WHEN Greater Western Sydney was granted a licence to become the AFL's 18th club, there was a widespread belief it would struggle to entice players.

The west of Sydney is not exactly renowned as the most attractive area of the city and Australian football is still a foreign concept to the majority of its more than two million residents.

But the level of talent the club is already recruiting demonstrates those early fears were unwarranted.

On Tuesday, Tom Scully was introduced as the fourth uncontracted player to join the Giants, along with Callan Ward (Western Bulldogs), Phil Davis (Adelaide) and Rhys Palmer (Fremantle).

While the money on offer is obviously an enormous carrot, with Scully reportedly to earn up to a staggering $6 million over six years, GWS coach Kevin Sheedy feels they are proving some critics wrong.

"Two years ago when we arrived, everyone thought it was AFL propaganda that won't work," Sheedy said.

"The next comment people made was no one would come.

"Everybody has been saying, 'it won't work, it won't happen' and we've just signed four top-class young players and there's more to come obviously.

"I would say we've come a long way."

Scully confirmed that that perception of Sydney's west did exist, but what he actually discovered in person was very different.

"Down in Melbourne there's a bit of a public perception that western Sydney is not the most appealing place to live," Scully said, drawing an awkward smirk from Giants CEO Dale Holmes sitting next to him.

"But that couldn't be any further from the truth.

"The set up at Breakfast Point is sensational and the facilities out here at Blacktown are great and I think people ought to do themselves a favour and come out and have a look.

"They might be a bit surprised."

That perception had even permeated down to some of the Giants' younger players.

Dylan Shiel, an 18-year-old who played with Scully as a junior at the Dandenong Stingrays, had a similar feeling about the area when he was first told about GWS' entry to the AFL.

But the highly rated teenager is now more like a tour guide when he is asked about the area.

"At first you were like 'West Sydney? We don't want to come out here'," Shiel told afl.com.au.

"But when we came up for a look late last year, and then when we moved into Breakfast Point, we were really excited and my attitude has changed on Sydney and west Sydney especially.

"We're on the river, we're a 30 minute ferry trip from Circular Quay, we're 30 minutes from the beach, and yet we're going against the traffic flow to and from Blacktown.

"There's no hassle at all. It's perfect. It's great."

Outside of the perception of the area, another issue facing the Giants in terms of attracting players is the fact they are sure to have some tough times in their formative years.

Fellow expansion side Gold Coast surprised some people by picking up three wins in its debut season and almost avoiding the wooden spoon, until Port Adelaide's last-round win over Melbourne.

But the Suns were still on the end of a number of hidings and appear to be some years away from reaching the level of the AFL's top clubs.

Every one of GWS' new recruits, however, has expressed genuine excitement at being part of a brand new club trying to win over the area and develop into an AFL power.

"There's multiple factors in coming up here," Scully said.

"Everyone will speculate about the money, and there's no doubt the money was a factor, but in saying that I saw an opportunity to come up here and be part of a brand new football club.

"With the exciting new talent the Giants have access to, that's something that really appeals to me."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the AFL or the clubs