LAVINGTON Sports Ground in Albury is not a traditional host of football history, but it secured its spot as a trivia answer for years to come when Greater Western Sydney secured its first ever win in an AFL game.
The Giants defeated fellow AFL newbies Gold Coast by 13 points, kicking 0.11.10 (76) to 1.8.6 (63).
While no premiership points were on the line in the clash, GWS coach Kevin Sheedy said it was an important achievement in the Giants' early history.
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"The coaching staff across the board all left their homes and all the players left their homes to come and build this club," Sheedy said after the game.
“You just get a little tick that we are heading down a reasonably good pathway with this young group.
"It gives us that little bit of confidence that the areas of the ground that we are working on we are getting it gradually right. We need more games obviously and we are being challenged by better teams."
Sheedy said he would not mark the season by matches won, but rather by lessons learned.
"Every game we play, we will learn. And that is the main thing this year. We won some quarters of footy tonight and we will measure ourselves generally by how we look competitive quarter by quarter," he said.
Senior players Rhys Palmer and Callan Ward were keys to the Giants win, using their experienced bodies to great effect in the middle and around the ground.
Chad Cornes was sturdy in defence, cutting off the Gold Coast supply while Phil Davis also starred for his work down back.
But it was the work of the Giants' youngsters that would have given the most satisfaction to coach Kevin Sheedy.
While not a teenager, 24-year-old Stephen Clifton continued his impressive auditon for a starting place in the Giants' midfield, gathering 17 touches.
Liam Sumner was just as impressive with 17 possessions and two goals.
Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt impressed in the first time they took to an AFL field together.
Leading by just two points at the final change, the Giants won the crucial first centre clearance that resulted in a goal to Curtly Hampton. It brought a massive cheer from the Lavington crowd consisting mainly of GWS fans - or at least those who had gone to the trouble of buying the merchandise.
A few minutes later Toby Greene took a diving mark 30 metres out from the Giants goal. He looked to give the handball off and was tackled to the ground. But, in a stroke of luck for the Giants, he instead received a 50m penalty and a certain goal.
It was a tight struggle to see out the game that ended in a fitting win to the AFL's newest team.
Curtly Hampton kicked a ball out of mid-air with less than two minutes remaining to gain a vital behind to regain the lead for his team.
With the game in the balance, the Giants turned the ball over and finished with a vital goal to Chad Cornes.
David Swallow starred for the Suns, being the no.1 midfielder in the absence of Gary Ablett, while Campbell Brown enjoyed a rare foray forward to kick three goals.
Jarrod Harbrow and Jared Brennan rebounded well from the back half.
GWS 0.1.4 0.4.6 0.7.7 0.11.10 (76)
GOLD COAST 0.3.2 0.5.5 0.7.9 1.8.6 (63)
GOALS
GWS: Sumner 2, Palmer 2, Green 2, Cornes, Miles, Bugg, Cameron, Hampton
GOLD COAST: Caddy (supergoal), Brown 3, Smith 2, Swallow, Hickey, Sexton
BEST
GWS: Palmer, Miles, Sumner, Ward, Cornes, Davis
GOLD COAST: Brennan, Smith, Swallow, Brown, Hunt,
INJURIES
GWS: Nil
GOLD COAST: Nil
Reports: Nil
Official crowd: 6740 at Lavington Sports Ground
