The Greater Western Sydney Giants are pleased to confirm that AFL Hall of Fame inductee and full-back of the Century, Stephen Silvagni will join the Giants in 2011 as the Club’s List Manager.
Responsible for building the inaugural playing list, Silvagni will be critical to the Giants ahead of the Club's entry in to the AFL in 2012.
Debuting for Carlton in 1985, Silvagni gained the reputation as one of the greatest ever full-backs to play AFL during his long 315 game career.
Silvagni said that he was looking forward to the challenge of taking on a new role after working as an assistant coach for the last four years.
“It’s just a different role to what I’ve been used to, coming from assistant coaching. This role and the opportunity were just really appealing, I’ll be helping GWS establish a team for the next 10 to 15 years. It’s an exciting risk for me personally.
“I’ve always had that interest in getting involved in list management. It’s relatively new in AFL terms. With this role you need to not only look at the present situation but also the future to ensure the Club has the right playing group to peek for a long period of time.
“I just think you’re building a team from the ground up and we’ve got an opportunity to mould it the way we want to. The exciting thing is the concessions that the AFL have given the Club provides us with every chance to succeed, but you can’t take that for granted. What ever we do as a Club we have to get it right, we have to ensure we make the most of those concessions and selection opportunities. The other 17 clubs are certainly going to work harder then ever.”
Silvagni will stay in Melbourne with his wife and three sons but will regularly travel to Sydney.
“Most of the football managers are in Melbourne and that’s essentially the best place for me to be at this stage. Of course I’ll also be spending a lot of time at the Club in Sydney.”
Giants General Manager of Football Operations, Graeme Allan, said that securing Silvagni as the Club’s inaugural List Manager was a critical appointment as the Club look towards establishing the playing group for 2012 and the years to come.
“We’re thrilled to have Stephen on board next year. He has a solid understanding and extensive experience of what it takes to build a strong football club. He was a premiership player at Carlton and obviously for the last four years he has been at St Kilda during a very dominant period for that club, he has great insights into developing that culture of success.
“It’s going to be a big couple of years for the Club to build the foundations and try to secure the best list possible through our draft and list concessions. Stephen is certainly the best man for that job.”
Silvagni will begin working for the Giants in January 2011.
