For the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS, 2012 will be a year of firsts. It will mark the first season in the AFL, the first time they have a full playing squad and for many talented youngsters, it will be the first time that they have ever moved away from home.

With eleven of the first fifteen draft selections, the GIANTS recruiting staff are working day and night to secure the best young talent.

Key to the new club’s success in it’s first few years will not only be recruiting the best players but the ability to retain the young men and make sure that they feel at home.

That’s where Craig and Melissa Lambert come in. The pair is employed by the club, along with Ady Schwegler to ensure that the GIANTS players’ welfare needs are always well taken care of.

As the trio has discovered earlier this year, relocating dozens of seventeen and eighteen year olds is no small task. Aside from their football development, there are a lot of lifestyle considerations that the club is faced with.

The first item on the agenda for player welfare in 2011 was where the GIANTS players were going to live. The solution came when Geraldine Sheedy discovered Breakfast Point, a picturesque community on the Parramatta River.

“Breakfast Point is where all of our players live in a college style system.

“It’s just an amazing place. It’s a really quiet community with about 5,000 people living in the precinct,” Craig said.

“It’s about 12-14 km out of Sydney and all of the players live in two or three bedroom apartments. Most of them are with other players but we do have a couple of mentors, Ady and Stuart who are employed by the club.

“If we feel that some players need a little bit more guidance, then we speak to their parents about whether they’re happy for the boys to go with another player or if they would like to be with a mentor.

“It was a really good fit through 2011 so we will certainly be sticking with that in 2012.”

Craig’s desk is currently littered with lists of existing players and potential recruits as he maps out living arrangements for 2012.

“I’m just finalizing all of the apartments that we need to furnish at Breakfast Point. We need about six more apartments to actually accommodate our full list of 49 players.

“We’ll ask the player and their parents if they have any preference about who they are living with.

“We then sit down with Stephen Silvagni, Graeme Allan and Paul Brodie and see if they think that the matches we have will be a good fit.

“We really make sure that the parents have a lot of inclusion in this because they’re their boys and if the parents are happy with it, we will normally run with that.”

Once the players have moved in to their new home, it is up to GIANTS housemother, Mel Lambert to ensure that they are coping with their household responsibilities on top of their training load.

Mel is charged with everything from helping the players operate the washing machine and dishwasher, to registering their car in NSW and getting their license.

“The first twelve months is really important, not just in terms of their football development but also with their life skills,” Craig continued.

“Because many of these guys are eighteen year olds, my wife Melissa is employed by the club as a housemother.

“The good thing about Melissa is that she actually makes them do a lot of things in front of her so they’re not just having it done for them; they’re learning the skills themselves.

“A couple of days ago we had to remove all of the furniture from the apartment that Timmy Segrave, Jeremy Cameron and Kurt Aylett were living in and move it. So, we’ve also become removalists.”

A massive task lies ahead for the GIANTS welfare department but Craig is excited about the next few months and smiles broadly when he discusses what the club has already accomplished and what is to come.

“We’ve all had such a big year in 2011 and that’s everyone in the club including all of our staff and all the players. It’s been hard work but we’re all really excited.

“There’s a really good vibe about the GIANTS at the moment.

“We’ve spoken to a lot of parents about their kids possibly coming to Greater Western Sydney and everyone is really energized about what we’re building.

“The enjoyment of meeting quality young kids and their families is a privilege and I can’t wait to see how we are going to go in 2012.”