GWS GIANTS Chairman Tony Shepherd made the following address today at the opening of the Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney Training and Administration Centre, the new home of the GIANTS:

I would like to acknowledge we are on Darug land here today. I pay my respects to the Darug Elders and thank them for their custodianship of this land. As you are all aware, the AFL is passionate about indigenous participation and Kevin Sheedy has been the leader in this effort. The GIANTS will continue to develop this fine tradition.

The Greater Western Sydney GIANTS continue to make tremendous progress, both on and off the field, as we head towards our debut season as a fully fledged AFL Premiership Club in 2012. We have been extremely excited and indeed humbled by the support given by Blacktown City Council and the Blacktown community during our journey to date.

Guided by our four core pillars of health, harmony, education and employment, the GWS Giants are committed to establishing a community based football club that is truly representative of the people of greater western Sydney.

The support of the Blacktown community and the City Council has been pivotal in the development of the GWS Giants. The evidence of the close partnership between AFL and Council is there for all to see with the magnificent AFL/Cricket facilities and now today’s opening of the Training and Administration Facility - our Home in Blacktown City.

As we continue on our exciting journey, we are keen to work together with Blacktown City Council on a variety of events and developments that acknowledge Blacktown City as the home of the Greater Western Sydney Giants and which we hope will provide the Blacktown community a sense of ownership in their AFL team.

The Training and Administration Centre provides us with a fantastic base for our Club as we begin to build our team that will join the premiership in just 6 months time.All aspects of the club will be housed here ranging from membership, community liaison, football operation and sponsorship. It will be great to have the whole GIANTS Community under one roof. We are a family and like a good family, we live together.

GIANTS players will be able to enjoy the first class training facilities, which will include a gym, sports science centre, GIANTS players lounge and High Performance Centre.

I would like to particulary thank and congratulate our CEO, Dale Holmes. The vision of establishing an AFL Club in Balcktown was Dales and today marks an important milestone in the accomplishment of this vision. To the sceptics I say we are on our way and the GIANTS are coming.

I would also like to thank the AFL for its support, without which we could not have embarked on this ambition venture. In particular, I would like to mention Joseph La Posta who could not be here today. Tom, could you please pass on our thanks.

I hope you will all join us at the GWS GIANTS game against Northern Territory Thunder, from 1 pm today. GWS GIANTS Chief Executive Officer, Dale Holmes, will participate in a Q&A Session with guests at half time. This is a great opportunity to get a ‘sneak peak’ at the GIANTS final stages of preparation before joining the Premiership next year.