GWS Giants hope to lure Richmond to Canberra Jon Tuxworth
The Age
July 21, 2015 Greater Western Sydney Giants boss David Matthews has targeted Richmond as the next high-profile team to play in Canberra with Saturday's clash against Geelong at Manuka Oval looming as a possible sellout.
And the annual clash with Gold Coast in the capital looks set to be dumped with the Giants keen to lure "big Melbourne clubs" to the capital.
Matthews met ACT chief minister Andrew Barr on Monday to discuss the teams they will include in the fixture request to play the Giants in Canberra next year – and the Tigers could be the major drawcard.
The strong response to the Cats fixture has given the Giants and the ACT government ammunition to press for higher-profile teams, which means the Suns clash is set for the scrapheap.
The Giants' biggest crowd in Canberra was 11,092 against St Kilda two years ago, but that looks set to be smashed with officials hopeful for a full house against Geelong.
"Andrew and I will talk about the 2016 requests and I think we'll get on the same page in terms of requesting some big Melbourne clubs," Matthews said.
"We'd love to see a club like Richmond for instance which is heavily supported, is successful and building on the field [play in Canberra].
"Next year it's our turn to have them in our home fixture and I'm sure they'd support an opportunity to play in Canberra and develop their fan base as well.
"We'll continue to get big clubs here [Canberra] I think if we seen fans turn out in big numbers.
"We're hoping for close to a sellout, if not a sellout this weekend. "
The Giants have overcome a bad injury run to sit seventh on the ladder, with 11th-placed Geelong just six points adrift.
GWS traditionally played lower-drawing sides in Canberra the past few years, including Gold Coast, Melbourne and Port Adelaide.
A Giants-Gold Coast clash has been a mainstay of the Canberra calendar since the club began a $23 million 10-year deal with the ACT government four years ago.
But Barr and Matthews hope to ensure every AFL club eventually plays in Canberra during that term.
"When we played Gold Coast it's a bit like the year 11s playing the year 12s," Matthews said.
"There's this rivalry, but they don't have a [Canberra] supporter base.
"We've beaten them a couple of times here but I think next year they won't form part of our requests for Canberra, we want to vary the fixture and bring new clubs in."
Barr wants to ensure stronger teams with big supporter bases are also included on Canberra's schedule.
"Part of our intent over 10 years is to bring teams to Canberra we haven't seen before, to bring high-quality fixtures," he said.
"There's a number of teams we've never seen and we look forward to working with the Giants so we can see all teams play [here] over an extended period.
"First and foremost if we get big crowds in the games at Canberra, that will provide a very good basis on which to approach the opportunity for extra games."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/greater-western-sydney-giants/gws-giants-hope-to-lure-richmond-to-canberra-20150720-gig0vg.htmlixzz3gS96YKbs
