Greater Western Sydney made a meritorious start to their 2012 AFL pre-season campaign on Saturday night, recording tight losses to Collingwood and Western Bulldogs in Blacktown.

Both games were decided by less than a kick.

Both had the scrappy look of a match played in February and both Victorian sides were minus plenty of stars.

Nonetheless, GWS’s talented youngsters came within a whisker of beating both sides and undoubtedly planted a few second thoughts into the minds of those expecting their side to go through the premiership season without a win.

The Giants rallied after Collingwood had kicked three consecutive goals in the second half, snatching a three-point lead before Magpie Jackson Paine kicked a spectacular match-winning goal from the boundary line.

GWS then had a handful of chances to regain the lead in the dying stages, most notably when Rhys Cooyou trotted to the cusp of the 50m arc with the ball in hand, but were unable to deliver the knockout punch.

Earlier, the hosts had lacked potency up forward against the ‘Dogs, but were a long way from being disgraced in the 0.5.5 (35) to 1.3.3 (30) loss.

Giants co-captain Phil Davis even had a late chance to tie the game in a goalsquare scramble, but his handball failed to find Curtly Hampton and the ball tumbled over for a behind.

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy then underlined how serious his pre-match promise to “play all the kids” was.

Sheedy rested AFL-experienced players Luke Power, Rhys Palmer, Callan Ward, Tom Scully, James McDonald and Chad Cornes against the Magpies.

It should have made for an even more one-sided demolition job than what pundits were expecting pre-match.

It didn’t.

The Giants got the better of the Magpies in the first half, and when Jonathan Giles booted the opening goal of the second half they held a 12-point lead.

The fairytale wasn’t to be – the visitors holding on for a 0.5.5 (35) to 0.5.2 (32) win.

However, GWS gelled well and looked mostly settled in defence and midfield.

Their forward delivery wasn’t always on target, something code hopper Israel Folau found hard to deal with throughout the night.

Folau’s tally for the first game was a modest three handballs and two freekicks against, while he failed to register a possession in the second match.