Nothing quite highlights the rivalry between the GIANTS and the Swans better than the favourite memory of the club’s inaugural Chairman, Tony Shepherd. 

Speaking on his incredible impact at the GIANTS in celebration of the club’s 15th season, the passionate former Chairman was quick to highlight his favourite memory across his storied history with the club. 

“The happiest memory was the day we beat the Swans for the first time,” Shepherd recalled. 

“That was because everyone said, ‘Oh yeah, you won’t be anybody. You’ve got the Swans dominating Sydney, you know, you won’t get them.’” 

The clash he recalls like it was yesterday saw the GIANTS upset the Swans to open the 2014 season, spoiling Lance Franllin’s Swans debut with a 32-point win at ENGIE Stadium.  

“I remember the media when we were announced [as a club]. We got negative media out of Melbourne and out of Sydney at the time and everybody was predicting failure. 

“So when we beat the Swans, I was able to rub their noses in it. So yeah, I loved that.” 

A key figure of the GIANTS since their inception, Shepherd served as the club’s inaugural Chair from 2010 until stepping away from the role at the conclusion of the 2023 season.    

Such was his impact on the club, Shepherd was honoured with GIANTS Life Membership in 2024 and AFL Life Membership last year. 

Looking back on the very beginning, Shepherd says he still recalls the moment he was asked to consider being part of the AFL’s newest expansion club more than 15 years ago.  

“I was approached by the CEO of the AFL, Andrew Demetriou, to join.  

“He said to me, ‘Oh, Tony, it’ll be a couple of hours a week,’” Shepherd laughed. 

“I was a senior executive with Transfield [at the time], and we had a huge operation in Western Sydney and I’d spent a lot of time out there.  

“I knew Western Sydney was going to grow and become far more relevant in Australia, which has actually played out. And I thought it was a great opportunity to take AFL somewhere new and grow it, so I took it on. 

“We worked very hard at the start. We got immediate support from well-known New South Wales people, like Harvey Norman and these sorts of people. They all got behind us, which was just fantastic. 

“Dave Matthews came in as a CEO shortly after I was appointed. Anyway, we took off, and we established a reputation for being a club that looked after its people and its players and what have you, and who were committed to the community.” 

Never one to shy away from ambition, Shepherd famously said in his first press conference as the club’s inaugural Chair that ‘You can expect big things from a team named the GIANTS.’  

Shepherd looks back at that bold statement proudly following the tremendous success to come from such a young club – one that would go on to become a perennial finals contender and make a grand final in just its eighth season.  

“I knew what we had was terrific. I knew we had some advantages in recruitment and what have you, but we had a terrific team of people. 

“We had people like Kevin Sheedy and the other coaches we brought in. And I knew we were going to go well because we were absolutely determined to be established and to get the team into the top four. 

“And we did get in there and, you know, for a brand-new team, in an area which is more renowned for rugby league, to play in a grand final so early and so quickly was remarkable, and that was an example of what I was talking about. 

“We had our foot on the accelerator from the moment we started, and we filled that out by recruiting and developing the best possible people we could, on and off field.” 

It is those people and their character that helped shape the identity of the GIANTS. 

“What makes me most proud of our club is our strong moral values. 

“We believe in all of our players and our staff as being part of our family, and they should be looked after, developed, and rewarded properly. 

“We have a great philosophy at our club, which is that when you join the GIANTS as a player or as a staff member or executive, you know immediately that you are a member of a family which will support you and help you whatever the situation.” 

Reflecting on his own role within the club, Shepherd was immensely proud of not only how far the GIANTS have come, but he’s excited about what the future holds.  

“Oh, I’m proud of it. Very, very proud,” he said on his involvement with the club.  

“What the club achieved early on was a great success, in my view, and it’s still got a long way to go, and it’s on its way now, and it will keep growing, and it will get bigger and better as it goes along which is exciting for all of us.”  

Such is Shepherd’s impact on the GIANTS that on Thursday the club launched Shep’s Promise in his honour. Shep’s Promise is a community-focused initiative which focuses on mentoring young people in the community through a range of workshops held at local schools.  

“It’s a brilliant idea to further support young people in Western Sydney, and again it’s very much in our philosophy as a club to treat each other like family and to connect with our community.”