GWS Giants slam Jeff Kennett's comparison of the AFL club to the failed Gallipoli campaign GWS Giants have hit back at comments from former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett about the fledging AFL club's progress. THE GWS Giants are dumbfounded by Jeff Kennett's description of the fledging club as the equivalent of the failed Gallipoli campaign. The former Hawthorn president was one of 16 club leaders who signed off on the AFL expansion to 18 teams with Gold Coast and GWS. Yet in recent days the ex-Victorian premier has become a critic of the Giants, who have suffered a month of heavy losses and will struggle to win a match this season. GWS chief executive Dave Matthews says Kennett must be suffering from amnesia. He was in those meetings. He's never going to represent Australia at listening," Matthews told The Daily Telegraph. I thought there was a fair bit of irony in his comments when he said Melbourne needs six or seven years (to fix) but he was happy to say that after a year and a half the Giants need to be reviewed. He enjoys a headline and probably misses the limelight. He should know the financial model the club was set up on. It's there for all the other clubs to see. That's the Melbourne bubble that Kevin Sheedy talks about. Jeff might want it (the AFL) to go back to the VFL. Why did he take Hawthorn games to Tasmania if he doesn't believe in expansion? The Giants and Gold Coast are currently receiving about $16 million a year in AFL support. More than half that cost - $20 million - is covered by the television rights generated from a ninth match each weekend. And all other AFL clubs receive league dividends of between $9 million and $13 million each season. Collingwood received $12.5 million from the league last year, which included money to develop training facilities. The Magpies are the biggest sporting club in Australia, with 80,000 members. "We have to separate the issues here," Matthews said. Our performances on the field are a young team developing in a highly professional competition. Off-field our sponsorship assets are very strong. We're a $34 million club and we've got to generate about $17 million or $18 million of our own. Our membership is 22 per cent up and our revenue is 27 per cent up in year two. As usual, Kennett was strident if inaccurate in his views. "I fear GWS is to Australian rules football what Gallipoli was to Australian forces in the First World War," Kennett said on Melbourne radio. If we continue to push, I fear the money brought in to support it will continue to cripple the rest of the clubs that run the competition.