Outgoing GWS CEO Dave Matthews has explained why he has decided to part ways with the club.

On Wednesday, the Giants confirmed that the club’s inaugural CEO would leave the club at the end of the season after 15 years of service.

Since his appointment in 2011, the former AFL executive has played a key role in the side’s entry into the AFL and continued success which has seen the Big Big Sound make eight of the last 10 finals series.  

Reflecting on his decision to leave the AFL’s 18th side, Matthews believed that, given where the club was placed, it was simply the right time.  

“It just felt like good timing,” Matthews told SEN’s Sportsday.

“I've been here a long time (at the AFL), when Andrew Demetriou asked me to go in with (inaugural President) Tony Sheppard, it was three months initially and then six months, and it became a year.

“I had a decision to make at the end of the first year, whether I was going to go back to my AFL executive role or stay on at the Giants.

“I was just so passionate about the challenge of it.

“It's an enormous opportunity for the AFL, and I think we've made some inroads and we're going to make some further inroads in the years to come. So, the 15 years have gone really quickly.

“But I just felt the club's in good shape, and I spoke to the president, Tim Reed and the board and just said, yeah, the end of this season would be a good time to sort of step away.”

One of the key deals during Matthews’ tenure has been the club’s agreement with the ACT Government.

Since the Giants’ entry in 2012, the club has played at least three AFL home and away games, with the deal now including AFLW and pre-season matches.

While the deal has drawn criticism for taking the Giants out of Western Sydney while ENGIE Stadium hosts the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Matthews thinks that the club should play more matches in the nation’s capital.

“Well, I think a little bit like Hawthorn's presence in Tasmania, there's a number of things that we should all be pleased about with Canberra,” he added.

“The first thing is that it's given, the Giants have given the AFL a meaningful presence in Canberra.

“I mean, we're going to end up with over 7,000 members. We pretty much sell it (Manuka Oval) out.

“I was speaking to the (ACT) Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, because we share the ambition he has to try to upgrade Manuka Oval.

"So, what we do in Canberra, I think, as a club, we don't want to be a caravan rolling in and out.

“We want to have a 365-day presence. I'd like to play more games there.

“I think the pre-season games should become four point games, and that would allow us to play another men's game there. We play AFLW there. It's enormous.

“And the Easter Show period, to be honest, it's a fact that we have to deal with each year.

“But what it allows us to do is get a couple of games away in Canberra.”

The Giants take on their crosstown rivals, the Sydney Swans, on Friday night at the SCG.

SEN will have live coverage of the match from 7pm AEST on SEN Fanatic on the SEN app alongside SEN 1170 and SENQ from 8:05pm.

The match begins at 7:50pm.