Much of Matthews’ and Gorman’s alliance springs from the understanding they are each manouevering around a strategic playing field, seeking influence in lounge rooms and boardrooms alike in a tussle as complex as the region itself. The popularised concept of chasing "bums on seats", Matthews says, tells only part of the story of how sports are jostling for territory in this huge market. "It might be nice to think of it as a 'battle' but it's important to look a bit deeper," Matthews says. "It's about crowds, but also about governments deciding what a facility should be used for, or it might be the choice of the talented player ... if you’re a talented athlete in western Sydney, you can see pathways now to play for the Giants, the Wanderers, in the NRL ... "Also, the corporate dollar only stretches so far. Sponsors make choices about their investment and each of the codes has got unique selling points in what is a unique market." The winners might be the fans, who are more than ever being serviced by better-run clubs, offering higher-quality experiences or, in business speak, a better product.

"I’m sure the Wanderers and the NRL are doing things differently because we're around and we do things differently because we see what the other codes do,” Matthews says. "It means everyone works harder." Gorman reads from a similar script, but competitiveness simmers. The Wanderers boss says there is "no merit in this region in painting other codes as the enemy" but later adds that football enjoys the advantages of "a natural football family" amid the west’s cultural tapestry and has a club which "has given this region a sense of empowerment". "Our club truly represents western Sydney," Gorman says before quoting the fans' popular phrase, "Who do we sing for?" "No disrespect to the Parramattas and Penriths and so on, but they can’t speak for the whole of western Sydney like we can."

If current trends continue, the whole of western Sydney might indeed be singing for the Wanderers. According to statistics provided by Roy Morgan Research, after two AFL seasons, 1.6 per cent of western Sydney respondents claimed to support the Giants. After one A-League season, a huge 10.2 per cent said they supported the Wanderers. Between 2009 and 2013, television viewership for A-League and AFL rose solidly from low bases. The A-League audience rose from 9.3 per cent to 11.9 per cent and that of the AFL from 18.3 per cent to 22.8 per cent. Rugby league viewership rates increased from 45.8 per cent to 46.8 per cent. However, participation levels for rugby league contrasted starkly. Between 2009 and 2013, football's participation rate rose from 9.4 per cent to 12.4 per cent, AFL’s from 0.9 to 2.2 per cent, cricket’s from 5.7 to 7.9, rugby union’s from 1.4 to 2.1 and netball’s from 2.7 to 4 per cent –yet rugby league’s participation levels in western Sydney fell from 3.2 per cent to 2.1 per cent. Meanwhile, in 2013 12.6 per cent of respondents said they attended at least one rugby league match, a sizeable drop of more than 3 percentage points from the 2009 figure.

Those who write off rugby league underestimate the code’s resilience in western Sydney. One was Professor David Rowe, of the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney, who at a function at the NSW Leagues Club in 2006 predicted league’s demise. "I foolishly said that the code I thought had most problems was rugby league," Rowe admits. "What I didn't properly account for was the deep roots rugby league has in western Sydney.” Public spaces remain dominated by rugby league and football – "sporting tradition is still very much written in the landscape," Rowe says – but the remarkable turnover of population and the changing face of many suburbs in the west is keeping the goalposts on the move. Rowe says football's growth potential is far ahead and the Wanderers are reconnecting to the region’s community roots. Many people moving into the area have football-mad backgrounds and with the serious money buying into it now, football clearly is best placed to boost its share. "The real contest, I think, is going to be between league and Aussie rules," he says. "Aussie rules has lots of money and potential, but it's coming off a very low base. To build that base the AFL is trying to stoke the kind of tribalism league enjoys, with the mythical 'Battle of the Bridge' and so forth, while league is trying to reinforce its fandom with the big push for memberships.