It’s 15 years now since Gold Coast entered the AFL competition, one year less for Greater Western Sydney, and yet in some ways, it still feels like year one.
Why? Because even after a decade and a half, neither club has yet accumulated the institutional weight, supporter base or cultural significance of the competition’s traditional powers.
The interest they create remains muted. The crowds they draw remain low. Only time and success can change that. But you really do wonder sometimes whether the longer the quest to attain it, the greater becomes the size of the task. And that feels even more pointed now than during the long infancy of the Suns and Giants.
It’s been a particularly sobering half-season for the true believers of the “expansion franchises” (and yes, the quotes are to underline the inherent cynicism surrounding outfits still doing their damndest to feel like genuine AFL clubs).
This was supposed to be the year dreams came true for Gold Coast and potentially GWS, too. The Suns made and won a final for the first time in their history last September. Plenty had them as genuine premiership contenders. The Giants are now a finals perennial, contesting at the pointy end eight times in the last decade.
But here we are again not only discussing the finals credibility of both, but pondering the potential playing list ramifications of failure. And all it’s taken to arrive at this Groundhog Day again is four straight losses by the Suns, and some more erratic form from the Giants.
Gold Coast has been particularly disappointing this season, its third under Damien Hardwick. Sitting ninth at 7-7, there’s still time to address the malaise, but since dismantling Geelong in Opening Round, then beating up on lower ladder West Coast and Richmond, there’s been little to suggest the Suns have the stomach for the fight.
Worse, there’s been repeated reports of in-fighting and squabbling among the Suns healthy tier of highly-paid stars, alongside all the usual contract talk which accompanies the club, the rumour mill again heating up over the futures of the likes of spearhead Ben King, Bailey Humphrey and young key forward Jed Walter.
The Giants are capable of producing scintillating football, never demonstrated better than that amazing 14-goal third quarter against reigning premier Brisbane. But like their last couple of finals exits, they simply can’t seem to produce it for long enough nor at the most critical moments.
The Giants and Suns should be flying this year. Pictures AAP
Stability hasn’t been as big an issue for GWS lately, and the addition of Clayton Oliver to the midfield mix should have been a big boost, but it’s notable just how big an impact serious injuries to another midfield star in Tom Green and key defender Sam Taylor have had on the Giants’ fortunes.
Off the field, meanwhile, looms a testing period, with long-serving chief executive Dave Matthews soon to depart, and GWS captain Toby Greene still unsigned and, even at nearly 33 years of age, attracting significant interest elsewhere.
And for the Suns and Giants, that sort of speculation beyond the playing field remains a continual backdrop, an ongoing legacy of clubs born in non-traditional markets who have had to work much harder than their rivals to attract and to retain talent.
Players leave established clubs, too, of course. But departures from expansion clubs are far more likely to be interpreted as evidence of some deeper instability. That’s partly because there aren’t enough people with a vested emotional interest in defending them.
Of course, it hasn’t all been gloom and doom. The Giants, in particular, have achieved plenty. They have produced stars, played finals regularly and reached a grand final. Gold Coast at least appears closer than it ever has to becoming a consistent finalist.
But both clubs are still chasing something bigger than wins and losses. They are chasing permanence, the sort enjoyed by clubs whose identities are so deeply embedded that a disappointing season barely registers as anything more than a temporary setback. That’s the next frontier.
You can’t escape the reality that the AFL sold these clubs as gateways to huge markets. And after 15 years and 14 years respectively, we’re still not talking about millions of new fans of the game in western Sydney, nor how Gold Coast has transformed football’s presence in Queensland. The discussion instead remains about whether the Suns and Giants can keep Ben King or Toby Greene.
When a Victorian powerhouse comes under attack, thousands of members, former players, media personalities and supporters will inevitably leap to its defence. There is a natural constituency prepared to push back against criticism.
The Suns and Giants don’t have that luxury. Consequently, criticism can land harder and linger longer. And that creates a cycle.
The clubs struggle. Questions emerge. Rival clubs circle their best players. The football world debates whether they are fulfilling their potential. The uncertainty itself becomes part of the story.
And after this long, that’s probably the most telling reality of all.
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