Sunday’s clash with the Suns wasn’t just the final AFL game of the season in the nation’s capital, it was a chance for the GIANTS to host their Canberra Member Thanks Round.
With more than 7500 members based in Canberra, the region continues to be a driving force for the GIANTS and a critical piece behind the club’s rise from the league’s youngest side to a perennial finals contender.
To say thank you for the tremendous support the club continues to receive, Sunday’s Canberra Member Thanks Round saw the club partake in several initiatives to acknowledge the unwavering support from the nation’s capital.
Among them was a special surprise for 10 Canberra-based GIANTS members who were chosen to receive a signed 2026 GIANTS AFL jumper.
The winners were drawn from a pool of Canberra-based members who had attended both of the club’s previous two AFL games in the nation’s capital this season.
One of those members was Dave Almeida, whose family’s connection with the GIANTS stretches back more than a decade.
Speaking to GIANTS Media on Monday, Dave said the jumper had been gifted to his 10-year-old son Liam, a GIANTS fan through and through who will soon have the jumper proudly hung on the wall in his GIANTS-filled bedroom.
“I’ve ordered a frame today and that’ll be upon his wall soon,” Dave said.
It’s the latest addition to a collection that reflects a family’s long-standing love of the GIANTS - a journey that began more than 10 years ago when he won a prize at a school raffle that introduced him to the club.
“It had a football, a scarf and tickets to the GIANTS versus Melbourne match,” Dave recalled.
"I took my first son Hudson, who I think was only four or five at the time, along to the match and then he just got sucked into football and excited about it and started to play it and all the rest of it.”
More than a decade later, Dave remains a passionate GIANTS member, while his two sons have continued to develop their own football journeys.
Fourteen-year-old Hudson is a West Coast supporter who counts the GIANTS as his second team, while 10-year-old Liam is a GIANTS fan through and through.
Dave now coaches the Ainslie under-10s football side, with his involvement in local football providing another connection between his family, the Canberra community and the game they love.
The family’s commitment to the GIANTS has been unwavering, with Dave and his family having attended every GIANTS AFL game played in Canberra since they became members 10 years ago – as well as attending the 2019 Grand Final when the GIANTS took on the Tigers.
“There’s not one game in Canberra that have we missed,” he said.
For Dave, it’s the access and engagement that the GIANTS provide that makes the Canberra experience so special.
“I think it’s the engagement, that we can actually see the players and talk to them,” he said.
“Going to those [open] training sessions is really important as well.”
Even when Saturday’s training session was cancelled due to flight issues, the family still managed to cross paths with GIANTS youngster Riley Hamilton, who signed several local footy jumpers for the family to use at their upcoming trivia night.
It’s those kinds of interactions that have helped make the GIANTS’ Canberra presence about more than simply attending games.
A GIANT Q & A
The club also showed its appreciation on Sunday through a special pre-game Q&A event for GIANTS Ultimate Members, the club’s highest-tier membership for those who attend every game in both Canberra and Sydney.
The event featured a special Q&A with GIANTS CEO David Matthews and Executive General Manager of Football, Jason McCartney.
Two members in attendance were Greg Young and his sister Tracy Thomas, whose connection to the GIANTS has become a family affair spanning more than a decade.
Originally from Adelaide, the pair grew up following South Australian football before Greg spent a period supporting Carlton in the VFL, drawn to the number of South Australian stars who had made their way to the club.
The pair’s lives took them around Australia through their careers in the Defence Force and nursing, but eventually both settled in Sydney, where Greg became a GIANTS foundation member when the club entered the AFL.
Greg initially attended matches with his daughter before Tracy joined him, and the family has continued to grow its connection to the GIANTS, with Greg’s son Christopher now also part of the group.
“It’s a family thing now,” Tracy said.
For Greg, one of the biggest reasons he’s remained a passionate GIANTS member is the way he believes the club conducts itself away from the footy field.
“It’s the way that they manage both the fans and the off-field stuff that sort of goes on,” he said.
“Why I say this is what I love about the management here is that everything seems to be straightforward, above board, and in line with what the fans’ expectation is.”
For Tracy, however, it is the people and the personal connections that have made the GIANTS experience particularly special, especially during a difficult period in her life.
“I’ve been sick for a few years,” Tracy said.
She recalled how her sons organised a special Mother’s Day message from GIANTS captain Toby Greene last year, a gesture that meant a great deal to her.
“Toby did a Mother’s Day thing for me that my boys got,” she said.
The personal gesture was another example of the way Tracy feels connected to the club beyond what happens on game day.
The pair also spoke fondly of the characters they have met among the GIANTS faithful, with their regular trips to home games in both Sydney and Canberra allowing them to build friendships with fellow members.
“We love the characters that come with the games,” Tracy said with a laugh.
Greg said the regularity of seeing familiar faces was another part of what made being an Ultimate Member so rewarding.
“Each time we come, because they go to Canberra games as well, you get to meet up with them each time we go.
For the siblings, their membership has become about far more than simply watching football.
It is about the shared experiences, the people they have met along the way and, ultimately, having another reason to spend time together as a family.
“We love it,” Tracy said.
A MEANINGFUL MEMBER OF THE MATCH
Rather than honouring one Member of the Match, Sunday’s Member Thanks Round in Canberra saw the club select five Members of the Match, with each receiving a $100 gift voucher for Reflections Holiday Parks.
One of those lucky recipients was long-time GIANTS member Barbara Smith, whose love of the club has become intertwined with her family.
A member for a decade, Barbara was introduced to Australian football by her husband after growing up in Newcastle, where rugby union was the dominant code.
“My husband’s from Adelaide. So when we got together, he said, ‘You’ve got to follow AFL with me.’ And when the GIANTS were starting we said alright we’ll go for them.”
Barbara became a foundation member of the GIANTS’ AFLW side in 2017, while her husband and son joined as members of the AFL side even earlier.
Based in East Killara in Sydney, Barbara now makes the trip to Canberra for every GIANTS home game, with her daughter studying at ANU providing the perfect excuse for the pair to spend the day together.
“My daughter studies here in Canberra, so it’s like a win-win, and we come to the games together” Barbara said.
The family connection to the club continued on Sunday, with Barbara bringing her nephew and his girlfriend along for their first ever GIANTS game.
But while the afternoon provided plenty of reasons to celebrate, it also carried a deeper significance for Barbara.
Her mother had passed away just one week earlier, making the trip to Canberra an opportunity to spend time with her daughter and enjoy a welcome distraction during an emotional period.
“It’s really nice just to do something happy and just see my daughter and just, you know, decompress.
“It’s just nice to be here,” she said
Reflecting on the meaningful moment, Barbara shared that she’d brought her mother to her first ever GIANTS match in Canberra almost exactly a year earlier.
“She was 92,” Barbara said.
“She loved it.
“It was a sunny day, no rain, so it’s like a full-circle moment.”
For Barbara, the GIANTS have provided more than a decade of football memories, but her regular Canberra trips have now become something even more meaningful - a chance to share experiences with family and create memories that last well beyond the final siren.
For Dave, Greg, Tracy and Barbara, the GIANTS’ connection with Canberra is about far more than what happens on the field. It’s about families, friendships, shared experiences and the memories created along the way. As the club continues to build its presence in the nation’s capital, the unwavering support of its more than 7500 Canberra members remains at the heart of what makes the GIANTS’ relationship with the region so special.
