FOLLOWING the grand opening of Greater Western Sydney's shiny new stadium on Saturday night, coach Kevin Sheedy said it could take a "generation" for the club to earn its AFL stripes.

The Giants attracted 11,887 people to their 25,000-seat Skoda Stadium, with the home side falling to Essendon 18.11 (119) to 7.11 (53).

The crowd was some way below expectations, which ranged between 15,000 and 18,000 prior to the opening bounce, but Sheedy said it will take a long time to build a committed following in western Sydney.

"We've got no right to come into Sydney and expect everybody to turn up because we have," he said.

"That's the good part about building the club and earning respect.

"That will take a generation. We're going to find people that want to find AFL and come to learn about our game.

"If there was 11,000 or whatever here tonight and next time they bring a friend, all of a sudden it's 20,000."

After Essendon kicked the game's opening two goals within four minutes, the Giants then settled admirably, matching it across the field with a Bombers side nestled comfortably in the top four.

Some poor shots on goal allowed Essendon to pull away the longer the game progressed, but GWS had more scoring shots to half-time and was left to rue some disappointing kicking.

"I thought that for a first half, if we had had some goal power and kicked accurately … we worked really hard to get back into the game," Sheedy said.

"We fought for contested balls and we were pretty good. Obviously the score doesn’t show it that way because they kicked very, very straight.

"But our players in the end need to be better at goal scoring."

Youngster Adam Treloar, who had his best game as a Giant with 25 possessions, six tackles and a goal, personified the belief within the club it is slowly adjusting to life at the top level.

"Gradually I'm getting more confident," he said.

"I feel I have more time. In my first game when I got my first touch, I just kicked the crap out of it.

"Not I realise I have more time and I'm not going to die out here.

"I think gradually I'll get more confident and have more poise around the ball."

James Dampney covers Sydney AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD

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