GWS win would be huge boost for club and code

WHEN GWS hung on to defeat Collingwood in their pulsating preliminary final to advance to their breakthrough grand final, the initial thoughts of many footy fans would have been – this is exactly what the AFL didn’t want.

There is no doubt a RichmondCollingwood grand final match-up would have been one for the ages, not to mention the massive financial windfall two traditional Victorian clubs would deliver.

But it didn’t take long to realise GWS’ first appearance on the final Saturday in September has provided some legitimacy to the AFL’s bold expansion plans of 2011 and 2012, a move that still has scores of critics.

Poor crowds in Western Sydney, even when the Giants are going well, and the struggles of the Suns has made the expansion an easy target for criticism, especially when nine years on the competition is still funding the experiment.

But Queenslanders will know that even though Brisbane had played in multiple finals in the 1990s, it was the Lions’ premierships of the early 2000s that truly cemented the club here in the Sunshine State.

Western Sydney is a vastly different environment in that doesn’t boast the numbers of expat Victorians that Queensland has, and there is a long way to go before the Giants can stand on their own two feet financially.

But a premiership will work wonders.

Expansion has always been about the long game. The Giants and Suns were never expected to instantly convert lifelong adult fans of the rugby codes to our game, but to win the hearts and minds of their kids.

If the Giants can take home a premiership cup this weekend you could expect a huge boost to Auskick enrolments next year.

GWS’ success this season, and Brisbane’s, for that matter, provide proof of what can be achieved with the right decisions.

Which is why although I’m tipping victory for Richmond on Saturday, part of me can’t help but hope for a Giants win.