Maiden AFL grand finalists GWS Giants have entered goosebumps territory but their very first employee Alan McConnell says Saturday’s match isn’t the end of their journey.

The Giants left Sydney on Thursday bound for Melbourne, where they will play Richmond at the MCG.

While they will start underdogs, GWS have the chance to win a flag in just their eighth year.

“There’ s a few goosebumps when you think about it,” said McConnell, the Giants director of coaching.

“The reality is our footy club was put in western Sydney to grow the game and have a presence in this marketplace and whilst this is a significant part in that journey it’s still only a part of the journey.

“I worked at a footy club (Fitzroy) that doesn’t exist anymore, so I think I understand better than most just how important this piece of the puzzle is and what’s really important in the long term

“I’m immensely proud of our players, staff, our footy club.

‘I’m really excited for our supporters because they cop a fair bit of crap that I think is pretty unreasonable and personally I’m really proud and honoured to be a part of it.”

McConnell also held positions at Geelong and the AFL before joining GWS.

“To be honest I thought my time at club land was over and how blessed am I to be a part of this and right from the start, it’s quite special,” he said.

McConnell made it clear he measured the Giants progress as much by off-field developments as on-field success following a modest start to their existence.

“The first six months I think I moved office four times, there’s been some significant milestones along the way,” he said.

“I’ve had some special moments along the way.

“Bumping into a young Chinese guy dressed in his kit and saying ‘go Giants,’ that I know wouldn’t even follow our game if we didn’t exist.

“I think its all part of a big journey, but it’s a pretty exciting part of the journey right now.”

Asked what GWS needed to do to win on Saturday McConnell said: ” if we turn up to play, everything will look after itself.

“It’s a big occasion. Richmond have been there before and we haven’t so I think on the basis we control our emotions we’ll be fine.”

He said injured midfielders Callan Ward and Stephen Coniglio would continue to play a prominent part in their preparations.

He didn’t offer any clues as to who ace tagger Matt de Boer would go to, though Dustin Martin remains a possibility.

“Will Dusty start in the middle, will he start forward, who knows? We’ve got lots of plans and we’ll play accordingly,” he said.