They Might Be Giants

GWS star Tom Scully and coach Kevin Sheedy

I’ve been thinking about writing a piece on this subject for much of the 2013 AFL season and finally got around to it now. We are currently entering Round 19 of the season and the GWS Giants are still yet to win a game this season, after winning two games in the 2012 season. Now it is not a surprise to anyone that the Giants have struggled dramatically on the field in their first two seasons. The way the AFL expansion was set up, it has the new teams be awful early on, but with a dearth of young talent and draft picks to develop and be great by year four or five, as we are just starting to see the signs of with the Gold Coast Suns in their third season.

The problem isn’t the lack of success on the field for the Giants, but rather the lack of success off it. Whilst obviously if the Giants were doing better on the field it would then be easier to grow their fan base, the fact that it was made clear to everyone that the on field results wouldn’t be there should have allowed them to establish a decent core base of fans from which to grow. Unfortunately, that core base to get involved from the jump didn’t materialise in large enough numbers.

Now it may sound like it is purely a moment of ‘Captain Hindsight’ but I and pretty much every AFL fan from Sydney I know saw this coming. The fact is, the AFL never should have expanded and created the GWS Giants in the first place, or at least not for several more years. Whilst Western Sydney is a heavily populated area and is filled with sports fans, there was no evidence that the people in that region wanted their own AFL team. The truly hardcore AFL fans were already Swans fans or fans of Victorian teams and there weren’t many casual fans just waiting to get a team based closer to their home, like there was with the A-League.

Be that as it may, there is a very specific reason the AFL expanded into Western Sydney as early as it did and it isn’t about losing ground to NRL and the Western Sydney Wanderers. The AFL expanded into Western Sydney because they were negotiating a new TV deal and being able to say they had a second team in the biggest TV market, specifically in the most densely populated area of that market, was a huge bargaining chip for the AFL to use to increase the value of the deal. Whether the people in that market actually tune in won’t impact this TV deal, but it might impact the next one if they can’t right the ship.

The idea of having a team in Western Sydney is so much more appealing than the reality of it. But once they made that decision to expand into the market, they needed to execute it correctly to make it at least have a chance.

Unfortunately they seemed to have missed the mark in that way too. In terms of players, whilst their young draft picks are coming along nicely, their recruiting of marquee names was poor. Tom Scully, whilst a young talent, is not nearly the name nor the player that Gary Ablett is or was. Paying Scully to be the face of the organisation from Day One only made sense if he was going to be at All-Australian level from the beginning; otherwise he was just an overpaid and slightly more advanced version of all the kids they were drafting to play with him. If they believed Scully was a star already, they were badly mistaken and if they believed it was wiser to spend the money on a player still developing, it is yet to be proven and seems headed in the wrong direction.

Then they also signed an NRL convert to attract the NRL fans, much like the Gold Coast already did. However the difference is that Folau was never a beloved figure in Western Sydney even though he was born there, plus unlike Karmichael Hunt, he had never played a junior game of AFL. Not to mention the fact that learning a key position is significantly harder than Hunt learning to just attack the ball and his opponent around the ground. The Folau experiment was doomed to fail and whilst he earned good money, he wasted a couple of years of his career that he could have used to dominate the NRL or Super Rugby, as he has done since he switched to play for the Waratahs this year.

Off the field, their promotions failed just as badly. Unlike the Western Sydney Wanderers, the Giants did an awful job endearing themselves to the local community of Western Sydney. I don’t live in that area but I’ve spoken to several sports fans that do and none had any knowledge or relationship with the Giants beyond the standard advertising we saw around the city. If anything, the Giants publically seemed to completely misunderstand the culture of the various people in the area and Kevin Sheedy as coach and figurehead did a truly awful job by being arrogant, dismissing the NRL culture of the area and of course the ethnic background of many in the area. The Giants needed to tap into the community at a grass roots level and if anything they went the other way and alienated many people that could have been won over eventually.

The other problem with the Giants from an AFL standpoint is that the manner in which they did the expansion ended up retarding the ability for struggling, existing clubs like the Melbourne Demons to rebuild. The AFL draft is the main way clubs can rebuild and the Demons have been left in purgatory waiting for the chance to get the draft picks their lack of success has earned them. Sure they made bad decisions along the way, but in the two years they had the number one pick, they selected one bust and one prospect that ditched them for the GWS anyway. If the AFL ever expands again, I think they need to reconsider the way the expansion team builds their squad.

All is not yet lost for the Giants. If they can land a legitimate star like Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin as rumoured to go along with the development of their young players, their on field performances will clearly improve and give the franchise some star power to try to reach the market again. But they need to throw out everything they have done to this point, all but apologise to the people of the area and start from scratch, building relationships within the communities they are trying to reach.

The on field success will come within the next few years and by default that will increase their fan base, but will it be increasing from abysmal to mediocre, or will it be increasing from mediocre to decent? That will come down to how they go about fixing what is clearly a broken model right now.

But if they can get it right, well then they might be Giants.

Walk Alone? Not With 95,000 of Us

The 'Kop' at the MCG

Yesterday I returned home from my pilgrimage to Melbourne to participate in one of the most amazing experiences of my life as a sports fan. If you’ve been hiding under a rock, the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League came to Melbourne to play a preseason friendly match against A-league side Melbourne Victory. Fellow EPL team Manchester United took on an A-League All Stars team in Sydney on Saturday night, but as a Liverpool fan I was one of thousands of Reds fans who descended on Melbourne for the event.

The news has attempted to show just how incredible the atmosphere was in the city and at the match itself, but it also isn’t able to do it justice. I have been to some incredible sporting events in my life and sat in some massive crowds, but very little compares to what we experienced on Wednesday night.

Whilst I’m sure Liverpool expected there to be a solid turnout at the game and to make some money whilst also giving their players a taste of another country, I don’t think they were even remotely prepared for the outpouring of passion from Australia’s Liverpool faithful. I am also about to make a statement that may be completely biased but I still believe is true, but I think Liverpool fans, at least in Australia, are the most passionate and hardcore fans of any EPL club. It is possible they are rivalled by some of the fan bases of smaller clubs, but those clubs don’t quite have the numbers to rival it.

Having been in Sydney for the build-up to the Manchester United match, Sydney did not feel like it was invaded by Red Devils. The match sold out and plenty of United fans got to experience seeing their favourite team play, but the entire city of Melbourne was covered in red as well as all the flights in to Melbourne from Sydney and I’m sure elsewhere. Then on Thursday the entire Melbourne airport was once again covered in red as the fans flew back to their cities of origin.

I am not sure what percentage of the 95,000 in the crowd on Wednesday was actually from Melbourne, but I would suggest that a large portion were people who travelled for the match. It was truly an incredible experience, starting from arriving at Sydney airport on Tuesday morning.

I personally bumped into several people I knew that I had no idea were even heading to Melbourne for the game as well as all the people I did know were coming and planned to meet up with. The walk to the stadium almost felt like being part of an army going to war, back in the days when armies used to actually march into battle like that.

The MCG being completely red (besides the pocket of very vocal and passionate Victory supporters) was a sight to behold and then we sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. I posted a video of this on my Facebook, but again it doesn’t do it justice. Until Wednesday night the most amazing singing experience I’ve witnessed was ‘Advanced Australia Fair’ being sung before the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 World Cup against Uruguay in 2005, but this blew it out of the water.

I had goose bumps the entire time and it was one of those moments you know as it is happening that you will remember for the rest of your life. Other friends of mine have said they were in tears, but the joy and togetherness and emotion of the experience was palpable all around the stadium. It honestly felt like all these strangers were part of your family for that moment in time. These are the moments where sport is more than just some meaningless game, but actually does make the world a better place.

Later that night a stranger in a Liverpool shirt asked if we were from Melbourne so we could give him directions. We told him we weren’t but we looked up where he wanted to go on my phone and helped him find it. I’m not going to lie, if he wasn’t in a Liverpool shirt I probably would simply have said I’m a tourist and didn’t know where the pub he wanted was, but on that night I felt compelled to get him to where he wanted to go because we were family.

The game itself obviously wasn’t the greatest football match ever, but seeing Steven Gerrard score in person is another amazing experience that added to the night. Also seeing his celebration and how stoked he was to be able to deliver for a crowd he admitted he didn’t expect made it even more joyous.

I was particularly impressed with youngster Jordan Ibe as well as Andre Wisdom playing centre back. Raheem Sterling continued to look like a threat every time he touched the ball and after a slow start Fabio Borini looked dangerous as the game went on.

On the negative side there was the continued incompetence of Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen also continuing to struggle defensively in midfield. But the biggest negative of course was the attitude and body language of Luis Suarez. When Suarez got on the ball he looked dangerous every time and of course he finished the match with a lovely assist, but his lack of work rate, sour attitude and refusal to even celebrate the goal he created showed where he is at mentally.

Every fan I spoke to seemed to agree that Suarez was sending a clear message that he no longer wanted to play for Liverpool and we may well have witnessed his last ever appearance for the club. I still hope he decides to stay and if he is to be sold, I would hope that it is not to a direct rival to make the top four in Arsenal. But clearly he doesn’t want to be there and something has to change one way or another.

The 2013/14 season could be a bounce back year for Liverpool, but selling Suarez on the eve of the season will be seriously detrimental, especially if they are unable to secure an adequate replacement on short notice.

However, the main story is the success of Liverpool’s first trip to Australia and playing in front of the biggest crowd in their entire existence. I’m sure they will be back soon, probably to play in Sydney next time.

We Made It! But Now What?

The Socceroos' fan section Terrace Australis

After making hard work of the qualification campaign, the Socceroos are going to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals. That’s fantastic news for all us Aussie football fans, but until things became dicey we were expecting to qualify with a bit more ease than we did. That’s not to take away from the achievement that is qualifying for the third consecutive time, but I think many fans are at a point now where they believe qualification is just expected.

Whether qualifying is expected or not, I think we can all agree that anything short of qualifying is considered an abject failure. That goal was big for the Socceroos, but it was even bigger for the career of Holger Osieck, who would have been sacked virtually on the spot had we not qualified.

It also turns out that with Jordan going on to beat Oman later that night, a draw would have been enough to qualify anyway, but hindsight is 20/20 and we needed to beat Iraq. Fortunately, we did.

So we are now about a year away from the World Cup Finals themselves and a lot can change between now and then. As one of the first nations to qualify, we don’t know who else will be joining us in Brazil and we are months off from finding out who is in our group. Obviously we could luck into a comfortable group draw or we could be unlucky and draw the dreaded “Group Of Death”, where my luck of the draw, several highly ranked or big name teams are put into the same group, with only two able to qualify for the Round of 16.

That said we do know we will get a top seed, at least one other very good team and then the fourth team is a real wildcard. So what are realistic expectations for the Socceroos in Brazil?

Personally, I have low expectations. I am certainly not ruling out the possibility of coming second in our group, especially if we can avoid a smashing at the hands of the top seed we draw (Germany 4-0 ring any bells), however I think this is a transitional period for the Socceroos.

We are at a weird place right now where a large portion of our team are on their last legs, past their primes and Brazil will be their farewell to the international stage, whereas the rest of the team are young and yet to reach their prime.

Of the 11 who started these last three qualification matches, I would say only Mark Milligan and maybe Brett Holman are in their natural primes, in terms of age. A case could be made that Luke Wilkshire, in his early 30s, is still in his prime, however from what I have seen of him I think he is already slipping and probably will be making his last World Cup appearance in Brazil.

Schwarzer, Neill and Bresciano are way past their primes and others like Cahill, Ognenovski and McKay are certainly on the decline.  I doubt we will see any of them still around for the 2018 qualification campaign.

What is really unfortunate is that 2010 was the perfect time for much of the old guard to have their best World Cup showing, but we were unfortunately stuck with Pim Verbeek as manager at the time and wasted an opportunity that comes but once every four years.

2014 was always going to be that transitional period where the previous generation are on their last legs, but the new guard aren’t totally ready yet either. Tommy Oar and Robbie Kruse are stars of the future and Tomas Rogic is possibly our most talented prospect, with fantastic efforts off the bench in the last two matches, but clearly Osieck isn’t quite ready to hand them the keys to the midfield just yet.

This means the upcoming club football season will be a massive factor in both who will be in the Socceroos starting 11 next year and just what our ceiling is. Rogic has moved to Celtic and a big season from him could see him take either Bresciano or Holman’s spot in the side. I personally can’t see Bresciano still being up to the job in a year’s time. He is already too slow and too poor defensively to play against decent opponents, as evidenced by the towelling he received at the hands of Japan. Another year in the mediocre Qatari league and I think we will be in serious trouble if Holger is still expecting him to be that midfield general he was so for many years.

Holman also has many question marks on him as despite the fact that he should be in his prime, his career is in a state of flux. He is at a decent club in Aston Villa but he needs to be getting regularly playing time or go to a club where he can play more. For years I was a Holman hater but he was probably our best player at the 2010 Finals and I started to like him. However, after a good performance against Japan, I thought he was poor in our last two matches. It’s a big season in the career of Brett Holman, for himself and for the Socceroos.

Robbie Kruse and Tommy Oar are both locked in to their spots in the team and with Kruse moving to Bayer Leverkusen, he could have a breakout season on a large scale. If Rogic, Oar and Kruse all have big seasons, that is a great sign for our chances and even better for our future.

However other areas of the field are a concern. We are playing Tim Cahill out of position as a target man striker because we don’t have a heap of options. Josh Kennedy is obviously one and scored the winning goal, but whether Osieck thinks he can start in Brazil, I’m not sure. Archie Thompson can provide speed and energy off the bench, but I don’t think he is good enough to start.

What I’m hoping for is a breakout season for young strikers like Bernie Ibini who has just moved to China to play for Shanghai East and Kerem Bulut who is now playing in Turkey for Akhisar Belediyespor. If either of them can take a step this year, we might have another solid option up front.

Defence is another concern. Lucas Neill doesn’t have a club and whilst he played well for Australia, didn’t even seem to be that good at an A-League level when playing for Sydney FC. I have no idea where he is going to be this season, but he needs to find a job somewhere. Ognenovski is a rock and I trust to be fine, but Wilkshire’s performances were concerning to myself and others and Matt McKay isn’t really a left back.

We might end up playing Ivorian Adama Traore of Melbourne Victory once he is declared eligible for the Socceroos and Michael Zullo is also an option at left back. At right back I think Wilkshire will continue to start, but he needs to step up from his recent performances.

Then there is Schwarzer. Despite having a mediocre season at Fulham, he continues to be a pillar of strength when he plays for the Socceroos. I must admit that before the Japan game I was concerned about him and wondered whether we should be moving on already, but he proved that wrong. I am happy for Mark to start in Brazil and then retire and hand the job over the Mitch Langarak or Matt Ryan. But for right now he needs to find a club. I am sure a decent enough team will snap Schwarzer up but until then, it’s a concern.

Overall the future is bright. I think 2018 is Russia is when we will be at our next peak, with the primes of the Kruse, Oar, Rogic and Co. era. I don’t expect us to get out of the group stage in Brazil, but would just like us to be competitive and not play negative as we did in South Africa because of tactical mismanagement. The nature of our performances is more important to me than trying to play for draws or freaking a 1-0 robbery win. If the team can be competitive and do the country proud, then that’s a successful campaign to me.

In 2018 I see us having an Australian manager (perhaps Popovic, Postecoglou or Vidmar) and a team that will scare a lot of opponents. The A-League is coming off a breakout season and moving forward and we have a great young generation of players coming through. Australian football is in it for the long haul and has to be thinking about the long term plans and right now we are headed in the right direction.

Brazil will be a nice farewell to the stalwarts of the old guard and a great showcase of the new guard. Just don’t put undue pressure on the event with unrealistic expectations. We just accomplished our expectations by getting there at all.

Turning Blue

Greg Bird applauds the fans after Game 1

So Origin 1 is behind us and finally NSW will play the series from in front. It was a fascinating game, which had incidents, some brilliance and a potential sign of a change of fortunes.

Overall New South Wales were fantastic and it was exactly the sort of win they needed to allow them to play with confidence for the rest of the series to try and end the Queensland streak. Going into the game, most people seemed to believe that NSW held the edge in the forward pack whilst Queensland had a more dangerous backline and of course held the edge in the all-important spine of 1, 6, 7 and 9.

New South Wales built their foundation on that forward pack and overall they destroyed the Maroon’s forwards, forcing Thurston and Cronk to play on the back foot for most of the game. Guys like Gallen, Watmough and Greg Bird are built to play Origin and didn’t disappoint.

However the standout was clearly Luke Lewis, who had one of the great individual Origin performances. No he didn’t score a try or have that many highlight plays, but his hit ups, tackles and passes were extraordinary and he never stopped. He rightfully won the Man of the Match award and it was well deserved for a player who often doesn’t get the plaudits of some of his more flashy or exciting colleagues.

On the other hand, I thought Mitchell Pearce had a very mediocre game for a victorious NSW side. Before I get accused of Rooster hating, I thought James Maloney was superb on debut and Michael Jennings was brilliant too. Pearce however, was non-existent. The guy is playing halfback, which if you don’t know, is supposed to be a pretty important position in a football team and yet he seemed to barely touch the ball. When he did he mostly just dropped it off for a forward to take a hit up and my only memory of him throwing a longer ball was when he underthrew a pass to Lewis, which Lewis unfortunately couldn’t reel in.

Pearce is a solid defender and he wasn’t poor there, but he certainly was no halfback either. In such a great team performance his individual effort won’t cop much criticism and I know he won’t be dropped, but it still should be pointed out that we won in spite of him and not because of him. Oh, I also thought Ryan Hoffman had a surprisingly poor game with some bad drops and not much impact.

The standouts for NSW in my eyes were the aforementioned Lewis, the always awesome at Origin level despite his club form Jarryd Hayne, Maloney on debut, the ever reliable Robbie Farah and the “Bash Brothers” Bird and Gallen.

This brings me to the Paul Gallen punching Nate Myles incident. Yes, I understand that Origin has a different atmosphere and level of leniency, but in my eyes Gallen was very lucky to stay on the field. It doesn’t matter if Nate Myles is a dirty player or if he plays for Queensland, Gallen put a deliberate high shot on him and then when Myles got up unhappy about it, Gallen rocked him with two punches.

Would Myles have punched Gal if Gal didn’t do it first? Maybe. But that incident was all Gallen and regardless of what game it happened in, in my eyes it is not on. Had a Queenslander done it to a Blue, all of NSW would be crying foul and especially if it happened to a player from the individual club you support. So the idea of “that’s Origin” is bullshit in my eyes. Rugby league is a contact sport but it is not a combat sport, even at Origin. That wasn’t a fight; it was one player deciding to punch another.

So those fans who genuinely think it was awesome, or if you think it’s great because it happened to Nate Myles, I think you watch football for the wrong reasons and need to reconsider your values. I like a bit of Origin biffo as much as the next guy, but last night was not that. Anyway, NSW got a lucky break, but Queensland have had numerous breaks over the last few years so it was bound to even out and I don’t feel too bad.

Meanwhile, what about on the Maroon side of things? They finally looked old after a near decade of dominating the Origin arena. Their forwards were dominated, Thurston was completely out of sorts and even the Storm ‘Big Three’ struggled to impact the game.

Greg Inglis barely touched the ball and the one time he finally got decent possession he created Queensland’s only try. I doubt they will do it, but I think they need to switch Inglis and Slater in Game 2, at least at various points during the game to get Inglis involved. He is simply too important and valuable to them to not utilise more. Plus he is one of the few Queensland playmakers that can create without the forwards getting momentum first.

As a biased Souths and NSW fan however, I hope he stays at centre, barely touches the ball and simply gets through the game unscathed.

Another takeaway from the game last night is that we have all still played as much State of Origin as Josh Reynolds. I like Josh Reynolds and think he will play plenty of Origin in his career. It is not his fault he didn’t play, nor is it his fault he was selected at all. But this idea of selection a utility player for purely backup reasons and not even using him is insane to me. Origin is the hardest, fastest, most tiring form of footy and NSW are giving up one of their bench spots as a ‘break glass in case of injury’ backup plan.

It is no coincidence that as NSW forwards got tired in the second half; Queensland scored their try and came close to scoring more. Yes we won anyway, but it damn sure would have been a lot more comfortable if we had another player with fresh legs out there. I don’t care if it’s a prop like Tim Grant or a bigger utility that can cover halves like John Sutton, but all 17 positions should be utilised.

A win should never cloud over things that weren’t good just because the overall result was.

Finally, it is being reported that Robbie Farah may have a broken eye socket and is in doubt for Origin 2. That is a nightmare for NSW as Farah is probably the hardest player to replace in the entire team. Go on, name his direct replacement if he can’t play, I’ll wait….

…

Exactly.

Who are our options at 9 without Farah?

Michael Ennis? He’s a mediocre footballer and failed at Origin level already

Josh Reynolds? A good player and would have replaced Farah if Farah came off in Game 1, but he isn’t a hooker.

Mitch Rein and Nathan Peats? Like them both as youngsters but nowhere near Origin level right now and I don’t think either would argue that.

Ryan Hinchcliffe? To be honest I feel like I’d pick Hinchy out of these names even though he is mostly playing lock, but I wouldn’t be happy about it. At least I trust him as a player and feel like he’d handle the Origin cauldron, but the gap from Farah down to the other options is troubling to say the least.

If I’m forgetting anyone please let me know.

Anyway, NSW got a fantastic result in Game 1 and look like a great chance to finally reclaim the Origin crown. I’ll just spend the next three weeks praying to the great cockroach in the sky that Robbie Farah is back in time for the next instalment.