PHIL Davis says he is excited to officially join Greater Western Sydney and is looking forward to linking up with Callan Ward and Rhys Palmer for the club's first full AFL pre-season.

Davis found himself embroiled in controversy in early August when he publicly admitted he would leave Adelaide to join the Giants for their inaugural AFL season in 2012.

It was an awkward situation, as Davis wanted to do the right thing by the Crows and give them time to replace him, but GWS was unable to confirm the signing under AFL rules.

But the 21-year-old defender was officially unveiled as a member of the Giants in Canberra on Thursday, the city where he was born.

He said he couldn't wait to link up with the AFL's 18th club.

"It's good to have it all official, it's been in the works since I announced my intentions last month," Davis told afl.com.au.

"I'm excited and we get down to business in November when we start pre-season and that's when the hard work begins.

"Obviously we'll have some challenges in front of us and that's exciting. I'm looking forward to it."

Davis admitted he did have a tough time when he announced he was leaving Adelaide, with an angry Crows football manager Phil Harper saying at the time he was "bloody disappointed" about the decision.

But Davis felt he was doing the best thing for his former club.

"It was definitely interesting circumstances for myself," he said.

"I really respected the Adelaide Football Club and everything they'd done for me.

"So I thought it was best to let them know of my intentions and they could then get on with their list management and start preparing to get players signed up for next year and beyond.

"It was difficult, I'm not going to lie, but I'm probably better for it."

Davis is recovering from shoulder surgery, but says he will be fully fit for the start of pre-season training in November.

He was excited by Wednesday's confirmation that ex-Western Bulldog Ward and former Fremantle midfielder Palmer will be joining him in western Sydney, calling them "two very, very good footballers".

A confident, well-spoken young man, Davis is preparing for the trio to quickly evolve from youngsters at their previous clubs to leaders at GWS.

"We've been in the AFL system three or four years and we're going to have 30 18-year-olds joining us and we'll be the more mature, elder statesmen," he said.

"It's a different challenge and probably a good challenge to show some leadership and pass on some things that we've learned in our short time.

"Then you've got the experiences of Kevin Sheedy, Mark Williams, Steven Silvagni etcetera that can help us as well.

"We'll have enough good people to help us out."

While Davis is excited about the Giants' future, he anticipates the young club will have some difficult times early on and has already identified his toughest initial task.

"I think learning all the names will be one of the biggest challenges I face early on," he said.

"But I'm excited to get stuck into the hard work."

Meanwhile, The Age reports that the new club is hoping to launch its inaugural AFL season with a stand-alone game on the vacant weekend before the start of the 2012 home and away season, which is typically on a Thursday night

The broadsheet reports: "The Giants and AFL are working on a plan that would launch the new club into the football-free weekend which immediately follows the NAB Cup Grand Final."

It is suggested the game "would be staged in the rugby league heartland of ANZ Stadium".  Holmes confirmed the plan. It is expected the Giants would hope to play the Sydney Swans in the game.