The AFL and ANZ Stadium are yet to discuss the looming possibility of GWS hosting Sydney in this year’s finals.
The Swans’ barnstorming form is raising the prospect of the two teams clashing in September, with the Giants as the home team.
Spotless Stadium only has a capacity of 24,000 and the two Sydney teams attracted a crowd of 60,000 at ANZ Stadium last year when they met in a final for the first time.
The AFL no longer has a contract with ANZ Stadium and ground management have confirmed they have had no talks with the league about this year’s finals.
For now, the AFL’s official line is that the Giants have one home venue – Spotless Stadium.
“At the moment we don’t have a contract anywhere else,” a spokesman said.
In February, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan raised the prospect, however remote, of returning to ANZ Stadium should the two Sydney teams meet again in the finals.
“The fact that there were more than 60,000 people there at the qualifying finals shows how much demand there is and if we played it at another venue we would have locked out a lot of people,” McLachlan said.
GWS are third, two games and percentage ahead of sixth-placed Sydney with six rounds left.
Given this season’s extraordinary twists and turns, it is even possible that the Swans could finish above the Giants and save the AFL potential blushes.
If Sydney are the home team, the game would be played at the SCG which holds a capacity of just over 42,000.
Sydney have the hottest form in the league, winning nine of their last 10 matches.
The injury-plagued Giants remain high among the premiership favourites, but they have won only once in five games since the bye.
GWS did not sell out their only Spotless Stadium final, last year’s preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs.
The growing prospect of a GWS-Sydney final comes as Geelong continue to lobby for a home final at the redeveloped Simonds Stadium.
The Cats have no guarantees yet from the AFL that they would host a non-Victorian team at their home ground in September.
Geelong’s only final at Simonds Stadium was their 2013 qualifying final loss to Fremantle.
