What can we call the GWS Giants? The GIANTS? The GWS? Or… the Gee Dubs?

There has been a bit of talk recently about what people should call the Greater Western Sydney Giants. There has been a bit of a push from some places to simplify everything, just call every part of the organisation the GIANTS. Easy to remember, fits the netball and AFLW sides, also easier to include Canberra under that umbrella. The CAPS thing done by the Giants is something that is still in my autocorrect, something with which my English teaching heart still struggles.

This approach reflects the location of the club in NRL territory. In the NRL, location is often lost in team names. This is partially in order to infer a wider supporter base. Hence few people refer to the Roosters as Sydney or Eastern Suburbs, the Cowboys and Storm are known more by those names, the Tigers the same, despite the efforts to keep the Wests name there, due to the origins of the merger. But the NRL definitely likes to place emphasis on these mascot names, as can be seen from their ladder.

The AFL, however, has not strayed far from its Victorian, SA and WA parochial roots, and likes to attach locations to most of its club names. A look at its official ladder and other published ladders reveals this.

This goes some way to explain why there’s still the default position amongst most AFL media people — especially the more experienced ones — of naming the Giants by its geographic location – Greater Western Sydney. Or, if they find that a mouthful, GWS. Or, if you’re Gerard Healy or Mike Sheahan, The GWS. It seems to be pretty confusing, hence the desire from the club for people to say just the Giants. But that’s probably not feasible, considering the way football culture is.

There is, however, a good compromise. A variation of this phenomenon of calling them GWS. When I have listened to Giants games on the radio or AFL app, I have always liked the way Stan Alves calls games. He is even handed, complimentary, gently critical when needed and doesn’t easily lean into hyperbole. He also likes to call the Giants the Gee Dubs. I like the resonance of that name – the letters of the awkward GWS acronym turns into words, turns into a pithy two syllable word. I also liked the old world feel of the way Alves said it. As a phrase, it can easily be converted into various other names. GO YOU GEE DUBS! The Mighty Gee Dubs. Here Come the Gee Dubs…

This is why perhaps we need to start a campaign to have the Giants called the Gee Dubs from time to time. Gives them another name, another way to make the GWS acronym less awkward. Maybe one day Gerard Healy can be convinced to criticise the Gee Dubs’ teamwork whilst on the couch.