Israel Folau will be among 17 AFL debutants for Greater Western Sydney when the Giants play their first home and away match against the Sydney Swans on Saturday night.
The only five players with previous AFL experience in the Giants’ 22 for the ANZ Stadium clash were Phil Davis, Callan Ward, Chad Cornes, James McDonald and Rhys Palmer.
Other experienced players Dean Brogan, Luke Power, Setanta O’hAilpin and Tom Scully were all unavailable because of injury, while former Western Bulldog Sam Reid was named an emergency.
The number of debutants equals that fielded by Adelaide when they entered the AFL in 1991, trailing only the eight VFL foundation teams in 1897 as the most debutants in AFL/VFL history.
“You never forget your first game and I’m sure it will be the same for all our young players when they run out on ANZ Stadium on Saturday night,” coach Kevin Sheedy said.
“It will be a night for the players and their families and the people of Sydney to remember.”
The Swans also named a debutant, 18-year-old Harry Cunningham, who in an interesting quirk, spent last year as a Giants top-up player, but was not kept on as part of their inaugural AFL list.
Sydney left out Ryan O’Keefe (knee) and Rhyce Shaw (back), but Gary Rohan (ankle) and Jude Bolton (calf) were both named despite having had injury concerns.