GWS Giants

You know, I don't think I'd want a match worn guernsey. It's a bit yuck, isn't it?

Watching the game in the pub with these Blues supporters. They are so beaten down these days. Barely a whimper when the Blues scored a goal.

Top eight pretty much set, a nice ride to the finals meaning a top four finish is a chance! Happy days.

I wonder if this will get more punters to the game...

Come on, Giants. We can Bradbury this thing.

Everything they said was true about the game. The Bombers played well. The Giants made mistakes. It was a grind. Well played Bombers. They came to play.

BORN and bred in Camden, Paul Waterhouse reckons he had every right to trade his Swans membership in for a season ticket at the Giants. On Sunday it won him $100,000. In front of the biggest crowd ever at Spotless Stadium tallying 21,541 faithful supporters, father of one Waterhouse received its loudest ever cheer when at third-quarter time he won a kicking competition — freakishly sinking a ball in between a pile of tyres (sponsored by Toyo Tires) from 40m out. So colossal was the noise and commotion that followed, Giants coach Leon Cameron completely lost his players in the middle of what was supposed to be a serious spray warning that the Swans were coming to get them. Star player Steve Johnson couldn’t help but burst out laughing in the middle of the huddle as Waterhouse’s kick sailed dead straight. “They weren’t roaring for my speech,” said Cameron. “I could see Steve Johnson at the back and he starts giggling while I’m talking about contested ball.” So dedicated was Waterhouse to his Swans, he travelled south to the MCG for both the 2005 and 2006 Grand Finals where his beloved club claimed their maiden premiership against West Coast. But those days are long gone now as Waterhouse along with wife Beth, baby daughter Elsie — and the Giants — celebrated getting the cash over the Swans. “I grew up in western Sydney and always since they joined the competition I thought I really wanted to embrace them and support them,” said Waterhouse, who now lives in Lane Cove. “I think you can change clubs when a new club enters the comp. I’ve been coming regularly the last two years and I love what the club is about and what they represent.” Waterhouse entered the competition as he walked through the gates, adamant daughter Elsie’s cute smile might have got him over the line. As he relived his magic moment with everyone in the Giants shed from Shane Mumford and Johnson to Chairman Tony Shepherd — Waterhouse said he would give some of his winnings to charity and the rest would go to setting up his daughter. “I didn’t come to the footy tonight expecting to be lining up a goal in front of 25,000 people for 100,000 dollars,” he said. “I’m just thrilled. It came off the boot all right, went straight … and luckily for me it went in. “I hadn’t kicked a footy for so long I was shaking. “I remember just running to my left for no apparent reason and doing the aeroplane with my arms and then the ground announcer came over and jumped on me and then I went and found my family.”

IT’S the torturous pain fuelling the Giants’ premiership charge. The dozen times GWS were forced to absorb 100-point AFL hidings has left a lasting impression on Jeremy Cameron that drives the star forward every time he takes the field. It might have been easy for coaches and critics in those fledgling years to make excuses for the club getting belted week after week, But just ask the players involved in those humiliating afternoons whether they will ever be able to forget. “There are teams that really did flog us into the ground in our early days and I think the memories of sitting in the change rooms wondering what happened and why it was such a big defeat do sit in the back of your mind,” Cameron told The Daily Telegraph ahead of Saturday’s grudge match against one of their former masters, cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans. “Deep down you know what happened on the day and what happened throughout those years. “Now we just want to get better as a club and really build into our own powerhouse really.” Former cricketer Gavin Robertson who has worked with the Giants in a community role since the club’s inception, has likened the fire that’s been ignited in the likes of Cameron to the dominance of the Australian Test team which started more than two decades ago. The humiliation players like Ian Healy, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh endured at the hands of the West Indies and other big nations throughout the 1980s was never forgotten, even when the team started to turn things around. “I remember numerous conversations where they said, ‘even though we are the best in the world, we are never going to take our foot off the throat,’” said Robertson. “It was like a drug. “When you look at (GWS originals) Phil Davis or Callan Ward or Tom Scully for example, I think those people have never forgotten what they’ve been through. “They play like, ‘I’m going to show the world because I’ve had my time of being punished around. “Until you’ve lived through it, it’s really hard to imagine.” Cameron said the GWS youngsters understood the big picture of what the club was shooting for back in their early seasons, but said the reality was much harder to swallow. “At times it was tough,” he said. “In our first season it was a bit surreal. We couldn’t believe we were playing footy really. We were only 18 years old and we were out on the biggest stage. “It was a bit daunting. “As an athlete you always want to win and we were going out there wanting to win, but we knew that it probably wasn’t going to happen. “Geez, looking back now, we’ve come so far. But we still have a fair way to go, so we’re looking forward to that.”