GWS football manager Jason McCartney has defended his AFL club’s under-fire coach and captain, as they attempted to the bottom of the derby debacle in a late-night debrief on Thursday.

Last year’s grand finalists have been inconsistent throughout a stop-start season in their search for a maiden premiership, but crashed to a new low in a 41-point loss to Sydney.

The Giants equalled their lowest ever score of 3.7 (25), a mark set in last year’s grand-final loss.

Coach Leon Cameron and captain Stephen Coniglio, who described his team’s opening half as “hopeless”, have both copped widespread criticism.

Some pundits have suggested GWS should revoke a two-year contract extension for Cameron, which has been agreed in principle but is yet to be officially signed off.

“We were really poor,” McCartney said.

“It’s more than coaching. I can’t fault, from what I’ve seen, the way Leon’s been going about things all year.

“He’s been outstanding.

“We’re all in it together. You just feel really disappointed for our members, sponsors and supporters to watch that on TV against our arch rival.”

McCartney argued it was also wrong to point the finger at Coniglio.

“We’re happy with how Steve is going,” he said.

“It’s a pretty unique year to be in his situation as a first-year captain.”

The Giants’ official review of the loss came on Friday afternoon.

But the leadership group, McCartney, Cameron and his assistant coaches came together on Thursday night to work out what went so horribly wrong.

“You want to get it off your chest that night. You don’t always get the answers you need but you start to stimulate thought and discussion,” McCartney said.

GWS next face premiership contenders West Coast.

“There’s probably no greater test … that will be the true indication of where we’re at,” McCartney said.