AFL in Sydney was once a ‘pointless exercise’. Now its two clubs could contest grand final (2024)

In his darkest moments, inaugural Sydney Swans coach Ricky Quade wondered if bringing VFL/AFL to Sin City was a waste of time.

Kevin Sheedy, who in 2012 became the first man to take the reins at the newly formed GWS Giants, still laughs at being told by rugby league types that an AFL team in Sydney’s western suburbs had to be a “hoax”.

Now, the Sydney clubs sit first and third on the AFL ladder with two regular season games remaining – and could both end up hosting finals in the Harbour City next month.

Indeed, those excited about the march of AFL in Sydney could easily draw their bow far enough to highlight how the Swans and Giants could play finals at home until meeting in the grand final at the MCG.

While the Swans have two winnable games coming up – against Essendon on Friday night in Melbourne and the Adelaide Crows at the SCG the following Saturday – the Giants have a tougher run into the finals, playing Fremantle (6th place) at home and the Bulldogs (7th) away. Still, if they win both games and second-placed Port Adelaide lose to the Dockers in Perth in their last game, the Swans and Giants will finish one and two.

Both teams would then host home finals. Victory would give them a week off before hosting preliminary finals. One more victory would send both to the grand final at the MCG.

“It’s a fantastic achievement,” said Sheedy, the former super coach and one of the great AFL missionaries, who is heading to Cairns on Wednesday to view an indigenous AFL house.

“The investment over the last decade in NSW, and the previous 30 years with the Swans, has been incredible. North of the Murray, I think we’re getting into a better, stronger position with our game.”

While the Swans have become firmly established in Sydney over the past four decades and average almost 40,000 fans a game at the SCG this season, the Giants are still struggling for visibility well into their 13th season – despite eyeing a seventh finals campaign.

Sheedy coached the Giants in 2012 and 2013 when a new club full of raw but talented kids augmented by a smattering of veterans won a total of just three games. The Giants developed quickly after that, but Sheedy continues to preach a long-term view of the club.

“The Giants’ performance is quite remarkable,” Sheedy told this masthead. “I remember going into western Sydney and being told, ‘This is an AFL hoax. How long do you reckon it’ll take anybody out in western Sydney to like the Giants?’

“I said, ‘Well, how long did it take for anybody in Australia to like the Opera House? Now, the whole world comes to have a photo with it.’

“They looked at me as if I was a person from another planet when I answered them back with that. It was 40 years before everybody said, ‘Actually this isn’t a bad work of architecture here.’”

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In 1982, Quade was handed the reins of a divided and broke South Melbourne club, which was being sent to Sydney by the then VFL more out of desperation than innovation. He is amazed that Sydney once again has two teams heading into the AFL finals.

“It’s pretty surreal really to think that’s happening now given we got off to such a shaky start with very little support,” he said. “I must admit, I had times when I thought, ‘Maybe this was a pointless exercise’.

“But we were very fortunate at the time. Even right from the beginning, we had a tremendously loyal and committed playing group led by Barry Round and Mark Browning. If we didn’t have that...

“A lot of the better players were offered a lot of money to go elsewhere, but stuck to what they committed to do before we moved up here, and it was an enormous move, to shift 30 players and their families, to find accommodation and employment for them. It was huge task.”

Contrast the situation 40 years ago with the scene last Friday night, when a near full SCG cheered a comeback for the ages as the Swans halted their slump with a stirring victory over Collingwood.

“I was sitting with some past players out in the public area, and to see the joy and how happy the members and the fans were was just was absolutely fantastic,” Quade says. “It was such a good feeling.”

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