GWS Giants Love What They See in Kellyville Magpies Junior Delana
Former Kellyville Magpies Junior AFL club player Josaia Delana can’t believe he is on the cusp of playing professional footy. Last month, he became the latest Western Sydney product to land in the AFL, with the talented small forward signed up by the GWS Giants as a Category B Rookie.
Another outstanding sporting product from Oakhill College, Delana, 18, is very excited about this big opportunity.
Delana, who has Fijian heritage, enjoyed football, rugby union and rugby league but chose an AFL career with the Giants, having been a part of their academy for two years.
“I love the freedom of the game and it was also nice to not be running at my opposition and being tackled so harshly, they weren’t as enjoyable a sport for me,” the Blacktown teenager said. “I’m extremely excited to represent the Western Sydney community.
AFL is still a growing sport out there and I’m glad to put it forward as an opportunity and pathway for kids in Western Sydney to take. It’s not a foreign sport, there are plenty of pathways GAYNOR CUP HILLS JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION LIFT Josaia Delana is very excited to be a part of the GWS Giants roster. Picture Martin Keep that they can take to be drafted and become a professional sportsperson. I’m so excited to represent where I have come from.
“I’m a very loyal person as well so to see the Giants have put their faith in me ans\d to play for them makes me extremely excited to give it all back and give everything back.
“It’s going to be unreal going back to the clubs and schools and now being the athlete delivering the clinics or going out for training sessions as an AFL player.
“To think that I was one of those kids not long ago to now being supposedly someone they can look up to and gain inspiration from is awesome. It feels so good to be able to give back to this community and I’ve had a really enjoyable experience coming up through the ranks.
Possessing clean hands, strong decision-making and an explosive sidestep, Delana represented the Allies on four occasions in 2024, with eight games for the Giants’ VFL side.
“I only started playing AFL when I was 13, through the school system and AFL NSW/ ACT. Setting up the clinics actually paid for my registration the first year,” Delana said.
“I was always playing AFL and league or AFL and union or AFL and soccer, always Sunday footy and when I hit 16, Mum and Dad said it’s time to make a decision on what I wanted to focus on and I chose AFL.”
Delana has begun pre-season training at the Giants HQ in Sydney Olympic Park. “It’s honestly unbelievable,” Delana says. “From watching them on the big screen and sitting on the other side of the fence to now having the opportunity to be on the field playing and having those supporters and community that I was a part of, their cheering on is just so hard to still imagine.
“I think about the feeling of running out on the field and I am just so excited.”