Melbourne coach Neil Craig admits winless Greater Western Sydney deserve their favouritism for Saturday’s bottom-of-the-table AFL clash with the Demons.
The Giants pushed Collingwood hard last round while the Demons suffered a 122-point thrashing at the hands of North Melbourne.
“If you looked at GWS’s form last week and you looked at our form, I know who I’d have favourite, wouldn’t you?” Craig told reporters on Wednesday.
“I understand that. That’s okay, that’s not going to go away.
“We certainly want to get good enough to be the favourite every week.”
Craig said the Giants’ form over the past three weeks had been pretty good.
He admitted he was unsure how his players would rebound from their belting from the Kangaroos.
He said clubs with great cultures had high expectations in any situation and looked at times of adversity such as this as a chance to learn and improve.
But asked if the Demons had the resilience to make a strong stand this week he said: “I don’t know, time will tell.”
Craig admitted the Demons defence, which will be missing James Frawley through injury, faced a challenge to handle Giants forward Jeremy Cameron, who produced a stunning seven-goal haul against the Magpies.
Video footage of Cameron’s performance had been on high rotation in the television in his office this week.
“It puts you off your lunch every now and again,” Craig joked.
“You love to see really exceptional talent coming through, new talent, fresh talent.
“He could be a 10 or 12-year player who’s going to excite the crowds.
“But that’s okay, I’ve got great confidence in the guys we’ve got to be able to stand him.”