Greater Western Sydney's emerging stars need to start believing they are good enough to overcome quality opposition on the road before the GIANTS will fulfill their enormous potential, coach Leon Cameron says.
The GIANTS went down by 10 points to Geelong in a gutsy performance on Saturday at Simonds Stadium, a week after they fell 22 points short of the Crows in Adelaide.
GWS was always in the contest against the Cats, but Cameron lamented the fact his team couldn't limit the damage when the home side had the momentum.
Speaking after the match, Cameron said playing away from Spotless Stadium couldn't be an excuse.
"We've got to get to a stage where it doesn't matter where you play," he said.
"You want to be able to think that you can win every game. We're probably not right there yet, but I reckon we've made some serious inroads from last year, serious inroads."
Five talking points: Geelong v Greater Western Sydney
Cameron pointed to ex-Geelong triple-premiership player Steve Johnson, who booted a goal from 19 touches on his return to the Cattery, as a shining example of a footballer who has the confidence to try to win matches.
"He just wants to win. I want our players to believe like he believes, that's the next step for our players, they've got to believe they do belong playing against these really good sides," Cameron said.
"If you don't believe, that's why you fumble, that's why you make poor decisions going ahead of the footy, that's why you miss goals when you should kick goals.
"You've got to believe. Steve Johnson believes.
"We were watching him with four minutes to go and he's making a 50m dash from one part of the ground to the other because he wants to get on the end of the footy and make a difference.
"That needs to be more infectious to our players.
"When games came around like this every week – and we want them every week – play your role, be the difference and want to win."
In greasy conditions in Geelong, the GIANTS' defenders – led by co-captain Phil Davis on his return after three weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring issue – held up bravely despite their side conceding a whopping 28 more inside 50s.
GWS only trailed by two points at the final change, but two unnecessary 50m penalties to Tom Hawkins and Joel Selwood cost crucial goals in the last term and Cameron's men couldn't hit the front.
"(The 50m penalties were) disappointing, absolutely. The heat of the moment, the intensity of the game, the crowd … we need to keep our cool," Cameron said.
Cameron praised Dylan Shiel (32 disposals) after his hard-working effort, although he conceded forwards Jeremy Cameron (nine possessions) and Jon Patton (10, one goal) have to work on ways to impact matches when conditions are tough for big men.
With the GIANTS sitting seventh with a 7-4 record, finals are on the horizon and Cameron wants to see consistency from his rapidly improving outfit in the second half of the season.
"We need to sustain and we need to be better at not letting the opposition get on a roll," he said.
"We've won four out of eight quarters (in the past two weeks), played some pretty good footy, but we've also played some poor footy as well.
"There's too big a gap between our best and our worst."
The GIANTS return to Spotless Stadium to take on cross-town rivals the Swans in a blockbuster clash on Sunday.
