The AFL granted Western Sydney a license in order to compete with an area monopolised by rugby league.

The decision to do this in 2008 swirled for some years. The side started to compete in 2012.

Now, in just the fifth season of their competitive tenure, the GWS Giants are one win away from the biggest stage: playing in an AFL grand final.

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A GWS win this weekend would see them achieve a feat their opponents, the Western Bulldogs, have not managed in fifty-five years.

Even if they don’t go on to win this weekend, the way they dismantled a star-studded Sydney Swans outfit two weeks ago was enough to showcase their growing monster status to the footballing fraternity.

Undeniably, expansion teams such as the Giants require resources to facilitate a platform that both on and off-field success can be built on. This is required to grow any team, no matter where it is based.

However, it is clear this football club has been massively over resourced. With the plethora of talent the Giants have available, this newly formed creature will continue to grow, inevitably embarking upon a dynasty of success that will leave the rest of the competition for dead.

Although Gillon McLachlan may not realise now, the Giants could soon become the AFL’s worst nightmare. This monster the AFL has created has the potential to create inequities in the competition and cause the state of the game to deteriorate.

Given GWS are playing in a preliminary final this weekend and remain a chance to win the premiership, it is nauseating to think they have pick eight and two more first round draft picks in this year’s draft.



This is an absolute indictment on the AFL and makes a mockery of the equalisation the AFL is trying to instil in our beloved game.

To further compound the issue, the Giants are likely to receive more draft picks if they are able to orchestrate trades for want-away players Will Hoskin-Elliot, Caleb Marchbank, and Jack Steele. I implore the AFL to take a good hard look at themselves and think about properly curtailing the issue of equalisation.

The current situation is grossly unfair on all other 17 teams and needs to be dealt with by the AFL immediately.

Clubs such as Brisbane are languishing down the bottom of the ladder, yet they are afforded one pick in the first round. Greater Western Sydney have three. How is this good for the game?

The most gut-wrenching part is there is no plausible way for Greater Western Sydney to lose out in their current situation.

They can choose to get more quality players through the draft which leaves them with an overflow of talent. These players leave the football club due to a lack of opportunities, which allows the Giants to get more draft picks in.

They can also decide to use their draft picks to get quality established talent from other football clubs and consequently weaken them.

This cycle is set to continue and right now I can’t see how the AFL are going to fix it.



To make matters worse had the Gold Coast Suns, the AFL’s first expansion team, utilised their resources more effectively we could be dealing with two monsters on our hands.

Since their introduction in 2011, the Suns have been granted the same opportunities as the Giants to go to the draft and produce elite talent. Unfortunately, their cultural shortcomings, widely exacerbated by the infamous debacle of two ex-Suns Karmichael Hunt and Harley Bennell, injuries, and poor player retention has done nothing but contribute to poor playing performances throughout their AFL tenure.

Had all things gone to plan, like the Giants, the Suns could have been vying for a grand final position this year.

Instead, they find themselves helplessly in a rebuild just five years after their induction into the AFL.

Even if the Giants do go on and win the premiership, it will not have the same credence as other clubs who have been forced to do it the hard way. It will merely be viewed as a by-product of the AFL creating a dream team which no other club can compete with. They won’t be lauded but rather maligned by opposition supporters.

This has gone too far and the AFL need to act now.