Rnd.12 Match Day Thread. GWS V Sydney. 4.40pm at Spotless.

[snajik]

People under estimate how taxing playing in massive puddles is to the body, especially when it feels like you are running fast but going no where in torrential rain.

I was using that excuse too for a while until I saw the Gold Coast travelling to Melbourne and almost pinching a win against Richmond.

[kilroy]

I was using that excuse too for a while until I saw the Gold Coast travelling to Melbourne and almost pinching a win against Richmond.

Sure but we play intense footy week in week out, GCS dont.

[Jewels]

I am on the same page. The whole "experience" felt very contrived.

The sell out game that was not sold out.

The huge support for GWS which is a farce as the majority of the crowd were Swans supporters. Yes there was no acknowledgement of that by the GWS officials after the game.

The NRL style of fireworks as Giants entered stadium.

The large number of empty GWS members seats.

The terrible non stop commentators who yelled crap at every available second of every break.

Having to walk all the way around the ground to get to our seats as entrances and exits were closed.

Umpiring of Schmidt - disgusting and very one sided.

I must be easily pleased, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole afternoon (except for the result and one particular umpire who is just schmidthouse at his job), but then again I love 20/20 cricket, which has a game day experience very similar to the GWS gameday experience at whatever ground you attend.

I am a passionate Swans fan and long time member and I'm now in my third year of also being a GWS (albeit a 3 game only option) member and I know that causes a lot of chagrin to other Swans members, but I do it because I love footy and want to see it flourish in Sydney.
Personally I think the AFL made an error in the placement of the second Sydney team and believe they would have been better served to have located it on the Central Coast, which has a far greater Anglo population than the outer west, which is very ethnic and so are naturally drawn to Soccer and have their very own Aleague team.
There is not so much competition with other sports up here and a bonus would have been that a great many locals were pretty peed off at the time GWS was in its infancy, over the non inclusion of the Central Coast Bears in the NRL and would have at least given AFL a try.
Well thats my two cents worth anyway....

[kilroy]

Interesting experience watching an AFL controlled team go about its business in the AFL competition. The AFL own the GWS Giants, and it is so important for this team to be successful in every sense of the word. The whole show reeks of AFL endorsement right down to the way the game is umpired. Fireworks pre game, Steve Waugh decked out in GWS colours at the end of the game, the AFLGWS Giants players "representing" respective Western suburbs football teams. Seriously we just needed Leon Cameron kissing babies at the end of the game. This is a sideshow that has more contrived and staged events than an election campaign.

As for that AFLGWS banner amongst the sparse crowd that read "Sydney created not relocated". I guess if you call Board room bastardisation "creation" then yes GWS were created.

Another thing that irked me no end was the constant references made to the "huge crowd". Without even an acknowledgement to the Swans fans who turned up to make it their largest home crowd ever.

I did like the kick to kick at the end of the game. Sydney need to do the same at the end of every game. There is no reason not to have it.

There you have it my enjoyable day at the footy. NOT!!!

What do you expect when one of the major stakeholders is the chairman of the league! El Don Fitzpatrick is not going to allow his investment to fail.

[Swanny40519]

I must be easily pleased, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole afternoon (except for the result and one particular umpire who is just schmidthouse at his job), but then again I love 20/20 cricket, which has a game day experience very similar to the GWS gameday experience at whatever ground you attend.

I am a passionate Swans fan and long time member and I'm now in my third year of also being a GWS (albeit a 3 game only option) member and I know that causes a lot of chagrin to other Swans members, but I do it because I love footy and want to see it flourish in Sydney.
Personally I think the AFL made an error in the placement of the second Sydney team and believe they would have been better served to have located it on the Central Coast, which has a far greater Anglo population than the outer west, which is very ethnic and so are naturally drawn to Soccer and have their very own Aleague team.
There is not so much competition with other sports up here and a bonus would have been that a great many locals were pretty peed off at the time GWS was in its infancy, over the non inclusion of the Central Coast Bears in the NRL and would have at least given AFL a try.
Well thats my two cents worth anyway....

I am a passionate Swans member and been following them from the time we moved up from Melbourne in the late 70's. Been through all the very hard times when you had to retrieve the footy from the stands as there were hardly any people in attendance and then through all the great times since middle 90's.

I know I will never become a member of GWS no matter how many premierships they may win in the future. I will not support an AFL made team that makes out it is a Western Sydney team.

Swans forever.

[kilroy]

With the way things are going and the bubble about to burst, will be interesting to see how many people renew their GWS membership on top of their first club one. I am already struggling to pay for this years swans membership and i dont think i can afford a whole one next year, just no money left in the till.

I actually want to know how many true GWS fans there are and no not ex swans members but true organically produced fans. I strongly suspect it will be quite low.

[Sandrevan]

If umpire Schmitt was so one-sided - is there a highlights reel that could be sent to Mike Fitzpatrick and Gillon McL?

Last week it was noted that when GWS played Geelong at Geelong the free kick count was 33-13 in favour of Geelong.

I didn't watch the game as I don't have Foxtel but did listen to it on the radio. It was hard to gauge but it sounded like the Swans were tired.

[Mug Punter]

Interesting experience watching an AFL controlled team go about its business in the AFL competition. The AFL own the GWS Giants, and it is so important for this team to be successful in every sense of the word. The whole show reeks of AFL endorsement right down to the way the game is umpired. Fireworks pre game, Steve Waugh decked out in GWS colours at the end of the game, the AFLGWS Giants players "representing" respective Western suburbs football teams. Seriously we just needed Leon Cameron kissing babies at the end of the game. This is a sideshow that has more contrived and staged events than an election campaign.

As for that AFLGWS banner amongst the sparse crowd that read "Sydney created not relocated". I guess if you call Board room bastardisation "creation" then yes GWS were created.

Another thing that irked me no end was the constant references made to the "huge crowd". Without even an acknowledgement to the Swans fans who turned up to make it their largest home crowd ever.

I did like the kick to kick at the end of the game. Sydney need to do the same at the end of every game. There is no reason not to have it.

There you have it my enjoyable day at the footy. NOT!!!

Spot on analysis.

Contrived, fake and altogether very very smug.

I actually saw Steve Waugh walking in like he owned the joint, man that bloke's natural expression is a smirk. The mist selfish man to ever captain Australia in cricket, GWS can have him.

The part where each player represents a team is an absolute insult to the intelligence of anyone actually involved in grassroots football. I just don't know why they don't have Manly given that is where they have spent a heap of money while letting Campbelltown almost fold. They have very little real engagement with the West of Sydney and the sooner they get the Riverina recruitment zone taken away so they are forced to work on what is meant to be their heartland the better.

The other thing is the constant bloody noise from that knob in the PA. You just don't get a minute's silence whether it's their naff song, the constant geeing up like you are a Kings basketball match of the B-Grade they get on at half time.

And I find that "Sydney created not relocated" sign quite offensive and ignorant beyond belief, they are just a corporate puppet nothing more. That lack of respect is a theme from Day 1 at that club and it started when they employed that peanut Sheedy as coach. If you were signing off on their accounts they would be qualified in terms of being a going concern every year, without AFL support to the tune of an extra $20m or so a year they would be dead Giants.

I like their ground and I find them relatively harmless albeit annoying. I'm strangely happy enough for them to dominate the comp though just for the pure and utter chaos and angst that it will cause the VFL administration.

[Mug Punter]

I must be easily pleased, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole afternoon (except for the result and one particular umpire who is just schmidthouse at his job), but then again I love 20/20 cricket, which has a game day experience very similar to the GWS gameday experience at whatever ground you attend.

I am a passionate Swans fan and long time member and I'm now in my third year of also being a GWS (albeit a 3 game only option) member and I know that causes a lot of chagrin to other Swans members, but I do it because I love footy and want to see it flourish in Sydney.
Personally I think the AFL made an error in the placement of the second Sydney team and believe they would have been better served to have located it on the Central Coast, which has a far greater Anglo population than the outer west, which is very ethnic and so are naturally drawn to Soccer and have their very own Aleague team.
There is not so much competition with other sports up here and a bonus would have been that a great many locals were pretty peed off at the time GWS was in its infancy, over the non inclusion of the Central Coast Bears in the NRL and would have at least given AFL a try.
Well thats my two cents worth anyway....

I like the Central Coast but there's no way it could support an AFL team. I wish it could but it is delusional to think it could.

Canberra would have been the logical place if they wanted a real team rather than the plasticised pseudo club they have invented.

I see the big picture and I get what they are trying but in terms of genuine support and community engagement they really done very poorly and it was started from Day 1. They just have consumers and turning into a genuine football club will take 20 years and even then I still reckon they are a 50-50 bet. I just don't think the AFL have the stomach for the fight that will erupt when this little plastic club starts winning flags in front of 300-500 supporters at the MCG whilst being subsidised to the tune of $20m a year by the AFL, it will downright embarrassing and I just cannot see it being acceptable to any of the Melbourne Clubs.

The only solution I can see is a privatisation where the AFL divests itself of its Giants ownership to an IMG or sports management style company. That could work and it may be the exit strategy they have in mind.

[Primmy]

Just as odd as calling a well respected player, captain and servant of the club, a hack.

[bungwahl]

I like the Central Coast but there's no way it could support an AFL team. I wish it could but it is delusional to think it could.

You're definitely right about that. The Central Coast is a fantastic place to live but there's no way it could adequately support an AFL team. It's very rugby league oriented and yet most of the NRL games in Gosford struggle to pull a decent crowd. The Mariners have had their moments but they too can struggle to pull in the punters. It'd require a huge investment including a new stadium and the possible rewards would not be worth the risk.

[Mug Punter]

With the way things are going and the bubble about to burst, will be interesting to see how many people renew their GWS membership on top of their first club one. I am already struggling to pay for this years swans membership and i dont think i can afford a whole one next year, just no money left in the till.

I actually want to know how many true GWS fans there are and no not ex swans members but true organically produced fans. I strongly suspect it will be quite low.

As some of you may have noticed I'm not really a Giants fan But I do think my reasons are based in sound commercial and football reasons (some may disagree).

When they first arrived I vowed never to spend a cent there. But I love my footy and sometimes when I have a spare weekend it's too tempting and I head off to their cute little stadium and enjoy a day of stress free footy. It's a contrived, juvenile atmosphere but it's tolerable. I get to 2-3 game a season at GWS against 11 Swans games so I guess I'm considered a win for them. And I guess I'm pumping $100+ into their club a year.

I don't think, though, that they'll get any more growth from the likes of me so the big one is growing their rusted on supporter base so that it can sustain the club through lean times on a commercial level. I think you are looking at 30+ and possibly half a billion of AFL Dollars to find out that the answer is no.

- - - Updated - - -

Just as odd as calling a well respected player, captain and servant of the club, a hack.

Don't feed the troll Kilroy....

[Mug Punter]

The other thing that is interesting about this mob is how the handle their salary cap pressures.

It has been widely reported that they are $600,000 on the cap as it currently stands next year. And bear in mind that they have a $640,000 concession for their cap next year and $520,000 in 2018. So, on a baseline basis they are $1,240,000 over their cap compared to the opposition. And they have already trimmed their list to 42.

Sure the cap might go up but at the same time I'm sure they've got guys like Palmer, Davis and Scully and maybe even Mummy coming in on seriously front ended deals.

At the very least I reckon it means they'll just keep their current list and not be able to offer extended improved deals to anybody coming off contract at year end. Marchbank must be seriously at risk.

Winning a flag early may be the worst thing to happen to this club. The players will have that box ticked from a personal perspective, they'll have been paid overs and they can then as a kid in their mid 20s go and play for a proper football club. It really will be interesting to see how this experiment pans out.

[barry]

It seems some swans supporters are more worried about the giants, than the giants are about the swans.

All this worrying about what Melbourne will think is pathetic. The bears played finals in Melbourne, and the AFL survived. Crowds were ok. We have had two non-vic sides play in a grand final. Crowd was ok. Good teams attract fans whether they support them or not.

All the Giants need to worry about is maximizing attendances, sponsorship, revenue in Western Sydney and Canberra.

If the Giants are to become a 4 premiership dynasty, the swans had better not go into ladder free fall, otherwise.....

[kilroy]

If umpire Schmitt was so one-sided - is there a highlights reel that could be sent to Mike Fitzpatrick and Gillon McL?

Last week it was noted that when GWS played Geelong at Geelong the free kick count was 33-13 in favour of Geelong.

I didn't watch the game as I don't have Foxtel but did listen to it on the radio. It was hard to gauge but it sounded like the Swans were tired.

Whats the point? Its the only code i have ever watched where the officials are terrible or have a perceived bias in every single game. Yet we are all expected to swallow it because its part of the game they tell us.

On the weekend the first contest Tippett had in the forward 50 he was hit in the head, blind freddy the nuclear technician even saw it it was that blatant but schmitt didnt even consider paying it. And Rose as well was rag dolled a few times and buddy every single contest he gets rag dolled and yet when he merely touches a defender its free against him.

And if its not schmitt, its stevic. A few years ago razor ray had in for us but he seems to be the best of a very terrible bunch atm.

I dont know where its come from or how this notion that its ok for umpires to be biased or not pay frees to players they dont like or that team X got the rub of the green. Which other code do you know that allows this mindset?

Its cheating and should be eliminated asap from any code, let alone ours, but it wont.