She holds such reverence within the GIANTS community that GIANTS Chief Executive Officer David Matthews notes Katie Page and her early support for the AFLW team as its ‘cornerstone.’

A pioneering influence on the growth of women’s professional sport in Australia, the Harvey Norman CEO walks hand in hand with Western Sydney.

“Harvey Norman opened in 1982 in Auburn,” Page reflects.

“We had one store, and we were only ever going to have one store. We now have 310 in eight countries and turnover nearly $10bn.

“That tells you a lot about the vibrancy and being able to start a business in Western Sydney.

“In the 80s, it was so aspirational – they talk about it now being aspirational but from day one it was like that, it’s our flagship store for Australia.

Getting her own start at the Auburn store, there’s an affinity with the area that endures to this day for Page and it’s one she’s become known for, so when local women’s only Australian Rules team asked for her support to get them off the ground, she knew Harvey Norman were the right people to stand beside them.

“A young woman called Amna came to see me because she had a team, called the Auburn Tigers, a Muslim team of young women and she needed help,” Page says.

“Amna is an extraordinary individual. She said ‘Kate, I trust that you would look after us and we need your help to go to the GIANTS because that’s where we need to fit under the umbrella.

“I said ‘absolutely.’

“I met the girls and then I contacted Dave Matthews and Tony Shephard and said ‘you’ve got to look at this.’

“‘You’re about community, about brining women through as well. There’s a very important piece for the future of the area.

“David and [former GIANTS Chair Tony Shepherd] embraced it from that moment.”

The Auburn Tigers became the Auburn GIANTS and a fraternity between Harvey Norman and the GIANTS was solidified.

So when David Matthews needed commercial support in the club’s bid for an inaugural AFLW license back in 2016, Page and Harvey Norman were the first names to mind.

“One of the most significant influences was Katie Page from Harvey Norman who has across sports been such a huge influence on the development of women’s participation,” Matthews says. 

“We asked her to become an advocate for our bid and that was really the cornerstone of our proposal.

Page echoes:

“That was the start of the journey for Harvey Norman with the GIANTS and from day one this club has been about community,” she says.

“About bringing young ones through at grassroots level, not just the elite level.

“To have our names together made sense, and for my franchisees at Auburn to be able to support the team was important and they think the players are rockstars.

“We’re part of Western Sydney, the GIANTS are part of Western Sydney and it’s been now almost 10 years since we started with the women’s team.”

In 2025, the partnership between Harvey Norman and the GIANTS was extended for another two years, but it’s the roots of the relationship that the entire league recognises the importance of.

The GIANTS inclusion in the 2017 inaugural competition made it a truly national one and despite the drawbacks of the market’s maturity, the GIANTS held their own from the start.

Current Executive General Manager of Football for the AFL Laura Kane was heading up women’s football for North Melbourne Football club when the competition began and believes the GIANTS inclusion in the AFLW from the outset is what made it a truly national game.

“We're a national game and it was really important for the AFL at the time to make sure that that representation was truly national,” Kane says.

“And I think originally though that the benefit for Western Sydney and NSW more was to supercharge the participation of young girls.

“We’ve seen that across Auskick, junior football and even school football.

“So it was, it's always been important for football to thrive in Sydney.”

While the league is continuing to grow and fight for a larger slice in an increasing professional sports-scape for women, its battle is on two fronts, with dissenting opinions on its worth louder than ever, as the game reflects on nine seasons.

The importance of commercial partners and continued investment in the game is critical and something Page and her team at Harvey Norman have seen clearly.

“What I say to everyone is nothing happens overnight,” Page says.

“All of the successes coming are because of the investment that has been made over the last 10 years from our point of view and from what I’ve seen over that period.

“And it will only get stronger and stronger.

“There are only two teams in Sydney so to have the quality of players we now do coming through is outstanding.

The continued partnership is also a reflection of the club’s identity, how they define themselves both in the league and the community.

“This relationship is gold standard,” Page says.

“We’re approached by a lot, but we look at and test how a club treats its players, fanbase, grassroots and community then you’re both going to get anything from us.

“It says a lot that we’ve been here for 10 years, and we keep investing and we’ve just signed for another two years with both the women’s game and the men’s.

“Because the guys didn’t want to be left out, they kept putting their hands up and I’d say ‘no no it’s for the women’ but we finally relented in 2021 and I’m so glad we did because this club is just part of Harvey Norman and its story.”