AFLW Round 4 – GWS v Western Bulldogs: Footy Is Back, Baby!

 

 

 

There’s always a feeling of excitement and anticipation when you make your way to the footy…and it’s been a long time between games in the Harbour City.

 

 

The last was in mid June. Then lockdown hit.

 

 

All the remaining games were moved out of Sydney. Even our local comp was abandoned, with the 2021 premierships never awarded.

 

 

Nothing. It’s been seven months since we’ve seen a kick.

 

 

Our current AFLW season started with three games on the road, but finally, we had a home game!

 

 

Our venue was Henson Park in Marrickville, the ground hosted the AFLW for the first time.

 

 

On the western side is the historic King George V Memorial Grandstand, built for the 1938 Empire Games when Henson Park hosted the cycling. Around the rest of the ground is a grass hill. It’s an old traditional rugby league ground, the home of Newtown Jets, but it’s always been an oval.

 

 

A late fixture change saw the game brought forward to Friday 5pm. Not ideal for workers, and some who had planned to come were unable to make it. Fortunately, my manager is overseas at the moment so I can do what I like;  no problems for me to get there.

 

 

But even with the time barrier, a larger crowd than I was expecting was filing through the gates. No crowd number was ever announced, but I’d guess about 3,000. And after such a long time apart, it was so great to catch up with the GIANTS faithful.

 

 

Another late change saw me drafted in to hold up the banner, a rainbow-coloured structure celebrating Pride Round as both sides ran through together.

 

 

There are others more qualified to comment on Pride Round than I, but the round needs to be more than a token splash of rainbow colours on a jumper once a year. We’re sending a message that we’re making the footy as safe a place for LGBTQI+ people as it is for everyone else. Not just for one game a year; always.

 

 

Footy has a reputation as homophobic, but I don’t think we’re like that any more. I don’t think there’s anything at a GIANTS game that an LGBTQI+ person would find uncomfortable; and hopefully some were able to realise that on Friday. Maybe I’m wrong and there’s still things we need to work on…

 

 

However, even that splash of colour was too much for Haneen Zreika, who opted to sit this game out. I would have preferred her to play; she’s in the GIANTS’ best 22. But it’s important to follow one’s conscience, and we have to respect that. She’s an important part of our club, and she’ll be welcomed back into the team next week.

 

 

In Zreika’s absence, some familiar faces for the club but not on the forward line put their hand up. Nicola Barr played on to get the GIANTS’ first goal on the board; somewhat surprisingly it was her first major score at this level. And then Louise Stephenson, normally a key defender, twice drew twin flags from the goal umpire in the first term.

 

 

The Bulldogs got one back after the quarter time siren from a free kick, but the GIANTS were on fire; and two more goals in the second term while holding the Bulldogs scoreless for the quarter set up a match-winning lead.

 

 

For the GIANTS, held scoreless in the first half against North, it was a welcome return to form. Rising to the occasion, enjoying the roar of a home crowd at last. There was no way the Bulldogs were ever going to threaten them.

 

 

The Bulldogs were only playing their second game, with several of their number only just cleared to play after recent bouts of covid; probably still not fully recovered and certainly short of match fitness. It was a tough day for them, but with another week of recovery and training you can expect them to lift in their next match.

 

 

But this was the GIANTS’ day. The shadows were lengthening, the players standing tall and the crowd revelling in the atmosphere and the occasion. After seven long months, footy was back.

 

 

And as the final minutes ticked down, the chant of ‘Here Come The GIANTS’ rang around the ground. After a win against the Suns in the opening round, they fell short in tough games on the road against Fremantle and North. But now in front of a Sydney crowd, back on the winning list and maybe on a roll.

 

 

There’s more home games to come. Unfortunately this week we’re again being moved to a worker-unfriendly Thursday afternoon timeslot; but hopefully we can still get a crowd to come back to Henson. And then we return to our traditional AFLW home at Blacktown.

 

 

Plenty to look forward to in women’s footy up here in Sydney. The GIANTS are a team on the rise, ready to move up the ladder. Participation numbers have been rising steadily in recent years. And next year the Swans join AFLW, which will give us a keenly-anticipated local derby.

 

 

For both the women’s and men’s seasons, we’ll likely see disruptions, postponements and late fixture changes. But we can be more confident that all our home games will be played, which we didn’t get in the last two years.

 

 

But finally the excitement of a game day is back. And what fun it was.

 

 

Footy is back baby!

 

 

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY         3.0     5.1     5.1     7.1      (43)
WESTERN BULLDOGS                       1.4      1.4     2.8    2.10    (22)

 

GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Barr 3, Stephenson 2, Staunton, Doyle
Western Bulldogs: Cranston, Blackburn

 

BEST
Greater Western Sydney: Barr, Parker, Eva, Pease, Grierson
Western Bulldogs: Brown, Cranston, Blackburn, Fitzgerald

 

 

 

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About Michael Shillito

GWS Giants foundation member and cheer squad member. It's been quite an adventure so far, and the best is yet to come.

Comments

  1. Yvette Wroby says

    Well done on your report. Welcome to the Almanac family!

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