Greater Western Sydney co-captain Callan Ward says his team must get stronger for longer to move forward as an AFL club.
The Giants were on track to post just their third ever win as they led Melbourne by 19 points at three-quarter-time at the MCG on Sunday.
Instead they were run over to lose by 41 points – the under-fire Demons running riot with a 12-goal term to decimate the second-year side.
Ward admitted the Giants had to overcome their late fadeouts to take the next step in their development.
“As a whole playing group it was extremely tough out there in that last quarter,” he said of a term in which the desperate Demons denied GWS in the stoppages and made them bleed on the scoreboard.
“We just need to find a way to battle it out and finish off games.
“That, at the moment, is a problem.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Giants coach Kevin Sheedy, though he doesn’t yet believe reading the riot act to his young players is the right way to toughen them up.
“We’re playing our 26th game, we’re three goals up, and it’s as if the dam’s opened up,” Sheedy said.
“I don’t think it’s fitness.
“It’s about building up players to have a system that can handle a 120-minute game … and make sure these bodies get trained gradually.
“If you rush it and break them down, you’re asking for trouble.”
Winless this season, the Giants now face a critical clash with fellow expansion club Gold Coast Suns in Canberra on Saturday.