Inaugural meeting
The AFL’s two newest sides met for the first time 4,344 days ago on May 12, 2012 in front of 8,603 people at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.
The Giants took out the inaugural Expansion Cup with a 27-point victory that featured five players still on the respective clubs’ lists.
Sam Day kicked two goals and David Swallow had 10 touches in career game #28 while Callan Ward (31 touches), Stephen Coniglio (one goal) and Toby Greene (22 disposals) all featured for the Giants.
SUNS first giant slaying
Gold Coast levelled the ledger only later that season with a 30-point win in Round 20 to win the 2012 Expansion Cup by three points on aggregate - yes, we’re claiming that.
In the first meeting between the two sides at People First Stadium, Campbell Brown, Gary Ablett Jnr and Aaron Hall all kicked three goals.
The SUNS would then go on to win the next four meetings between the teams, including what is now the second-largest win in club history - an 83-point win in the final game of the 2013 season.
Frequent flyers
No player has featured in more Expansion Cup clashes than Jeremy Cameron who took on the SUNS 14 times in Giants colours.
That record is set to be matched by both Touk Miller and Lachie Whitfield on Sunday.
Sitting on the expansion fence
It’s an exclusive group with only three players having lined up at AFL level for both the SUNS and Giants.
Anthony Miles and Jack Hombsch became the first pair to join the group in Round 1, 2019 in their SUNS debuts having played for the Giants until 2013 and 2012 respectively. Those two are the only players to have featured in SUNS-Giants meetings on both sides of the fence.
Jacob Townsend then became the newest addition with his first SUNS game in Round 21, 2021, but only ever featured in this match-up for the orange team.
Gather in yet another venue
Gather Round provides some unique opposition/venue match-ups only seen previously during pandemic-affected seasons.
Sunday’s meeting in the picturesque Adelaide Hills will be the fifth venue at which the two sides have met. Remarkably, Sunday’s match will also be the fifth different venue in the last five iterations - Adelaide Hills, Manuka Oval, Engie Stadium, Mars Stadium and People First Stadium.
