Does western Sydney care about the Giants? Tony Jones finds out

They’re the Greater Western Sydney Giants, and they’re in their first AFL grand final.

But does western Sydney care?

Tony Jones, filling in for Neil Mitchell on 3AW Mornings, hit the phones to find out.

He called three businesses at random — a newsagent, a cafe and a bakery — and… well, the results weren’t great.

The bakery was particularly confused.

Tony Jones: GWS, the Giants, are they creating much interest up there?
Bakery staff: Sorry, I don’t know who he is.

Click PLAY to hear the calls

Tony also spoke with perhaps Australia’s most prominent ambassador of western Sydney, Mark Latham.

He described a more engaged city, suggesting big-name players like Toby Greene and Jeremy Cameron are now stopped in the streets in GWS heartland suburbs like Penrith.

He admitted the “emptiness” of Spotless Stadium has been “embarrassing” at times, but insisted the Giants were doing a good job recruiting a strong base of passionate young fans, like his daughter.

Mr Latham, now a One Nation politician in NSW, also explained how comments from Eddie McGuire — he called western Sydney the “land of falafel” in 2011 — prompted him to ditch Collingwood to become a GWS Giants fan.

“Eddie seemed to have a beef with western Sydney where I’ve lived all my life,” he said.

“I thought ‘Oh well, western Sydney’s got a team now, I’ll support the homegrown talent’ … rather than a team where the president’s slagging off the place where I’ve lived.”

Click PLAY to hear more from Mark Latham

(Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)