Some rivalries in professional sport are manufactured, others are very, very real, and it seems GWS’ budding conflict with Collingwood falls very much in the latter category.
While the young GWS outfit has a firm rivalry with the cross-town Swans and at times with the Western Bulldogs, there is some genuine feeling bubbling away when it comes to the Pies.
Giants chief executive Dave Matthews left no doubt about his feelings when he stated “we hate Collingwood almost as much as we hate the Swans” in the pre-season.
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The fire has been stoked by Collingwood’s one-point victory in last year’s preliminary final, with the Pies marching on to the flag while the Giants licked their wounds and counted down to a home clash in opening round.
The Giants also upset Collingwood by four points in a 2019 preliminary final.
And it hasn’t taken long for shots to be fired from both camps in Saturday night’s season-opening clash.
There is actually a lot to unpack here.
We can start with Mason Cox calling the GWS home ground at Sydney Olympic Park “a showground for livestock”.
The Giants responded by constructing an actual petting zoo in the stadium for the game, along with sheep and a Mason Cox cardboard cut out.
Pretty harmless stuff, good fun really.
Cox then found his way into a pre-match GWS warm-up and took a ball-up from ex-Giants ruckman Shane Mumford, who was far from amused.
It was a brave move as the man known as “Mummy” is far from affectionate on a footy field, even in retirement.
Team banners are also an easy target at times and the GWS media department, regularly credited as being among the sharpest in the competition, took an easy win on this one.
The Collingwood banner was supposed to say on one side “Roses are red, Giants seem blue, they “hate” us, but we don’t mind you”, signed off with a kiss.
The problem was the Y from the word “they” had fallen off, which the Giants media team jumped on with a cheeky caption repeating the offending word.
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