it hasn’t cost the AFL as much as states because their is additional revenue from extra games and sponsorship is higher than other lowly melbourne clubs. giants have managed their playing list well. Of course there is a late turnover of player because they had to bring the list numbers down and also as the high draft picks reach peak value. I’d be more worried about St Kilda and the Kamgaroos!
tubby
Guest
sydney has never had attendances at any saporting even t to match those in melbourne. League does well on tv but crowds are a fraction of what AFL gets. The giants are getting an average sydney level of attendance. It shows poor analysis when you refer to membership numbers, thats just not part of sydney sporting culture like it is in AFL states, and there's no need to join for tickets when you can get good seats for good prices at the gate at all but maybe 2 giants home game ever. The problems with list management, well thats just part of becoming a mature club. Hopefully we see fruits of draft picks we got for talent we have to trade out for salary cap issues
clipper
Roar Rookie
just google NRL junior decline - plenty of evidence to choose from, even this headline from the NRL 'NRL concern over declining rugby league participant numbers ...' I agree that AFL can't hold a candle to Football in Sydney at grass roots level, always have - same goes for NRL - Football is huge at grass roots in Sydney. I think you're being pedantic about my decline comment, if I was pedantic I would say that it would be very rare that numbers are exactly the same on year to the next - they are either increasing or decreasing.
mds1970
Roar Guru
The GIANTS only won 3 games in their first 2 years. But they went from being very bad to very good very quickly; which put some peoples' noses out of joint. Obviously in a competition where teams are formed through a draft, when new teams are started from scratch, there need to be concessions. Without them, a new club wouldn't be able to field a team. And the GIANTS were smarter with how they used their concessions than expected.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
I have read a few but not all of these posts, most posters would know though that the AFL will not let GWS fail - period. There has been solid if unspectacular growth at all levels of the game out west in Sydney and once again you would think the AFL won’t let it fail - it is a billion $$$ industry, it may make plenty of mistakes but I am guessing when people look back in 10,15,20 years that they will wonder what all the fuss was about, the 3rd Sydney club will be the talking point.