Greater Western Sydney Giants [merged]

[wayne]

Ch 10 news last night claiming GWS will be known as the 'Giants'  

They must be going to keep Greater in the name then....

It flows better as the Greater Western Sydney Giants.

 

[tiga]

The GWS home ground is confirmed as the Sydney showground. The ground currently only holds around 16000 so I think the AFL has a bit of developing to do. The field should be big enough. I think it will be a while before the club finds its feet so this may be an interim measure until the supporter base increases to the point where they will move to ANZ Stadium. There would be no bigger momentum killer for a new club than to have regular games with 15-20,000 supporters in a 90,000 seat stadium.
I know we all grumble from time to time about the new kids on the block but as I live in Sydney's west, I would love to see our great game thrive in the area and whilst I am a Tiger through and through, I will probably end up going to quite a few GWS games to get my footy fix. Also much shorter commutes to Tiger games in Sydney would be a big bonus for me.

I still think my suggested names are better than any of the official names but Rangers isn't too bad. Cougars??? Come on.... The only Cougars we have in this town drive around in Volvo's and BMW's looking for Toy Boys. And hey...why don't we use another American based team name...The GIANTS!!! Gimme a break!     

[TigerLand]

West Sydney Sharks
West Sydney Scorpians
West Sydney Red Backs
West Sydney Wombats

[mightytiges]

Yep tiga they're redeveloping and upgrading the Showground stadium to 25,000 by 2012 for GWS' first season. I prefer Wolves btw but that's probably cause I've always like that nickname for Wolverhampton Wanderers.


http://www.sydneyshowground.com.au/corporate/expansion.html
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/its-show-time-gws-unveil-plans-for-home-ground-20100612-y4qz.html

[tiga]

Thanks MT. I'd be happy with Wolves too. In the end it really doesn't matter that much to me as the Tigers are my number 1 team. I just need to ensure that my kids stick with the Yellow and black and that all my indoctrination for the past 6 years is not undone by some mascot coming to their school and handing out free GWS merch. I can always respray a mini footy in the right colours but flags and caps are a little more difficult. 

[Mr Magic]

West Sydney Giants? No.
West Sydney Wolves sounds pretty good. Rolls off the tongue.

[Stripes]

I prefer the Wolves too. We'll know soon enough. I wonder if the GWS will be able to attract the same calibre of existing players that the GC have done this year. Similarly other clubs will be more prepared and wary of negotiations involving Compensation picks and out of contract players. Expect any uncontracted players to be watched like a hawk during this years off season...

Stripes

[mightytiges]

I wonder if the GWS will be able to attract the same calibre of existing players that the GC have done this year. Similarly other clubs will be more prepared and wary of negotiations involving Compensation picks and out of contract players. Expect any uncontracted players to be watched like a hawk during this years off season...

Hopefully we are safe as there's not too name players who'll be out of contract for us next year - Astbury, Browne, Dea, Farmer, Grimes, Griffiths, Jackson, King, Morton, Nahas, Nason, Newman, Rance, Taylor, Thursfield, Webberley. Astbury, Griffiths and Taylor will be the main three there we'll be keen to hold onto.

Geelong, Saints and Doggies will have to watch out given their premiership windows are closing or even closed and players may see the $$$ and jump a ship in need of rebuilding. Hopefully the Pies lose a big name lol.

[one-eyed]

GWS is targetting North's Andrew Swallow with an offer of up to $900k a season.

Collingwood midfielders Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas and Dane Swan, all out of contract at the end of next season, are expected to be targeted by GWS if they do not soon re-commit to the Magpies.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/swallow-in-high-demand-20101022-16xyg.html

[one-eyed]

Andrew Swallow has re-signed with North so GWS miss out.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/104613/default.aspx

[one-eyed]

Craig Lambert has joined GWS as their inaugural football and welfare manager.

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/former-lion-joins-gws-backroom-staff-20101109-17l9l.html

[mightytiges]

The AFL don't seem to know what to do with GWS. Is it a West Sydney team or a NSW/ACT team? I thought the whole point to having at least two clubs in each state is so there's Aussie Rules footy played in every major mainland city every weekend. Playing 3-4 home games in Canberra in a ACT jumper is hardly going to make Western Sydneysiders think the club is their team  ???.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/105020/default.aspx

[WilliamPowell]

The AFL don't seem to know what to do with GWS. Is it a West Sydney team or a NSW/ACT team? I thought the whole point to having at least two clubs in each state is so there's Aussie Rules footy played in every major mainland city every weekend. Playing 3-4 home games in Canberra in a ACT jumper is hardly going to make Western Sydneysiders think the club is their team  ???.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/105020/default.aspx

It's called a "fall back position" or contingency plan when the GWS thing falls in a heep 

[one-eyed]

The Age today is saying it's down to either WS Giants or WS Wolves

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/new-afl-team-may-be-a-pack-of-wolves-20101112-17r5q.html

[mightytiges]

The AFL don't seem to know what to do with GWS. Is it a West Sydney team or a NSW/ACT team? I thought the whole point to having at least two clubs in each state is so there's Aussie Rules footy played in every major mainland city every weekend. Playing 3-4 home games in Canberra in a ACT jumper is hardly going to make Western Sydneysiders think the club is their team  ???.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/105020/default.aspx

It's called a "fall back position" or contingency plan when the GWS thing falls in a heep 

I agree WP that this all could fall over very quickly although for footy's long-term sake we should want GWS or whatever they are going to be called to find a niche and sustainable supporter base in Western Sydney in say 30 years time as the Swans have. I can see why the AFL are doing this in the short-term (GWS gain extra funding from the ACT government they wouldn't have had if they stayed purely a West Sydney club while the AFL gets to have games played in Canberra), but selling the new club as their local club to the infidel ferals in West Sydney lol will come across hollow words with GWS playing home games in Canberra 3 hours away. Anyway we'll find this week what sort of club GWS is going to be. At least as Tiger supporters we know from Sheeds that GWS' colours won't clash with Richmond. There's no yellow or black.