If the team was known as the Greater Western Canberra Giants, that would be a relevant point.

For people who live in Sydney, Skoda Stadium is much better located.

If most of their fans lived in Sydney it would be a relevant point

Looking forward to first game at Skoda

I am more interested in today's game at Manuka

Just popped in to say how wonderfully well the Lesser Eastern Sydney Giants have started the season. I still can't come to grips with the fact that the NSW Government chipped in tens of millions to provide a home ground for a western Sydney AFL team in the eastern half of the city.

Just popping in to say how wonderful the new Skoda Stadium is. Better investment than the $4 mill the Fed Govt gave to soccer for their western sydney club

Something tells me Margaret Mitchell didn't have aussie rules in Sydney in mind when she wrote Gone with the Wind.

The $4m was to provide improvements to infrastructure for grass roots football in western Sydney. Thats about $53 a head for the 75,000 registered players out there. If you have ever been in the west on a winter weekend you would have seen grass roots football venues used from dawn til dusk both Saturday and Sunday. The investment from the Government is way too small.

I have no problem with the Government helping provide a venue for GWS. My comment is about why the investment wasn't made in the west of the city and why it was made right next to an existing venue suitable for AFL.

On another issue, does anyone know details of the agreement for use of Skoda Stadium? Does the RAS have priority access for the Easter Show and will they continue with their traditional events there like the Grand Parade etc? How long will the ground take to be playable after a wet Easter? I have seen the venue calf deep in mud previously.

11,887 tonight. Reckon they'll get similar against Collingwood and Richmond. Games against clubs with small Sydney fanbases will draw in the 6k - 8k range

That's over 1,000 more than Sth Sydney got on Fri night & 1,000 less than St George got tonight.
Reckon they'll get more when they play C/wood.

^ someone isn't taking into account that this was their very first game at the new stadium, the freebies given out, large Victorian club playing against and the higher costs to field an AFL side than an NRL side.

Outside of Western Australia and Victoria the crowds have slumped badly.

Yeah, that's probably right. Although 'Sydney sports team getting thrashed every week drawing sh*t crowds' isn't really a surprising story. Even take the 'getting thrashed every week' out and it would still be the norm.

So you're saying crowds in SA, NSW and QLD have dropped...

Well let's look at the evidence. The SCG has lost the entire northern end for reconstruction purposes, so that explains the Swans drop in numbers. We've had GWS come in to the comp, which will have a detrimental effect on league averages, so that's a no brainer as well.

The Suns are having a totally expected second year case of the blues (i.e. they're not all new and shiny anymore, but haven't had time to develop into a good team yet to get regular wins).

The Lions have had a crap start to the year.

I don't think the Crows crowds have dropped, so that leaves Port Adelaide. And well, that club is just a basket-case, so I offer up no defence for those crowd figures!

it is simple...they have been drawn by the excelent South African AFleague.


where is nines to verify this excelent information