Giants insist AFL’s $167m investment will work as expansion club says its already paying for itself

THE AFL will pour another $23 million into Greater Western Sydney this season — taking the total investment in the expansion club beyond $167 million but the Giants are adamant they will ‘become a fully viable club’.

Building a club from the ground up in western Sydney was always going to be a challenge. Picture: Getty Images

THE AFL will pour another $23 million into Greater Western Sydney this season — taking the total investment in the expansion club beyond $167 million.

But after seven seasons, Giants chairman Tony Shepherd insists they are on track “to become a fully viable club with a solid membership and fan base” by about 2032.

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All clubs receive at least $10 million a year from the AFL — St Kilda will have received about $115 million in AFL distributions in the same period and Collingwood about $83 million — but the Giants and Gold Coast Suns remain most dependent on HQ.

The value of footy’s “ninth game” now equates to $46 million a season under the league’s mammoth $2.5 billion TV deal and Shepherd told the Herald Sun the club based in NRL heartland was already paying for itself.

Suggestions the Giants were going to be fully established after five or 10 seasons “was just completely ignoring the reality of the situation”, he said.

“It’s taken the Sydney Swans 30 years and a couple of flags to get where they are — 30 years and a lot of pain and a lot of people lost money,” Shepherd said.

“But they are there now and it’s a great model and inspiration for us, frankly.”

Ex-Australian Rugby League chief executive Geoff Carr once warned the AFL its push into western Sydney could be its Vietnam War.

“If they want to fight out there, that is their call,” Carr said in 2009.

Shepherd said the Vietnam barb continued to drive him and the club’s management.

Callan Ward and the Giants are in it for the long haul. Picture: Getty Images

“I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I tell you what, I’m one of the most determined and that inspired me to say, ‘I’ll make you eat those words, and if I have to wait 20 years to make you eat them, we will get there,” he said.

“This was a very brave decision by the AFL, but if you love our code and what it stands for and understand that it is really tuned into the Australian psyche, then you’ll have confidence that you can make it.

“It will take patience and ruthless intent but we will get there — and, again, if you want an example — the Sydney Swans, they’ve done it.

“The example sits there looking people in the face.

“We are carving out our own destiny, and we’re getting acceptance.”

Crucially, Shepherd said the AFL was winning the ground war, with Australian rules participation numbers doubling in western Sydney since 2013.

The Giants have signed 21,655 members — double the Suns — and are “running sixth in the league for commercial sponsorships”.

“People like our culture, the fact that we are multicultural and have a strong and growing women’s competition,” Shepherd said.

“That plays out well in western Sydney. Our demographic is mum, dad and two kids — we fit well in that and we don’t like boofheads and we try and keep good standards.”

The Giants are also cashing in on a $23 million, 10-year deal to play matches at Manuka Oval in Canberra and boast net assets of $10.3 million.

Revenues topped $42 million in 2017, while the NSW Government tipped in $45 million to help redevelop the club’s Spotless Stadium home ground.

The Giants are adamant they are winning the war in the west. Picture: Getty Images

Shepherd said: “When we started I sat down with two of the hardest heads you could meet in sports administration, Andrew Demetriou and Mike Fitzpatrick — and I’m an AFL junkie from way back and have lived in Sydney 40 years — and I said: ‘Look, I know the Sydney sports market very well ... and this is going to be a hard job. And if you expect it to be done in five or 10 years you’re going to be sadly disappointed’.

“We will probably be able to reduce the time that it took the Swans to get established, because they didn’t have the benefits that we’ve been given ...

“(Over the next) 13 years, we will get well established — our membership should be approaching something similar to the Swans in the 40-50,000 range, attendances for good games should be getting right up there and most importantly we will be building a team, like the Swans have, with far more NSW talent.

“We will have a lot more stability and experienced local people working in areas like sports science.

“We’ll always be a bit different from the Swans ... but we will be an established feature of the Sydney and Canberra sporting scene.”

As for suggestions Alastair Clarkson could be poached to replace coach Leon Cameron, Shepherd said: “We’ve extended Leon — I think he’s a great coach — he’s taken us to two prelims, he’s respected by the players, he’s intelligent, he’s engaged and he listens.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of that happening.”

Diehard Giants fans at the MCG for last year’s preliminary final. Picture. Phil Hillyard

GIANT JOURNEY

Ladder finishes

2012 — 18th

2013 — 18th

2014 — 16th

2015 — 11th

2016 — 4th

2017 — 4th

2018 — 11th (after nine rounds)

AFL distributions

2011 — $22m

2012 — $18.63m

2013 — $18.17m

2014 — $20.16m

2015 — $21.63m

2016 — $21.15m

2017 — $22.98m

2018 — $23.22m

TOTAL — $167.94m

2017 AFL club distributions*

Adelaide $11.5m

Brisbane $20m

Carlton $12.6m

Collingwood $10.6m

Essendon $11.5m

Fremantle $11.3m

Geelong $11.4m

Gold Coast $24.2m

Giants $22.5m **

Hawthorn $10.7m

Melbourne $15.4m

North Melbourne $15.7m

Port Adelaide $14.5m

Richmond $12.4m

St Kilda $19.4m

Sydney $12.8m

West Coast $10.6m

Western Bulldogs $16.6m

* 2017 AFL annual report

** Figure differs from club’s own accounts

2018 GWS HOME CROWDS

Round 1 v WB — 10,454 at UNSW Canberra Oval

Round 4 v Frem — 11,356 at UNSW Canberra Oval

Round 6 v Bris — 10,046 at Spotless Stadium

Round 8 v WC — 9253 at Spotless Stadium

Originally published as Giants insist AFL’s $167m investment will work as expansion club says its already paying for itself