They’ve set a club record for most wins in a AFL season, but for GWS the fun is just about to start, according to coach Leon Cameron.
A showpiece high stakes game against Collingwood at the MCG looms, in front of probably the biggest crowd in their brief history.
The Giants moved to 7-3 for the year, but only sporadically sparkled in a 14.13 (97) to 10.7 (67) victory over a plucky but vastly understrength Brisbane at Spotless Stadium on Sunday.
The win lifted GWS into fourth ahead of Collingwood, who play Melbourne on Monday before hosting the Giants at the MCG next Sunday.
The crowd is very likely to be the largest yet to watch a Giants game, exceeding the 44,770 that watched them play the Crows in Adelaide last year.
Cameron conceded the match was likely to be the biggest in the Giants history, with a win putting them in a great position to make a maiden finals appearance heading into the second half of their campaign.
“If you eventually want to play finals footy, you’ve got to be able to play well at the MCG, so we’ve got a huge challenge against Collingwood,” Cameron said.
“It’s probably going to be built up to be a really good game and another experience we look forward to, we really want.
“We need to be at our very very best to take on Collingwood and we need to pick up some areas we let ourselves down in today, but confident we can take it right up to them.
“We’re pleased we’re sitting 7-3, it’s been a great start to our 2015 year, but we know the fun is just about to start.
Cameron cited ball use and decision making as areas his team needed to lift in
The vastly understrength Lions competed well for most of the game, but the Giants slammed on four straight final-quarter goals to secure their landmark seventh win, eclipsing the six victories they notched last year.
The Lions led by four points at the first break, but were outscored six goals to two in the second quarter, before rallying at the death to kick the last three goals.
“I was happy with the competitive effort, the game could have blown out again towards the end,” Lions’ coach Justin Leppitsch said.
“There was some positives to take out of the game.”
The defensive efforts of debutant Hugh Beasley and second-gamer Jordan Bourke pleased Leppitsch, as did the efforts of Allen Christensen with 31 touches and Dayne Beams, who had 29 possessions and three goals.
Cameron was delighted with the four-quarter effort of his co-captain and midfield prime mover Callan Ward, who accumulated 32 touches, while ruckman Shane Mumford rebounded from a rare off day last week with 51 hitouts
