Giants myth: No love in NRL heartland for AFL’s invisible team

Rugby league once worried about an AFL invasion into Sydney’s western suburbs, but it’s turned out to be a myth, writes DEAN RITCHIE.

Rugby league once worried about the perceived AFL invasion in Sydney’s western suburbs, but it’s turned out to be a myth. Picture: Phil Hillyard

They are outright favourites for the AFL premiership but it seems no-one in Western Sydney knows who the bloody hell the GWS Giants are.

Rugby league once worried about the perceived AFL invasion in Sydney’s western suburbs, but it’s turned out to be a myth.

They might be well known in Melbourne, but the Giants are close to an invisible franchise in what is support to be their actual heartland.

Bulldog’s Bite stood in the middle of Parramatta Mall for more than an hour this week asking by-passers whether they could identify photos of GWS stars Toby Greene, Stephen Coniglio, Lachie Whitfield and coach Adam Kingsley.

These people are far from nobodies – Greene was named captain of the AFL’s All Australian team last year; Coniglio is a former club captain who has played 202 matches; and Whitfield is a former No.1 draft pick who’s been at the club since 2013.

The response was alarming for GWS.

They are contenders for the AFL premiership, but it seems no-one in their back yard knows who the GWS Giants are. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Bemused punters mistook them for a Croatian doubles tennis player, a Dutch swimmer, European soccer player, Craig Foster, Anthony Seibold, Michael Clarke, Xavi Hernandez, an A-League coach, a personal trainer, even a cartoon character from Mad magazine.

Ron from Hornsby couldn’t identify Whitfield but thought he resembled Alfred E Neuman from American humour magazine, Mad.

“I’m a league fan – I follow Parra,” Rob said.

When shown a photo of Greene, Steve from Blacktown said: “Is that Michael Clarke? I’ve got no idea, mate.”

And when he saw Whitfield, Steve said: “Is that a soccer player?”

When told of their identities, he said: “I don’t watch AFL.”

Rod, a Parramatta resident now living in Nelson Bay, thought Kingsley was Manly coach Anthony Seibold.

And his wife Jennifer thought Coniglio was soccer pundit Craig Foster.

Colin from Western Sydney thought Greene was a Croatian doubles tennis player.

He did get close with Whitfield, saying: “He looks like an AFL player from the 1990s.”

Abbas from Granville thought Greene was a European soccer player while Whitfield was a Dutch swimmer.

“(Kinglsey) looks like the Barcelona coach (Xavi Hernandez),” Abbas said.

And on it went.

Matthew from Cronulla reckons Kingsley is “a coach in the A-League. If you show me some NRL players, I’d know who they are. AFL, players, I’ve got no idea.”

Joseph from Newcastle said Whitfield looked like a “European goal keeper” while Kinglsey was a “personal trainer”.

Dean Ritchie asks Parramatta residents if they know any GWS Giants players

Only AFL fan Jeff from Glenhaven nailed the identities of all four Giants.

The Giants are $5 premiership favourites with the TAB ahead of the Sydney Swans ($6.50), then Carlton, Brisbane, Collingwood and Melbourne.

Our street poll took place right near Parramatta Square, where GWS held a fan day just last month.

While the Giants remain largely unknown, NRL players like Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Mitch Moses, Dylan Brown, Api Koroisau, Stephen Crichton and Viliame Kikau rule the west.

The Giants drew a 21,235 full house to Engie Stadium at the Sydney Showground for the club’s opening round against premiers Collingwood.

But, a week later, GWS attracted just 8034 against North Melbourne, indicating the opening round’s robust crowd heavily comprised Magpies fans.

It was even less than the 11,466 fans who attended the Suns-Crowd match on the Gold Coast, despite the Suns never finishing better than 12th in their history.

And the average AFL crowd outside the Giants match last weekend was 50,671.

Meanwhile Western Sydney NRL rivals Parramatta and Penrith are expected to have sellout crowds at matches this weekend.

GWS drew a crowd of 21,235 in Round 1, but just 8034 the week after. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The debate over GWS’s popularity comes after Manly forward Haumole Olakau’atu’s comments supporting fellow Western Sydney product Spencer Leniu, who was asked about ex-Swans Indigenous star Adam Goodes during his racism hearing.

“Sorry man, I don’t know who that is, I don’t know who Adam Goodes is, sorry,” Olakau’atu said.

Rugby union isn’t a competitor to the NRL anymore, and neither is soccer.

But the AFL remains feisty in Sydney and money keeps on pouring in to support the code.

NRL is soaring higher than ever before through great tries, brilliant games, massive television ratings and a game now rolling in money. The Las Vegas experiment was also a huge hit with fans.

The Giants are in their 13th season and have 33,000 members.

They are a team with immense on-field talent but without an off-field identity in the region they are supposed to represent.

As broadcaster Ray Hadley says: “They could rob a bank on Pitt Street without a mask on and no-one would know who they were.”

PARANOID TIGERS IGNORING THE REAL ISSUES

Paranoia was rampant at the Wests Tigers this past week as the club launched a witch hunt to try and identify the supposed source behind last week’s Bulldog’s Bite column which posed the question about the approach Benji Marshall would take into his NRL coaching career.

And, in true Tigers style, they missed the mark.

Former Wests Tigers recruitment manager Scott Fulton has been falsely blamed for his alleged contribution to last week’s Bulldog’s Bite column, with the club – and the Sydney Morning Herald – claiming it was a nefarious in both content and timing to have a conversation about a rookie coach with unique methods leading a club that hasn’t played finals football for 12 seasons?

The motive? Fulton’s feud with Marshall while the pair worked together at Concord.

The justification? “Marshall has been around the game a long time and knows who speaks to whom”.

Scott Fulton has been falsely blamed for his alleged role in criticism of Benji Marshall’s coaching style. Picture: Getty Images

Under the headline ‘Can Benji Marshall succeed if he refuses to be a 24/7 coach’, your columnist spoke to several people around the game ahead of Marshall’s official NRL head coaching debut. Fulton wasn’t one of them.

A simple call from Nine Newspapers could have cleared that up.

And if it was “an agenda”, as the newspaper report seemed to suggest on Tuesday, then why did your columnist write “Who says you have to work 18 hours a day and stay off social media to be a success?”

Or publish the view of a rival club CEO, who backed Marshall’s approach?

“The conventional wisdom towards coaching is overplayed,” the CEO said.

“It’s not all about sitting there watching hour and hour of video. Surely there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

My column simply asked whether Marshall’s outlook toward coaching – where he worked fewer hours than his rivals – would work.

In the Nine Newspapers report, interim Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson even supported my argument.

“Because (Marshall) doesn’t work 14 hours a day and he wants he and his players to have a family life, it’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Richardson told Nine Newspapers.

I’m old enough and ugly enough to rarely be insulted or offended by someone’s interpretation of what I’ve written.

But the irony of a story that sits under the headline ‘BS on every level’: Why Benji has been caught in the crossfire’ isn’t lost on me.

Scott Fulton has been the one dragged into this situation, despite having absolutely no involvement.

Fulton is trying to find employment in the game and the Nine Newspapers story was not only misinformed, but incredibly damaging. He should consider legal action.

Maybe Wests Tigers should get over their paranoia and start focusing on avoiding a third straight wooden spoon.

UK MEDIA’S SAVAGE SUPER LEAGUE SPRAY

And you thought the Aussie media was tough. English rugby league reporter Daniel Tomlinson went nuclear after the performance of Super League club Hull, coached by Aussie Tony Smith, in their 54-4 loss to Leigh, coached by Adrian Lam, last weekend.

“It was rudderless, gutless, spineless, pathetic, embarrassing, humiliating, and plenty of other more colourful adjectives that we can’t use on these pages. There was no energy in Hull’s performance, no urgency, no passion, or no pride. It was soulless,” Tomlinson wrote on Hull Live, a website which is part of the Hull Daily Mail.

I just wish Daniel wouldn’t sit on the fence…

Originally published as Giants myth: No love in NRL heartland for AFL’s invisible team