GWS Giants - the dark horse of season 2023?

[bulldogtragic]

I think we can call them a real club now.

Heart breaking PF loss at home in 2016
PF loss in 2017
Narrow semi loss in 2018
Absolutely pantsed in the 2019 GF
Heart breaking loss in the 2023 PF

Lost a lot of good players along the way. Swung the coaching changes. Sure they?re never be a real footy area where they are, not big in numbers of fans, but the newspapers on the seats at their shitty show stadium at the 2016 PF had daily Tele papers with the headline ?it?s our time? - like they?ve done their time by then. Like it was preordained. I think they now get despite all the high draft picks that winning PFs and GFs are really hard and there is so much suffering along the way. I now think they really do get that now, so whilst I?ll never really love them (although I liked watching them this year) I think the team of AFEL Focus Groups is no more. They?ve paid the price of suffering for their jumper so to me they?re now legit.

And every time we play them we smash them!

[EasternWest]

The other thing about them is though they lose very good players they do have other very good players that stay loyal. So something's going right there.

[Sedat]

I think we can call them a real club now.

Heart breaking PF loss at home in 2016
PF loss in 2017
Narrow semi loss in 2018
Absolutely pantsed in the 2019 GF
Heart breaking loss in the 2023 PF

Lost a lot of good players along the way. Swung the coaching changes. Sure they?re never be a real footy area where they are, not big in numbers of fans, but the newspapers on the seats at their shitty show stadium at the 2016 PF had daily Tele papers with the headline ?it?s our time? - like they?ve done their time by then. Like it was preordained. I think they now get despite all the high draft picks that winning PFs and GFs are really hard and there is so much suffering along the way. I now think they really do get that now, so whilst I?ll never really love them (although I liked watching them this year) I think the team of AFEL Focus Groups is no more. They?ve paid the price of suffering for their jumper so to me they?re now legit.

And every time we play them we smash them!

I was only half-joking when I said in the game day thread from that Ballarat game disaster that we now play more like a focus group team and they play more like a blood and boots team. I lost the hate for them a few years ago to be honest - we should be worrying about our own backyard to be frank.

I reckon the AFEL have actually let the Western Sydney region wither on the vine specifically in relation to expanding the game. They threw a bunch of draft picks and Issie Folau at them 12 years ago and haven't done much to expand the code ever since to be honest. Now it could be argued that it was foolhardy (and definitely arrogant in the extreme) to think that the Western Sydney region will ever embrace the AFEL to begin with, but honestly the execs couldn't give a fark about the region now because the additional TV rights money goes directly to their bonuses and not to growing the game at the grass roots.

[Grantysghost]

I was only half-joking when I said in the game day thread from that Ballarat game disaster that we now play more like a focus group team and they play more like a blood and boots team. I lost the hate for them a few years ago to be honest - we should be worrying about our own backyard to be frank.

I reckon the AFEL have actually let the Western Sydney region wither on the vine specifically in relation to expanding the game. They threw a bunch of draft picks and Issie Folau at them 12 years ago and haven't done much to expand the code ever since to be honest. Now it could be argued that it was foolhardy (and definitely arrogant in the extreme) to think that the Western Sydney region will ever embrace the AFEL to begin with, but honestly the execs couldn't give a fark about the region now because the additional TV rights money goes directly to their bonuses and not to growing the game at the grass roots.

Good - wind them up Sedat.

[JanLorMill]

I think we can call them a real club now

Not sure about that. I know the filth fans are feral but if gws had any real fans they might have drown out some of the umpire bias Friday and at least cried foul loudly afterwards.

[SonofScray]

Hopefully they fold at some point.

[EasternWest]

Hopefully they fold at some point.

Succinct. Promote this man.