Before the GWS kids arrived, the first employee of the new AFL club knew many frustrations.
Alan McConnell had already been through a lot.
He’d been at Fitzroy, was the caretaker coach of the sinking Lions in the mid-1990s.
He’d been at Geelong, watching Brian Cook and Mark Thompson rebuild a club in the 2000s.
But the early days of the Giants?
“I’m sure I got cranky at times,” McConnell told a club podcast earlier this year.
In March 2008, the Giants were voted into the AFL league. A year and a half later they had their first employee, AIS/AFL Academy coach McConnell.
The big appointment came in November 2009 when Kevin Sheedy was named inaugural coach.
The living AFL legend and lateral-thinker was tasked with coaching and spruiking the Giants who in July 2010 were approved to play from 2012.
Sheedy had Port Adelaide premiership coach and fellow AFL expansionist Mark Williams as his right-hand man.
The AFL posted Graeme ‘Gubby’ Allen, renowned as one of the shrewdest operators in the game, to run the football department.
The playing list was largely handled by Stephen Silvagni, the AFL’s team of the century full-back.
Silvagni had been assistant coach for four years until jumping to the Giants, recognising generous draft concessions.
He had the pick of the crops. Not only was he building a strong Giants list, but also denying existing clubs top-end talent. Win-win.
“The other 17 clubs are certainly going to work harder then ever,” Silvagni said when appointed in November 2010.
But the Giants’ long-term build, like any new product, needed some street appeal. Some bang for the buck. For the AFL in western Sydney, it was Israel Folau, who took a four-year $6 million deal.
Folau, after looking all at sea in 13 games in 2012 – average 6.15 disposals – then quit for rugby union.
List master Silvagni’s 2010 draft included underage selections’ Jeremy Cameron and since-departed Adam Treloar and Dylan Shiel.
Then Silvagni really went to work in late 2011, signing 34 players. Phil Davis, from Adelaide, was the first uncontracted player from another cub.
“I’m not going to lie, money was a factor,” Davis said when departing the Crows in August 2011, while also stressing his excitement at helping create a club.
Soon after, Callan Ward arrived from Western Bulldogs, Rhys Palmer from Fremantle, Tom Scully from Melbourne.
In November 2011, Silvagni plucked the proverbial out of the national draft – picks one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, nine, 10, 11, 13, 14 at the draft, plus three late-round selections.
Silvagni’s harvest was rich: Toby Greene, Stephen Coniglio, Taylor Adams, Devon Smith, Jon Patton, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Nick Haynes among them.
The 11 were supplemented by one-year deals to veterans Chad Cornes, Luke Power and Dean Brogan to stiffen-up a young side for the debut 2012 season.
Sheedy had something to work with and, with Williams, took control of the lads who lived together at a Breakfast Creek complex.
The battle-hardened coaches dished out a crash course in AFL. The first season went somewhat beyond expectations with just two wins.
Silvagni returned to the draft with the first three picks, with his haul featuring Lachie Whitfield and a late steal: Zac Williams, zone selection, rookie draft pick 54.
But the long-term vision carried short-term pain. The Giants won just once in 2013, prompting a major re-think.
“The end of year two was probably the toughest,” McConnell said.
“We got to about round 18 or 19 – we need to stop the bus, just park the bus for a bit. And reconnect and reload and go again.”
The on-field woes were trashing the GWS brand in the new market.
“We have got administrators … marketing people trying to sell blue sky – everybody’s job is so much harder,” McConnell said.
“The courage that people had in the administration in those days to stick tough with what we were doing is not well enough documented.”
Sheedy stepped aside as coach – he’d played his role. Leon Cameron took over. Which surprised ‘Choco’ Williams, who thought the job was his.
Cameron’s Giants claimed six wins in his first season, 2014 – after which Silvagni departed for Carlton, his western Sydney work done.
“I have no doubt the club has a great future,” he said at the time.
A maturing playing list delivered 11 wins in 2015. Then, the breakthrough: fourth-place and first finals campaign in 2016.
The upstarts downed home-town rival Sydney in a qualifying final only to fall a goal short of the Western Bulldogs in an preliminary-final epic.
In 2017, the Giants reached another preliminary final, only to lose to eventual premier Richmond; last year were beaten semi-finalists by Collingwood; this year, a grand final.
“The growth of the club, from a performance perspective and the consistency over the team, has been pretty remarkable,” McConnell said.