GREATER Western Sydney has thwarted the 'dream' Richmond-Collingwood Grand Final and will now take aim at revenge for its 2017 preliminary final defeat to the Tigers.
That was the Giants' second straight loss at that stage of the season and came after going down by six points to the Western Bulldogs a year earlier.
Both Richmond and the Bulldogs went on to win the premiership in those years, whereas GWS continues to – fairly or not – receive criticism for not fully capitalising on its talent-rich list.
The Giants' chance to shut those critics up has arrived after barely surviving the Magpies' last-quarter onslaught to win Saturday's preliminary final by four points.
There's nowhere near the same history between Greater Western Sydney and the Tigers as there is with Collingwood and Richmond, but there is history nonetheless.
Beyond the two clubs already having met in a high-stakes finals encounter only two years ago, there's also been significant crossover in personnel.
Giants coach Leon Cameron played the final 84 of his 256 AFL matches for Richmond.
GWS football boss Wayne Campbell played 297 games for the Tigers, including being captain for four years, winning four best and fairests, featuring in two preliminary finals and being in the club's Hall of Fame.
Giants coach Leon Cameron (left) and footy boss Wayne Campbell. Picture: Getty Images
The Giants' inaugural coach was Kevin Sheedy, who also captained Richmond, won a club champion award and made the Team of the Century, along with playing in three premierships among 251 appearances.
Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams was Sheedy's senior assistant in Greater Western Sydney's formative years before spending five seasons in development at Punt Road.
And, of course, the Tigers made the eternally unlucky Brett Deledio the No.1 draft pick in 2004 and he went on to twice be an All Australian and play 243 matches there before switching to the Giants.
Deledio's added 32 more games in three seasons at GWS after believing his flag dream wasn't going to eventuate at Tigerland.
As is well-documented, Richmond won an unlikely premiership the year after he departed and now a calf injury will sideline him from next week's Grand Final.
Leon Cameron embraces Brett Deledio after the 2019 preliminary final. Picture: AFL Photos
There is another connection in Craig Lambert, a 123-game player at the Tigers who went on to be the Giants' welfare manager for a period.
Brad Miller is also one of Cameron's assistant coaches, after ending his AFL playing career in yellow and black.
Jacob Townsend, who played in Richmond's 2017 premiership, and current Sun Anthony Miles also spent time on both clubs' list.
Another quirk is the Matthews brothers, Dave and Simon, hold prominent roles at the respective clubs.
Dave is Greater Western Sydney's chief executive, while Simon is the Tigers' marketing and communications general manager.
It's believed they were in consultation when Adam Treloar looked set to leave the Giants for the Tigers before he chose the Magpies instead.
As for that preliminary final two years ago, the final scoreline was 15.13 (103) to 9.13 (67) in the Tigers' favour, but the match was in the balance for at least the first half.
Only one point separated the sides at the main break, with Cameron saying afterwards: "The first quarter-and-a-half we definitely had it on our terms, we just needed to capitalise a bit more.
"We wasted some opportunities and bombed the ball forward when we should have used the ball better and put a bit more scoreboard pressure on.
"Then we were hanging on for dear life halfway through the third quarter and they opened it up, and in the end they deserved to win."
The Tigers were far too good in the 2017 preliminary final. Picture: AFL Photos
Richmond ripped the contest away from GWS with a six-goal-to-one third term, much like how the Giants torched Collingwood in a five-goal-to-none effort in the same quarter on Saturday.
The difference was the Tigers never let up and enjoyed a comfortable six-goal margin by night's end, and they enjoyed another win when Trent Cotchin escaped penalty for his bump on Dylan Shiel.
Greater Western Sydney beat Richmond twice since then at Giants Stadium before losing by 27 points at the MCG in round 17 this season.
None of those matter anywhere near as much as next week's clash will, as the most important chapter in this budding rivalry prepares to be written.
