Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Netball
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Full Noise by SN
Important update on 1476AMHealy: 10 clangers in AFL's failed Western Sydney experiment
Gerard Healy • April 15th, 2026 8:02 pm
10 Clangers. No Bangers.
A short story.
The 15-year history of the AFL's venture into Western Sydney has long been of great interest to me. Right from the very beginning when Kevin Sheedy, Choco Williams and a bunch of young players established a facility at Breakfast Point, it began with great excitement, optimism and opportunity for the code.
I’m a massive fan of the Giants tenacity, their coach, captain and resilient playing group. But despite the great commitment from so many at the Giants over the 12 years, and the incredible success of the football department that continues to this day, it’s also been a story of repetitive clangers off the field that has held them back as a club and the sport in general.
They can’t be absolved completely of all blame and clearly have made errors along the way. But they were learning on the job and dealing with silly budget constraints in a new market. A short time ago their long-time CEO and dedicated Giant Dave Matthews announced his resignation at the end of the year. He's worked his guts out for the club since its inception, desperate to get their first flag whihc was so close in 2019, losing the Grand Final to Richmond in the Grand Final. No one has given more. The Giants however are the very minor party in the coalition if you are taking the broader national game view, and he too needed more help or direction.
Some think we’ve already missed the boat pre V’landys and that AFL footy is already in terminal decline. I’m much more optimistic and believe we can still have a much greater footprint, and the recent emergence of young Josaia Delana from Pennant Hills who was inspired by Israel Folau, proves there’s green shoots out there even now. It will need though a comeback for the Ages, built on a serious recommitment and proper plan for the first time, from those now in power. It’s still very doable if we can avoid adding to the succession of clangers big and small that have marred our attempts to meaningfully grow the game in Sydney.
Clanger One:Imperious Attitude.
This has undermined the expansion of sport since the Swans were relocated in 1982. In the minds of the powerbrokers in the VFL in the early 80s, it was simply a matter of "relocate it and those Sydney dummies will come".
Many found it hard to believe that Rugby League is great game too, "Simply the Best" in fact. It has incredible bonds to the psyche of the state, bonded together 3 times a year with SOO. It was going to be a battle simply to survive, as we all soon found out.
Clanger Two:
Short Sightedness.
Many in Sydney still point to a pivotal historical moment in 2003 that set the game dramatically back, from which it has never recovered at the grass roots level.
In his infinite wisdom Ron Evans, a truly great leader, and the understated but outstanding CEO Wayne Jackson, could see the opportunity the popularity of the Swans now had provided.
In 1998, a full review of the game in NSW was presented to them by dedicated independent football people in country NSW and Sydney.
Evans and Jackson were so impressed, they offered to fund an independent AFLNSW commission, to expand the game in Sydney and NSW in general and would up the budget from $500,000 to $4,000,000.
But only if Richard Colless would be the Chairman.
As Chairman of the Swans who were now flying, he reluctantly took on the job. In typical Colless form, his obsessive dedication to the cause, along with a serious board of doers and a powerhouse CEO in John Livy, they had the game flying at grass roots level across the state like never before.
There was government finance, new grounds being built and a foothold all over the state being impressively growing.
The commission had a disparate panel, including 3 woman that was revolutionary for the day. They had vast collective knowledge of the state, the school system, and the political maze that all needed to be tapped.
It worked brilliantly.
Sadly, but predictably, under serious pressure from Melbourne clubs, with Ron Evans quite ill at the time, the commission and executive crumbled, and took back control at AFL house in Melbourne.
Yes, it is hard to believe but it’s not the first-time parochial interests have short, circuited development.
Without independence, Colless resigned as did Livy shortly after. He was replaced by Dale Holmes who was also a good operator, but slowly the commission unwound given they’d lost their purpose and the drive and connection to the sport across the state evaporated. It was by far the greatest clanger of them all, a monumental own goal and it’s slowly gone downhill ever since.
Clanger 3:
The Decision.
With the decision to expand to the Gold Coast for the second time the commission and executive made a rapid call to even up the number of teams to 18 and expand into Sydney’s west. It was sound in theory in some ways given the population, but lacked real preparation, thought and data that proved the demand.
The Swans weren’t supportive because they couldn’t see the immediate demand without further development. It was seen as parochialism by smarter minds in Melbourne and the decision was made.
So far, despite a truck load of money spent, it’s proven to be correct. The groundwork simply hadn’t been done to build the base and still hasn’t been to this day.
Clanger 4:Blacktown.
The AFL in the lead up to the new licence in 2012, convinced the Mayor of Blacktown to provide a new MCG sized ground, facilities and office as a base for the expansion. He was hung out to dry according to some in the west, as they soon moved to a new facility at the Showgrounds. It was much closer to the city. It still angers some in the true west and has damaged the game’s reputation.
Clanger 5:Geography.
It slowly became apparent to those in power in Melbourne that the West of Sydney is huge and focusing development was almost impossible despite the players doing their bit. Where do you start and finish. It’s a vast area full of young families with lots of kids, with a very diverse population, but many have never even heard of the sport let alone be prepared to support a team called the Giants.
It’s hard to believe in the football heartlands but these are realities the AFL have never understood properly, from their offices at the docklands.
Clanger 6:The plan.
There wasn’t a proper one to begin with other than we are the AFL, build it and they will come.
It’s quite inconceivable that 30 years after the Swans were shunted to Sydney, the commission would make the very same mistake.
They are all smart people commissioners, but collectively they’ve made a succession of seriously dumb decisions.
It’s still not in schools in a serious way, although that’s about to change in a small but significant form. It will be a start. Reliance on Auskick to prove growth is so short sighted it beyond belief, if there’s no immediate connection to a club or a school programme which has never been in place.
The same Auskicker in Sydney gets counted 5 times, by League, Union, Soccer, Basketball and a long way last AFL.
In case the commission still haven’t worked it out I will spell it out for you for the fifth time.
SYDNEY ISN'T MELBOURNE OR ADELAIDE OR PERTH.
Clanger 7:The name.
I like The Giants name personally, but Greater Western Sydney simply means nothing.
I’m told by someone who was formerly on the NSW commission when it was it was originally researched locally; the preference was the Western Wolves. That was plugged into the AFL sharp shooters at the time, and it came out Greater Western Sydney Giants.
I suspect GWS prevailed at AFL house because some marketing firm being paid a fortune convinced them it would somehow wash with fans from Canberra, that it actually included them. It doesn’t and never will. The Giants alone works though and the GWS component is surely for the guillotine!
Clanger 8:Identity.
Which brings us to a significant issue that was a flaw from the beginning and testament to the rushed nature of the original decision. There was a problem with ground access in Sydney through Easter and no team in Canberra.
Solution? Let’s marry the two and given a deal with the government in Canberra was consummated, it helped with the finances. It also got a top football facility for the code in Canberra which was a serious win. It’s a great ground. But with 3 or more games in Canberra locked in, the continuity will never be there in Sydney. Is it a problem? Not in Canberra but it’s irrefutable in Sydney.
Clanger 9:Geography 2.
With the advent of Sydney’s tunnels, getting to Giant stadium is just 30 min away. All the players can afford to live in the Eastern suburbs and do.
All the functions are in the city not in the west.
It still feels like there’s a dislocation but I’m not sure there’s a solution.
If I’m Finn Callahan who loves his club and chose to stay, I’d live in Bronte or Bondi too.
Is it a Clanger. For me and most AFL people know. For the locals? You’d have to ask them. But Penrith Panthers grew up mostly and live in Penrith too.
The Swans don’t have any similar issues, and it shows with Red and white beanies everywhere on match day in the East.
Clanger 10:
The denial of reality.
For too long the realities of the Giants and the game in Western Sydney has lived in the shadows and any questions or challenges met with reflex denial, rather than accepting the reality and changing the plan and the personnel if necessary. Clearly, they’d not heard of the definition of stupidity.
My reporting of a total of only 97 registered U/13 players in Sydney’s west as of April 5, was a classic point in case.
Tom Harley, the newest member to join the AFL, responded saying it was both an historic number in time, whatever that means, and two weeks old, choosing a word salad of a classic AFL denial - of sorts.
He kind of said what it wasn’t but didn’t say what it was. At the same time smothering Swans Chairman Andrew Pridham’s blunt and accurate view of the Giants impact in the west. I like Tom Harley, and he’s hopefully got a big future, but he’ll have better days.
97 was actually up 19 on the scarily low 2025 number of 78 at the same time the previous year. Now that is an improvement that’s not to be sneezed at, albeit off an incredibly low base, but in AFL speak, 2026 is up over 25%, or double-digit growth year on year.
Some said the numbers were wildly discredited, but for the record as the AFL now knows, they came directly from AFLNSW head office.
They were current at the time, and I released them two working days later. Discredit it if you don’t like dealing in facts.
So far this year I’ve now heard two senior AFL executives, publicly present naked mid 20 % improvement data, or double-digit year on year claims, to prove growth.
It’s seriously feeding the chooks and I’ve choked both times, but surprised how easily some colleagues swallow it, with no questions asked. It may be technically correct, or it may be mathematical gymnastics, but it should be banned from all football HQ reporting, unless there’s an associated hard number. Its otherwise stats abuse.
Simply put, the bullshit has to stop.
Reverse Clanger 1:
Andrew Dillon to his great credit, was convinced two years ago to be the first AFL CEO in decades, to visit the people on the ground in Sydney’s West. He went to Parramatta, spoke and then listened to the local club representatives and committed help will come. It was incredibly well received, and after long discussions with others, significantly commissioner Andrew Ireland I’m told, he elevated NSW to his second highest priority.
More importantly he acted on finally getting a proper plan put together. It’s hopefully the first real step in a long march.
Reverse Clanger 2:The appointment.
Andrew Dillon 18 months ago, appointed former Manly Chairman Andrew Verasti, as the new head of AFLNSW. He is a football person with a serious career in marketing. Currently he’s working long hours finishing off a plan and costings to present to the commission for a second time. It aims to help build the west from virtual ground zero in schools, and importantly the Sydney football league, giving the sport a proper structure, on and off the field all over in Sydney and NSW.
He’s been an enthusiastic and impressive appointment to date, who clearly knows the environment and will hopefully deliver rapid progress, albeit from a disastrously low base.
Logically Verasti should report directly to Dillon, as Andrew Pridham suggested last week, and be on the executive if it’s truly no 2 priorities.
Rightly, l believe many have advised Verasti on his plan, including John Longmire and Ireland, and everyone has the same view from all reports, go big and go hard.
There’s only one shot left in the chamber, and it will take more invested full timers than Verasti, to make it work. It won’t be cheap, but the cost of not doing it, is likely to be generational.
It will be the defining issue of Dillons tenure and what a generational contribution that would be. So too for Drummond, who’s national bonafides are yet to be tested but he is seemingly seriously invested.
Given it was left in such a parlous state, there is some seriously low hanging fruit to be quickly reaped.
Reverse Clanger 3:Local heroes.
Luckily there are still many great volunteers running great clubs that we owe a major thank you to, for keeping our code alive in very difficult circumstances with little real support if any. Clubs like Baulkham Hills, the Parramatta Lions, Kellyville, the Campden Cats, and Southwest Tigers to name a few. They face difficulties that clubs in the football states couldn’t even begin to imagine. Maybe Andrew Dillon who now absolutely gets it, will take Craig Drummond to the battle grounds to make sure he absolutely gets it also. And to meet and enforce the AFLs commitment personally to the volunteer warriors on footballs last frontier. They deserve recognition, thanks and acknowledgment and they deserve to hear the plan first hand.
Finally, the commissions inaction over the past decade, have left them with a stark choice. They either get absolutely committed now, get brutally honest now, and demand the executive drop the nonsensical generational challenge excuse, I heard again last week, right now. Or they will oversee the whole collapse of the Giants/western Sydney dream, that history will show, was flattened by a Tsunami of corporate failure, excuses, self-interest, mumbo jumbo and mathematical gymnastics.
Peter V'landys is no doubt watching, looking at a strategic competitor he clearly doesn’t rate, simply waiting for them to tire of their historically amateurish struggle in Sydney’s West.
Time will tell if he’s right. It will be the greatest Clanger in the country’s sporting history if he is, something I wouldn’t want to be associated with!
PS
If anyone’s wondering why Bangers in in the title. It refers to superstar Robert "Banger" Harvey, and one of my great teammates Swan Barry “Banger” Mitchell. When we produce one from the West of Sydney with their calibre it will truly be a day for great celebration.
