Gold Coast and GWS has failed

[Giant YoYo]

I was in Sydney last weekend and saw way more Giants gear than I expected.

Admittedly, I was in eastern Sydney (Surry Hills), but I collectively saw more Giants gear than any single NRL team. Saw a few hats on Saturday, then more Giants merch again heading towards to City to Surf on Sunday. And my mate saw a group of guys in Giants merch leaving the pub singing Big Big Sound after beating Brisbane.

Not quite in Sydney where you'd want them, but way more than I'd expected in Sydney at all. And more than I've seen in Canberra (outside of when we're hosting a game).

Very happy to hear.

I've worn Giants gear regularly when I've been to the city/inner city and surrounds and I wear Giants gear often when out west. It's interesting the people that will recognise the Giant 'G' on my hat (it's very inconspicuous, I find, only footy fans will recognise the G) when I wear it and get a reaction from them, skews younger. Generally always get a "Go the Giants", "Carn the Giants" etc. Not exclusively in the city, though.

I'd say fans from all around Sydney would be good, though. The Giants should be an option to footy fans and I'm glad they're embracing the Giants. Thankfully, we no longer live in a time where footy fans are tied by the closest club or the club in their area. I didn't choose the Giants because I live out in the western suburbs so I'm sure we'll get fans from all around.

Living west of Parramatta and east of Blacktown, I see plenty of Giants support in my local area when doing cardio in the park. On most occasions I will see adults and kids donning Giants gear.

I even see a local footy club represented. I see more Giants in my area by a significantly larger margin than the Swans but I have no doubt Swans would be very well represented given how long Swans have been around for. I imagine different areas of the city will reflect different levels of support. Given I'm fairly close to the Stadium/ Olympic Park it's no wonder why I see Giants represented here as often as I do. Always happy to see even more Giants in the area, though

I have a mate in Meadowbank (much closer to the stadium than I) and he always reports seeing plenty of Giants in his area when doing cardio.

Noticed that the trend is to wear Giants gear when doing cardio or sporty activities rather than just going out and about or to the supermarket etc. Will note, the western Sydney location where I saw the most amount of Giants support when out and about is Rouse Hill Town Centre. People there seem to don Giants gear with pride when going out and about, great to see and hopefully takes off in other parts of the city, similarly to your experience of the inner city.

Sydneysiders in general don't don their clubs gear as much, I find, but I've endeavoured to incorporate Giants gear into what I wear for the most part, where I can. Not always but regularly enough.

 

[Giant YoYo]

The issue remains that most of the interest in Aussie Rules in Sydney is still in the eastern suburbs, North Shore, and inner west.

The Swans have done a great job being able to focus on these areas, in particular when they moved to the SCG.

A lot of those areas are areas which had former footy clubs over a hundred years ago when footy was popular in Sydney, and no doubt there may have been some footy interest which remained when footy popularity declined post world war 2.

Having an in-focus area is crucial. The west is much bigger compared to the Eastern Suburbs, North Shore and Inner West.

Giants appear to have tried to do all of Western Sydney, which they have now changed to focusing on areas closest to the stadium.

The club said yesterday that a significant portion of our membership is academy/recruits which is a very good sign. These kids would have grown up with the Giants and being members, given they're more likely to be lifelong members, they're less likely to cease being a member.

Plenty of these kids that have known the Giants will be coming of age in the coming years and will be taking the mantle as the next generation of supporters so the trajectory should be on the up in due course.

Not many Sydneysiders like going to Sydney Olympic Park in general. Hopefully Metro West and the Tram will breathe life into the area and cause an uptick in attendance but it's a way off. Would rather a large increase in attendance before then, though.

 

[errant bounce]

The club said yesterday that a significant portion of our membership is academy/recruits which is a very good sign. These kids would have grown up with the Giants and being members, given they're more likely to be lifelong members, they're less likely to cease being a member.

How is most of the supporter base being people who played for the club a good thing? that's an extremely small market and an already captured one.

 

[Rob]

Agree has built up. Why would they start both these games so early? GWS should be at 3.20pm

Is this a Sydney thing to hate Saturday arvo? I note the NRL abandoned the slot ages ago, presumably due to a lack of popularity.

It is a bit of a pain I'll admit given its much more of a working day than it used to be.

 

[WesternSydneyHawk]

Giants appear to have tried to do all of Western Sydney, which they have now changed to focusing on areas closest to the stadium.

Which is not a bad strategy, and in hindsight probably what the Giants should have probably done from the get-go.

I mean, you just need to look at the skyline of neighbouring suburbs, like Rhodes and Wentworth Point, and Olympic Park itself, to see the population surge. More new apartment towers than you can count either under construction, or recently completed.

Same deal with places like Homebush, Meadowbank, Strathfield, and Burwood.

And it's only going to continue.

Both major parties have basically made it clear that the area around the new North Strathfield and North Burwood metro stations will be a free-for-all for developers.

And that's not even mentioning all the apartment towers that will soon be going up on what's now Rosehill Race Track.

Many of the residents of those suburbs are migrants from places like South Korea and Hong Kong, and don't have deep connections to either of the rugby codes.

So if GWS is going to remain at Olympic Park, building support in that part of Sydney is likely to be a good long-term strategy.