They’re the talk of the AFL after crushing Hawthorn but Greater Western Sydney want to win more than just praise.
GWS smashed the triple reigning premiers by 75 points in round six, producing arguably their most eye-catching performance since joining the league in 2012.
Giants coach Leon Cameron declared his boys are now men, while four-time premiership mentor Leigh Matthews was among many pundits impressed.
“We always knew with the list they got together that the Giants were coming but maybe the future is now. That was outstanding,” Matthews said on the Seven Network.
Key forward Jeremy Cameron termed it an amazing result and a confidence booster for a side chasing their maiden finals berth.
But Cameron added there was still much to do, starting with Saturday’s match against cellar-dwelling Fremantle at Domain Stadium.
It will be GWS’s seventh match at the venue.
“We’ve never won over there. It’s something we really want to do, we want to tick it off,” Cameron told AAP.
“We’ll review the win tomorrow, put that behind us and focus on going over to Perth.”
Finals are of course the long-term target, one that the 23-year-old is aware of but not obsessing over.
“It’s always been a goal for us, even in years before this,” he said.
“We want to make finals and go deep in finals.
“It’s something you can’t think about too much. You always have it in the back of your mind but you don’t focus on it.”
It’s been a long journey for the expansion franchise, now sitting pretty in fifth spot on the ladder with a 4-2 record.
Cameron knows that better than most, having been one of the first players snapped up by the club as part of list concessions in 2010.
“We’ve sat through a lot of hard times,” he said.
“We knew these days would start to come, if we continued to work hard and focus on trying to become better.”
Gold Coast, the other recent addition to the competition, aren’t faring quite so well.
Suns coach Rodney Eade called his side’s 120-point loss to Geelong appalling and embarrassing.
The Cats climbed up to second spot on the ladder after the shellacking, while North Melbourne remain the only undefeated team.
North pipped Western Bulldogs by 16 points in Friday night’s top-of-the-table tussle at Etihad Stadium.
Sydney shored up their place in the top four on Sunday but were given an almighty scare in a three-point win over Brisbane.
St Kilda accounted for Melbourne with ease in round six, while the Dockers remain winless after going down to Adelaide by 33 points.
Fremantle’s finals hopes have almost been extinguished, likewise Richmond who disappointed in a 35-point loss to Port Adelaide at the MCG.
