With the emergence of GWS as the AFL’s weapon in its bid to take over western Sydney, a known rugby league stronghold, I thought it be timely to review both the AFL and the NRL’s current positions in this war and let you decide, who will win?
First, let’s take a look at GWS.
The AFL’s long term growth and expansion strategy is to expand its game and profile into the heart land of rugby league in the greater western Sydney. This is no secret. They have publicly declared war on rugby league in this region. Sydney is a big city and having the Swans as the sole AFL side in a rugby league dominated state is not enough. Expansion into this region is the key.
So how are they attacking this area?
First they needed to find the right head coach who could handle such a mission and lead from the front. Enter Kevin Sheedy. A known fighter who has risen to meet all challenge throughout his illustrious career. A four-time premiership winner as coach and 3 time premiership winner as a player and a current AFL hall of famer. But are his credentials relevant outside of the AFL’s circles? Do the people of western Sydney really care?
Secondly the club needed the right players to lead this assault. They could not afford to put together a side that would loiter around the bottom of the table without success on the field. A failing side would not capture the local communities support. This has been evident in the Gold Coast. Where crowd numbers dropped off considerably when the results weren’t being produced on the field. The first blow they dealt the NRL on the player front was snaring the signature of one of its brightest young superstars, Israel Falou who became the face of the franchise already had an army of young supporters looking up to his every move. It can be argued that many of them have jumped on his AFL band wagon?
The GWS have a good mix of young talent and seasoned professionals. The likes of Dean Brogan who has won a premiership with Port, triple premiership winner Luke Power and Chad Cornes also from Port providing guidance for the younger players will go a long way to keeping them on the right path. Players like Tom Scully, Adam Treloar and Callan Ward will be out to prove they are the future of the game and will be hungry for instant success in 2012.
Thirdly and what I think was most important is that the Giants built their training facilities in Blacktown. Setting up in one of the fastest growing areas in western Sydney with a purpose built ‘Olympic Park’ that boasts a 10,000 seat main oval to go with a secondary AFL/Cricket field. They instantly got amongst the community and all the schools in the area where there is 8,000 Auskick participants alone offering a variety of programs and activities which resulted in some very positive media coverage for the AFL. To date they have already got 1,900 members and we are still some 4 months before the commencement of the 2012 season. They have captured the flag in this area, built their support base and army and now it’s time to take on Penrith, Parramatta, Canterbury and the Wests Tigers.
The AFL and GWS Giants have so far shown that they have done their research and have a sound strategy in place in their fight against NRL’s most prized region.
Now we take a look at what the NRL is doing in the battle for the west.
On the surface it appears that the NRL is at war with itself about how to fight the AFL. Phil Gould has publicly declared that the NRL has failed in protecting this region and has accused it of not doing enough to secure the regions talent and keeping it in rugby league. The league world will tell you that the AFL has made no in roads at all into this rugby league strong hold.
Is that a naive statement or does the AFL really have no chance of infiltrating rugby league heartland?
From a recruitment point of view, all four league clubs have recruited well and are set to compete for premierships for years to come. Their rosters rich with talent.
The wests tigers have been the most successful of the clubs in recent years and have a strong army of supporters who back their team 100%.
Phil Gould is now in charge of the Panthers and is using his full influence over the rugby league community to take the fight to the AFL. But he cannot succeed on his own. It will take a collective effort by ALL Sydney NRL clubs to fight off the AFL not just the four western Sydney clubs.
The question is will they unite as one to take on the AFL? The first step will be the independent commission. The commission then needs to engage the full support of the entire rugby league community and develop its strategy to take on the AFL.
Currently from an administration stand point the AFL is beating the NRL to a pulp.
But is it on the administration front that this war will be won? I don’t think so.
Rugby league is a beast in itself. It may not appear that the administration is united but its fans are and ultimately it will be the fans who decide who will win this battle. It will be the fans who decide which sport they will enrol their kids in at the age of 4 and 5. Without a fan base GWS will not survive and they will just end up another AFL club in some heavy debt.
That being said, the NRL/Commission needs to urgently develop and implement its strategies to continue the participation at grass-roots level in rugby league. NRL clubs in Sydney go back 100 years and have generations of supporters. This is an area where the AFL will struggle to shift the balance of support amongst the fans.
In my opinion rugby league can withstand the AFL’s attempts to infiltrate its strong hold, but they cannot sit back and let it happen on its own. They need to stamp their authority in this region and they need to do it fast.
Super Coach
December 13, 2011
This is a pretty good reports, althought there are a couple of key points that need to be addressed.
What is driving kids away from League, is it AFL or is it something else? Are we just so anti AFL in the Greater Western Sydney region, are we against Kids making their own choice? Is it the kids or the parents who drive this?
My belief is let them play any sport of their choice, which is the same as Sheeds. In the end the child will decide.
The other key here is finding a junior club that is well run and has the correct vision.
Any poorly run club can drive a child or parents decision to go elsewhere. This in my opinion is what will drive the REAL growth in any particular sport.
I would like some further clarification though on the Elite level especially from the points below.
With respect to the Goldcoast Suns, how have memberships dropped off? Average home attendance was 19,169 how did the Titans fair and importantly how did they fair in their first year?. You forgot triple premiership winner Luke Power from Brisbane.
Blacktown is the Giants training facilty. The AFL have redeveloped the Showgrounds (Skoda Stadium), a boutique 25,000 seat arena.
Giants Membership continues to grow, now jsut a tick under 2,000.
The Giants theory is based on Hawthorn “The Family Club” who said Embrace us and we will embrace you., The Giants have taken this and moulded it to become “We will embrace you and we hope that you will in turn embrace us” Ground Roots development is supported better by the AFL, especially with “modified rules” up to under 12 age group.
what about soccer, they are laughing at this as their numbers continue to grow at a rate greater than either, as for union it continues to struggle.
Overall a reasonable discussion.