A Giant question: What should GWS be named next year?

July 5, 2026 — 5:00am

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Whenever he gets in an Uber in Sydney’s sprawling west, Richard Griffiths asks the drivers if they’ve heard of the Giants, or, indeed, of the competition known as the AFL.

“They look at you like you’re from another planet,” said Griffiths, the former chief operating officer of the Greater Western Sydney Giants, who has lived in The Ponds, near Blacktown in Sydney’s west, for nearly a decade and in the inner west for four years beforehand.

Griffiths’ survey of locals isn’t scientific, but one does not need to be a market-research expert to know that the GWS project, successful on the measure of wins and losses and football, has not flourished in the more critical strategic objectives of winning converts to the code in the most AFL-averse territory in the nation.

The stands at their home ground, Engie Stadium, at the old showgrounds, are seldom more than half full. If they are, it’s a safe bet, as Griffiths said, that the visiting team’s fans, such as Carlton’s (round 15), account for the majority.

Despite the team’s excellent performances since 2016 (albeit without a flag), there has been little uptick in attendances or interest in GWS, which would sound more like a liquor or supermarket chain to some of the sprawling populace in Giants “territory.”

Of the important situations vacant at AFL clubs, the most challenging........

© Brisbane Times