Greater Western Sydney Giants

The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales and Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

The Giants compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), and entered the league in 2012 as the competition's 18th active club. The club train at the WestConnex Centre in the Olympic Park and play most home matches at Sydney Showground Stadium, also located within the Olympic Park precinct. In addition it plays four home matches per season at Manuka Oval in Canberra as part of a deal with the ACT Government.

The Giants commenced competing in the AFL in March 2012. Despite struggling initially in the competition and claiming two consecutive wooden spoons, the club reached finals for the first time in 2016 and qualified for its first Grand Final in 2019, where they were defeated by by 89 points.

The Giants operate three other teams outside of the AFL. The club has fielded a team in the AFL Women's league since 2017 and a reserves team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) since 2021; the latter participated in the North East Australian Football League until that competition was dissolved in 2020. A netball team, known as Giants Netball, competes in the Suncorp Super Netball.

History

Early proposals

The idea of an AFL team from western Sydney originated from the AFL's plans in 1999 to make the North Melbourne Football Club Sydney's second team. Following the momentum of the relocated Swans Grand Final appearance, the AFL had backed the move for North Melbourne, a club which had then previously gained market exposure by defeating the Swans in their first re-location Grand Final appearance. However, the venture was unsuccessful and after several games a season North Melbourne never managed to draw crowds of over 15,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground before finally leaving the market for Canberra and later the Gold Coast.

The AFL's interest in the Western Sydney market appeared to be rekindled after the Sydney Swans' second, more successful Grand Final appearance in 2005. In 2006, the AFL introduced the NSW Scholarships scheme also known as the Talented Player Program (TPP), primarily aimed at juniors in West Sydney market to foster home grown talent and produce AFL players, a region which despite its large and growing population, had prior to the program, produced few professional Australian Footballers. The AFL was buoyed when it gained the support of then NSW premier Morris Iemma in late 2006, and the league became a partner in the Blacktown sporting facility in Rooty Hill, New South Wales. The facility was announced as the new home base for its team out of western Sydney in 2007; it announced that it had planned to grant its 18th licence in mid to late 2008. In January 2008, the AFL officially registered the business name Western Sydney Football Club Ltd with ASIC.

In March 2008, it was revealed by the media that the AFL had considered a radical proposal to launch an Irish-dominated team in Sydney's western suburbs, which would perform before an international audience under the "Celtic" brand name. At the time, the Irish Experiment was peaking with numerous Irish players in the AFL. The "Sydney Celtics" plan was first put to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou in early 2007 by Gaelic Players Association executive Donal O'Neill. It was said that the proposal originated at the International Rules series in Ireland in late 2006 when O'Neill put forward a plan to purchase an AFL licence in Sydney. The idea had been boosted by the hype generated by Tadgh Kennelly's appearance for Sydney in the AFL Grand Final, having become one of the club's better locally known players. However, the idea never materialised and the AFL has since stated that this was never a serious option.

Formation

Establishment support

In March 2008, the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish an eighteenth side in Western Sydney. The Western Sydney working party devising player rules and draft concessions for the second Sydney team met on 22 July 2008.

During 2008, the AFL Commission, whose agenda was to make a final decision on the Western Sydney Football Club, delayed it on multiple occasions. During the same year, in November, the AFL announced a A$100 million venture to redevelop a stadium originally built for baseball at the Sydney Olympics, into a boutique AFL stadium at the Sydney Showground, in the city's west.

After a third meeting in Sydney in November, the AFL cited the Economic crisis of 2008 as being a key factor in the delays. While the AFL reiterated its stance on the Western Sydney licence, the commission admitted that the delay in the decision was due to financial remodelling of the bid in response to the crisis, and conceded that the debut of the team in the AFL may eventuate one or more seasons later than initially suggested. The expansion licence drew increasing media scepticism and public criticism, particularly in the light of a poor finals attendance in Sydney,

declining Sydney Swans attendances and memberships, the economic crisis and the Tasmanian AFL Bid which had gained significant momentum and public support during 2008. An Australian Senate enquiry into the Tasmanian AFL Bid concluded that Sydney had "insurmountable cultural barriers" to the establishment of a second AFL team.

In May 2009, AIS/AFL Academy coach Alan McConnell was appointed as the club's high performance manager. McConnell was the first full-time appointment for GWS and his new role commenced on 1 July 2009. Kevin Sheedy was appointed inaugural coach in November 2009, signing a three-year contract. His role commenced on 2 February 2010. His first senior assistant coach was former premiership coach of Port Adelaide, Mark Williams. Williams left the role at the conclusion of 2012, in order to become a development coach at the Richmond Tigers.

In November 2010 Skoda Australia was announced as the team's first major sponsor, signing a three-year contract which included naming rights to the team's home ground at the Sydney Showground. SpotJobs became a sponsor in March 2015. They featured on the back of the Giants' playing guernseys for home matches in Sydney and Canberra and on the front of the guernseys for all the team's away games for that year only. Currently, Virgin Australia, Toyo Tyres and St. George bank are the main sponsors, along with apparel partner, Puma.

On 4 October 2012, Greater Western Sydney confirmed Leon Cameron as its new senior assistant coach for 2013. This role expanded to Senior Coach which he held for nine years before resigning from his position in May 2022.

Establishment in Western Sydney

In 2007 the NSW government, Blacktown City Council, Cricket NSW and the AFL agreed to the development of an AFL/Cricket centre at Blacktown International Sportspark at a cost of $27.5 million. The agreement between Blacktown City Council and the AFL was an 84-year (21 x 4) agreement. The breakdown of contributors of funding was the NSW Government $15 million, Blacktown City Council $6.75m, Cricket NSW $2.875 million and AFL $2.875 million.

The development included;

* a main AFL/Cricket Oval that has the same dimensions as the Melbourne Cricket Ground
* a second oval
* 1600 seat grandstand
* function facilities; and
* Indoor cricket practice centre.

Blacktown International Sports centre was officially opened on 22 August 2009.

On 15 April 2012, the Giants played their first and only regular season AFL premiership game against West Coast Eagles in front of a crowd of 6,875 at Blacktown International Sportspark. The final score being Giants 10-9-69 – Eagles 23-12-150.

In April 2013, an $11.6 million redevelopment of a former golf driving range into a new AFL training ground and multicultural community education centre commenced, signalling the relocation of GWS to the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park. Greater Western Sydney Giants presence at the complex from 2010 to 2014 was concluded with the movement of the senior team 27 km east to Sydney Olympic Park. This move was supported by the NSW Government which spent an additional $45 million to upgrade the Sydney Showground Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park providing a new home for the Western Sydney AFL team.

The entry concessions ended up being removed ahead of schedule at the end of the 2016 AFL season.

Player recruitment

Greater Western Sydney were provided with similar recruitment entitlements to the who had entered the AFL the year before the Giants. Key differences included that their access to an uncontracted player from each other AFL club was able to be acted on in either 2011 or 2012. The club was also allocated the ability to trade up to four selections in a "mini-draft" of players born between January and April 1994, that would otherwise not be eligible to be drafted until the 2012 AFL Draft. They also were given the first selection in each round of the 2011 AFL Draft as well as selections 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 in the first round of the draft.

The 2011 Trade Week saw the Giants take part in nine trades, involving two selections in the mini-draft as well trading away players who had previously nominated for the draft in return for additional early draft selections in the 2011 AFL Draft, that resulted in them holding the first five draft selections and 11 of the first 14.

During the 2011 season, there was much speculation about which uncontracted players would sign with the Giants. In August 2011, defender Phil Davis became the first player to announce that he would sign with the new club.Davis to leave Adelaide for GWS
– afc.com.au. Published 2 August 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011. During 2011, four more AFL listed players announced they would be playing for the Giants in 2012 – Bulldogs

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