Easter Sunday dawned in Tassy and the natives awoke to three main news stories. Firstly the Easter Bunny had arrived and I’d consumed the ears out of three chocolate rabbits before arising. Secondly we met with a word unfamiliar to us in the southern outpost, Ominium. The nearest I’d heard of it was [Read more]
North head south
April 11, 2012 by 7 Comments
North come south Reviewed by Adam Muyt. North Melbourne Versus Greater Western Sydney, 1.10pm, 8 April 2012, Bellerive Oval, Hobart Last week I was in Sydney where I grew up, reviewing a rugby league game for the [Read more]
Getting to Know You
April 5, 2012 by 3 Comments
A few weeks ago, I streamed the Sydney Swans Guernsey presentation. In twelve years of membership, I have never attended or watched a Guernsey presentation. I have been content with skimming the captain’s speech the morning after and stealing away a quote or two for the parenthood file. But this year, I watched it live, [Read more]
The View From Shepparton: Round 1 Pt. 1
March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
At last round one has started, and really I reckon that Greater Western Sydney were OK. Izzy has already received flack for not being up to it but despite my critical pre season comment, he might yet have something. It does appear though that they will have trouble getting a decent forward set [Read more]
Shaking off the giant pressure
March 26, 2012 by 2 Comments
The Sierra Madre is full of notoriously remote and lawless towns. A place where asking too many questions will only end in trouble and bemused shrugs from the locals afterwards. They’ve also never heard of Aussie Rules and certainly not the Sydney Swans. In other words the perfect bolt hole should tonight go drastically wrong. [Read more]
at the beginning….
March 26, 2012 by 4 Comments
I am ‘nobody’. I am ‘no one’ – and so’s my wife. We have been told daily for the past couple of years that ‘nobody’ wants the Giants; that ‘no one’ will go and watch. We have been told that in one of the largest, fastest growing, most diverse regions in Australia, that there is [Read more]
Giant Buzz
March 26, 2012 by 8 Comments
Everything comes to those who wait. Living in NSW for nearly 25 years has caused much angst where football is concerned. Telecasts at unreasonable hours despite having a so called national game has been frustrating. But with the introduction of GWS now I have an AFL team to follow in this state. I haven’t followed [Read more]
“From Little Things, Big Things Grow”
March 25, 2012 by 19 Comments
For the second straight season, the AFL welcomed in a new club built in the heart of the traditionally non – Aussie Rules wilderness. In 2011, it was the Gold Coast. Spared public scrutiny by being granted a bye in Round 1, they were blooded on a balmy Saturday evening in Round 2, smashed to [Read more]
A Tough Year Awaits GWS
March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
After watching GWS play against Richmond last Saturday at Manuka I am convinced that GWS will struggle to win a single game this year. In reaching the above conclusion I have drawn upon the experiences of the Gold Coast Suns in their first year. I note that Gold Coast recorded three wins against my pre-season [Read more]
WHY GWS WILL WIN THE PREMIERSHIP
March 19, 2012 by 8 Comments
THE OPTIMIST’S GUIDE TO SEASON 2012. PART TEN. By Alex Wadelton WHY GWS WILL WIN THE PREMIERSHIP The Greater Western Sydney coaching staff are the most experienced in the league. Kevin Sheedy has four flags as coach, Mark Williams has one. That equals five. So, they are also the team with the coaches who have [Read more]
Giant Break
March 18, 2012 by 4 Comments
It’s been my lucky week. I work as a casual relief teacher in NSW and the ACT and I’ve endured my fair share of visiting speakers and sports clinics. This week I happened to be in a school that the GWS Giants were coming to and I had a grade that was attending their talk. [Read more]
This code-hopping marketing nonsense is beyond a joke
March 15, 2012 by 2 Comments
This code-hopping marketing nonsense is beyond a joke OR for christ’s sakes are we really THAT stupid? Last week AFL’s head honcho, Andrew Demetriou, came out and said something abhorrently dodgy. Here’s the relevant quote: “I’m on the record as saying both Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau have returned our investment in [Read more]
Floret Pica NAB Cup Week 1
February 19, 2012 by 1 Comment
For those either without Foxtel or with a better offer on a warm February night, I offer a few thoughts on the Pies’ opening NAB Cup games. The Fahey family lounge was full of black and white jumpers as we settled in for the first instalment of the year, this time from the grandiosely named [Read more]
Another Go at GWS
December 4, 2011 by 23 Comments
A few weeks ago I complained that Greater WesternSydneywas using its privileged “out of contract” picks to poach players from lower clubs. Now that the main draft is completed a second question emerges about GWS. Will they have a viable team for their first season? Phantom pointed out that, unlike Gold Coast, GWS was [Read more]
GWS Poaching
November 7, 2011 by 2 Comments
I’ve seen it happen before, we all have. Weeks and weeks of speculation, concern, hope. From Round 1 to Grand Final Day, the interest in the matter does not falter. Whether you be a number one draft pick, or an absolute champion of the game, the spotlight does not miss you. The media focuses on [Read more]
GWS is a Menace
September 15, 2011 by 23 Comments
by Dave Nadel It seems to me that Greater Western Sydney has taken a different approach to its pre-draft recruiting than Gold Coast did last year. The two best players that Gold Coast took, Ablett and Harbrow, were taken from clubs who had played off in the Preliminary Finals last year. Two other players, [Read more]
Something’s not right
September 6, 2011 by 47 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz Something’s not right. It can’t be. Not when supporters of the same footy team turn on each other. But so it was on Saturday afternoon when I joined my three mates for our regular day at a Bulldogs home game. It’s what we’ve always done; for years at Western Oval, [Read more]
Giant Name Leaves Little Room for Inspiration
November 18, 2010 by 18 Comments
By Sasha Lennon I knew this would happen. It’s taken me ten years or more to accept ‘The Dockers’. I still can’t digest ‘The Power’, and I can’t even say ‘The Suns’ out loud but now we have the GWS Giants! What happened to all the animals? Have we run out of good names? Surely [Read more]
Canberra now a western suburb
November 12, 2010 by 8 Comments
The ACT Government has signed a 10 year, 4 games per year contract with GWS. The deal worth approximately $26M will have the new boys from the ‘burbs playing one pre season and three competition games each year. While I struggle to embrace anything relating to Kevin Sheedy, it is a big boost for footie [Read more]
NOT IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
September 17, 2010 by 5 Comments
”The fact is rugby league lives and breathes in western Sydney – we’re part of the community, we have been there for a century … ” (my emphasis) (David Gallop, NRL CEO, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 September, 2010) The NRL is paranoid about the AFL’s expansion into western Sydney. And they’ve got good reason to [Read more]
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