Giants float playing blockbuster games at Swans’ SCG home

The Giants could soon play ‘blockbuster games’ at the SCG, the home ground of their bitter rivals, as club officials look to expand the franchise’s fanbase.

The Sir Doug Nicholls Round match between the GWS Giants and the Western Bulldogs at Engie Stadium in May. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The Giants could soon play “blockbuster games” at the SCG, the home ground of their bitter rivals, with club officials couching the idea with the AFL and powerbrokers to grow the franchise’s fanbase.

The Weekend Australian understands members of the Giants hierarchy have also sounded out Venues NSW about the possibility of accommodating big matches at the SCG.

“It would need the full blessing of the Swans,” a source said.

The Giants will play the Swans in the local Battle of the Bridge derby at Engie Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday night. It is expected to be a sellout crowd for the Giants – their first of the season.

The Giants have averaged a home crowd of 11,910 this season. The Swans have enjoyed a bumper season with an average crowd of 39,950 attending the SCG.

It’s understood the Giants “would never take the derby to the SCG” but are again actively exploring playing games at the iconic Sydney venue, sources told The Weekend Australian.

When approached for comment by The Weekend Australian, Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham said: “I don’t know anything about it. It’s news to me.”

Swans sources said the club would be unimpressed, though, if any Giants matches were moved to the SCG, believing their rival that was supposed to represent Sydney’s west should not encroach on their eastern suburbs heartland.

The Swans in late 2014 signed a 30-year contract to play all their home matches at the SCG in a deal starting in 2017, bringing an end to playing games at what is now Accor Stadium at Olympic Park.

That Swans deal has an exclusive component to it, but it is understood there is a review period every decade – which could pave the way for the Giants to potentially shift some games to the SCG within two years.

In 2022, then-Giants chairman and chair of the SCG Tony Shepherd floated the idea during a radio interview of playing home games against high-drawing Victorian opposition at the SCG.

The Giants are contracted to play seven of eight games at Engie Stadium – with one game “a floater”. Last year the team took that game to Accor Stadium.

The Giants also have three contracted home games in Canberra.

When the Easter Show was on, they played games at Manuka Oval in Canberra, selling them both out. The first attracted a crowd of more than 13,000 when they played the Brisbane Lions. Around the same amount of fans attended the game against St Kilda at Manuka.

Their best crowd this year was 21,235 when they played reigning premiers Collingwood at Engie Stadium. Their poorest was against the Western Bulldogs with 7747 people turning up.

For a decade, the Giants have seriously tossed around the idea of playing their “big” games at the SCG – as the franchise moves closer to Sydney’s CBD and into Swans territory, and away from their original western Sydney base.

By the middle of 2012, their first year in the AFL competition, it was announced that the GWS Giants would leave their original and multimillion-dollar training facility in Blacktown, western Sydney, and move 25km closer to the centre of the city. Their current home base at Sydney Olympic Park was officially opened in 2014.

“The Giants need to decide if they are going to be Sydney’s second team in one of the biggest states in Australia or a Western Sydney team,” said one informed Sydney AFL insider.

The round-13 AFL match between the Sydney Swans and Geelong Cats at the SCG in early June. Picture: Phil Hillyard

One idea being canvassed is treating the SCG like the MCG, which is the main home of the AFL in Melbourne and features clubs such as Collingwood, Richmond, Melbourne and others all hosting home matches throughout the season.

Similarly, Fremantle and West Coast share Optus Stadium in Perth and Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows both play at Adelaide Oval.

The Giants in recent years have moved away from the “Greater Western Sydney” title and more towards a solitary Giants branding.

It’s no secret the club has struggled to grip a Western Sydney fan base since it entered the AFL competition in 2012, with codes such as rugby league and football still dominating participation numbers. In 2019, the pioneering Auburn Giants, Western Sydney’s first women’s AFL team, was shut down.

“This was never about making history, but we did,” Amna K-Hassan, the Auburn co-founder, wrote on LinkedIn in 2019 after the team’s demise. “First ever Western Sydney Women’s Team. First ever team with strong participation and representation of Muslim Women. This lay the groundwork for Haneen Zreika to become the first Muslim Woman in the #AFLW.”

“We were born out of resistance to the way society shuts out women and misrepresentation of Western Sydney, Muslim communities and diverse cultures.”

Giants player Jesse Hogan marks during the match with North Melbourne at Engie Stadium in March. Picture: Phil Hillyard

This week the Swans celebrated 150 years and announced a record 70,740 members, and have had a string of sellout or near-capacity crowds as the team rides high at the top of the AFL ladder and looks likely to host finals matches at the SCG.

Meanwhile, the Giants have been struggling financially off the field especially since the Covid-enforced lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 interrupted the club’s momentum after it appeared in the 2019 grand final – where it suffered a heavy loss to Richmond.

The most recent GWS financial report lodged with the corporate regulator, for the 2023 financial year and AFL season, showed the clubs making a loss of almost $3.5 million – from a $3m loss in 2022.

GWS also has a $9.4m loan to the AFL outstanding and trade payables of $2.7m to the league and governing body.

The financial report revealed the club would receive $30.4m in funding from the AFL during the 2024 season. It received $32m in AFL distributions and match receipts in 2023 and $29.5m in 2022.

“The company is economically dependent on the continual support of the AFL and the AFL has confirmed this economic support will continue for at least 12 months from the date of the financial report,” a note in the GWS accounts said.