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[caption id="attachment_20734" caption="Jimmy Bartel of Geelong marks ahead of Adam Schneider of St Kilda. Slattery Images"][/caption] As the 2010 AFL season winds down this…
Personally, I think they’ve done a good job. GWS has already been developed as a brand over the last 12-18 months. Most AFL fans I speak to already referred to them as that. It enables the club to encompass a broader market than only Sydney’s western suburbs. This is important in developing the game at grassroots level in places like the ACT and southcoast. In fact, the academy being established in Canberra will be the best thing to happen for AFL football in southern NSW in memory.
Giants wasn’t my first pick, but anyone suggesting that it is too-American needs a dose of reality. Apart from North Melbourne, every single AFL club has a nickname the same or similar to an American sporting team (or in Collingwood’s case, Newcastle United in the EPL).
As for the colours, I think orange is an excellent choice. Again, the same people that criticise the club for selecting an unoriginal name, criticise them for selecting an unorignial colour. Make up your minds. It is distinctive, and like Fremantle with their purple, could become a great symbol of the club in forming an identity. The light blue clash strip will be fantastic as representing NSW, and showing that a clash strip is one that actually looks different to your home strip. Take note Essendon.
I have been reading a lot of negative comments over the last 24 hours from football fans from Victoria. It was your clubs that voted GWS in to the competition. They did so because they understand that it makes absolutely no sense to ignore a population base of 4 million people that have no current connection to an AFL club. It is painfully obvious that to attract kids to play the sport, there is a need for a clear elite pathway and on-going exposure to the game. Having an AFL club based in Sydney’s west achieves both of these.
If only 10% of that population base end up following the club, that is still a supporter base of 400,000. That will help increase the media market and push up TV broadcasting deals in the future. That will benefit fans of EVERY club in the AFL.
If the game is not growing, it is dying.
Debate set to rage as the GWS Giants launch
Michael. This is an absolutely ridiculous comment. Had extra time been played and St Kilda won on the day, Collingwood would have rightfully rued their missed opportunities; just like St Kilda did in 2009 and Geelong in 2008. The very argument for extra time is that it allows a result on the day. Your argument that a replay ensured the best team won is akin to providing a mulligan for the season decider and cheapening the result more than extra time possibly could.
Part of what makes the Grand Final so grand is that it has a history of the best team being upset on the big stage. Once you make it, anything can happen. Collingwood could not handle the pressure in the first Grand Final and in the end deserved to lose. It would have been a fair result that reflected that the best team on the day won. In the end the Premiership is all about the best team on the day, not the best team of the year winning. If that’s not the case, then why bother having a finals series?
Extra time advocates given wakeup call by replay
I take your point about the team being professional enough to fly back to Perth for the replay. But what about the fans? If Fremantle for instance were in the Grand FInal, how many supporters could possibly justify consecutive trips to Melbourne for a GF replay?
Add the logistical issues involved in accommodating the additional visitors. Events like the UCI World Road Cycling Championships that are on this week will already be affecting how much accommodation is on offer for interstate visitors..
Given the AFL’s preparedness to change rules as it suits (i.e. interchange cap), I do not see the issue in changing one more for the greater equity of the game.
I will be watching again this week and will love every minute of the season going a week longer…but I would have been just as happy to have seen a result at the game last Saturday.
AFL's archaic grand final replay rule needs to go
First up, I am similarly biased having seen a lot of Gary Snr games but being too young to have seen Leigh Mathews play. I disagree with the flaky description, but would concede there was a big gap between his best and his worst. I think that is partly due to the fact that his best was better than anybody else that has ever played AFL football.
When it came to the Brownlow, I think he became victim to his own ability. His best was so good that an ordinary game by his standards could go unnoticed (something I am sure Mathews and Carey suffered from also). While ineligble that year, his 1993 season is an excellent case study. He kicked 124.60 from 17 games (10 times kicking 7 or more goals and 5 times kicking 10 or more) and won the AFLPA MVP, yet polled in only 6 games with only 3 games attracting 3 votes. He actually missed out on votes kicking 10 goals in a losing team.
I also think it is unreasonable to comment that he never led his team to a flag; I’m not sure what more he could have done in the 1989 finals series. His record that year remains unbeaten and I doubt anyone will come close to it. He kicked 27 goals in 4 finals from a half forward flank…enough said.
Carey was an excellent player, but I do not believe was at the same level of ability as Ablett or (from what I have heard) Mathews.
Is Ablett Snr best never to win Brownlow?
Certainly agree that Melbourne’s list should deliver a lot more than North’s. The St Kilda-Geelong comparison highlights that may not be the case though. Certainly most in 2003 would have thought St Kilda had much better prosepects than the Cats of winning some flags.
I think North has a good crop of young players, and like Melbourne have built from defence. Grima and Thompson are a good backbone to build a midfield with the likes of Cunnington, Swallow, Bastinac and Anthony. Goldstein has shown good promise in the ruck. Probably lacking good key forwards at this stage.
Point is, it is exciting to see some up and coming lists that will be finals contenders over the next 4-5 years.
Unlocking the secrets of great AFL rivalries
Seneca, I wasn’t suggesting that GWS will overnight have 400,000 supporters, much less that they will all be suddenly tuning in to watch them on TV. I happily acknowledge that AFL gets ordinary TV numbers in Sydney at the present, but as I said, if they do nothing to try and grow the game in that market, the AFL is letting it die in that market.
It is too big a market to ignore.
Ticker, an elite pathway needs to start with a participation base. The Giants will assist the AFL’s junior participation strategies in the greater western Sydney region, which in turn will increase the participation base. The structures being set up around the club, including talented player academies will enable a gifted 13 year old to see that there is a carefully mapped out pathway program for them to become an AFL player. The same will happen in the Eastern part of Sydney with Paul Roos’ Sydney Swans academy. It’s all about increasnig opportunities for the kids.
Debate set to rage as the GWS Giants launch