Anger over northern academies a Giant over-reaction

LET’S wait until the Giants at least make the finals, let alone win one, before we start peeling away their supposed ‘unfair’ advantages, writes Alastair Lynch.

Toby Greene celebrates a goal against Hawthorn.

TALK about a Giant over-reaction.

How about we let GWS at least make the finals, let alone win one, before we start peeling away their supposed “unfair advantages”.

There has been a lot of talk about the monster that the AFL has created in western Sydney. It must have been a slow news week.

The Giants growing up to become a competitive and capable team has always been on the radar. But they are hardly taking over the world just yet.

The academies and zones are essential for GWS, and other northern clubs, to develop “local” talent and create a pathway to the AFL.

While there is a bidding process for these players, northern clubs have the final call. And rightly so.

The long-term plan is for the northern markets to not only be a source for the Giants, Lions, Suns and Swans, but to also supplement the rich talent of the southern states for all clubs.

We have seen all too clearly how the go-home factor can hit a club like the Lions, so the larger the percentage of local talent, the better.

As for the start-up concessions for the Giants, they were generous and necessary — and agreed to by other clubs.

There was no way the AFL could afford a new team in “foreign” territory to languish at the bottom for long.

Thumping the Hawks last week was the biggest and most impressive win in the Giants short history. But it was only one win — and only a matter of weeks after a first-up loss to the Demons.

The academies and zones are not designed to create a superpower, but a competitive and sustainable team that could build a local supporter base.

I appreciate that success-starved fans of clubs like St Kilda and the Bulldogs may look at the northern “advantages” with envy, but having chosen to expand into non-traditional areas, the AFL has to go the journey.

Much of the noise from Melbourne has been about the “lucrative” Riverina/Murray area and how the Giants can supposedly sit on their hands and scoop the talent out of this deep pool.

But for the past decade the Riverina had not produced that many guns.

Along with the AFL, the Giants — despite noise suggesting otherwise — have put a lot of focus into that region and that will see a spike in drafted players from the area across the league.

The overflow effect will benefit other teams as there are only so many gems from this “goldmine” the Giants can snare.

No. 1 draft pick Lachie Whitfield enjoys a goal against the Hawks.

As has been discussed ad nauseam, GWS have more than 20 first-round draft picks on their list. Yet they can’t keep them all. Two of their early guns, Taylor Adams and Adam Treloar, are already at Collingwood.

The Giants also won’t enjoy the bonus of father-son connections for a while.

Only with sustained success can the Giants build on the 13,000 who saw them thump the Hawks.

As we’ve seen when the Lions roared a decade ago, crowds eventually come but as we’ve also seen here, even after three flags and 20 years at the Gabba, they can drop off just as quickly.

Yes, the Giants have much to look forward to. They have matured and look less reliable on one or two senior players, having been hurt badly last year when they lost big man Shane Mumford, plus key defenders Phil Davis and Joel Patfull.

If everything was to go right, who knows — the Giants could make, or even win the Grand Final. But we could say that about a number of teams. The competition at the pointy end is wide open.

Hopefully the Round 7 action can silence the din. We haven’t created a monster just yet.