Why AFL upset was hugely ‘significant’

It was the effort – not the result – that Leon Cameron had been craving for a couple of months.

The Greater Western Sydney coach was unashamedly proud of his team after it outplayed and then outlasted red-hot Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Friday night by 19 points.

Cameron has had no choice but to bemoan bad patches of games the Giants had dominated at times, yet conspired to lose, in the past six rounds.

But with undoubtedly the least experience side he has mustered in that time, the Giants played their way back into finals contention on Friday night despite losing eight players – and more than 930 games of AFL experience – to injuries this week alone.

“It’s a significant win, we’re not going to deny that,” beamed Cameron, who coached from the bench for almost the entire match against a team that won 11 of its past 12 matches.

“It’s probably one of the better wins we’ve had.

“It was really good watching at ground level, a pleasure to watch, because they kept hanging in there, (even though) they made some mistakes.

“We’ll enjoy it tonight, those wins don’t come around a lot, but we wake up tomorrow with a smile on our face and we look forward to next week.”

The Cats’ minor premiership tilt is now in doubt. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Cameron was particularly glowing in his assessment of young defender Sam Taylor, who completely blanketed champion Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins, keeping him to one goal and outmarking him 12-5.

“It’s significant. We clearly missed him for that six weeks (from Round 11) when he was out with that ankle injury, but he’s been unbelievably awesome,” Cameron said.

“If he wasn’t injured in the middle of the year, he’d probably be in line for All Australian – he reads the ball so well and he wants to take on the big forwards.

“Clearly there’s not many bigger than Hawkins … and his significant last quarter was just first class. He likes those big moments and he seems to keep doing it week in and week out and our boys just grow so much confidence when he’s out there.”

Taylor (L) turned in a best-on-ground performance against Geelong. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Cameron, finally and almost without warning, has a selection quandary on his hands with up to six of his seasoned stars expected to be available for next week’s clash with Richmond.

“There’ll be some players who put their hand up for next week as well because we had a five-day break and we didn’t think they could perform at that level on such a short break,” he said.

“Clearly spots are tight and the guys who ran out today have sent a really strong message to the others that they want to play AFL footy and for us, that’s a really good spot to be.

“The challenge for us is to get that consistency. We’ve had a little bad luck in the past six weeks, but you can’t shy away from that. If you want to play finals footy, you’ve got to turn up each week and play your four quarters.

“We played a really good tough brand last week against Port Adelaide, I was proud of the way we played but we didn’t get the result.

“Our first half against the Swans was good, but we dropped away in the third; Gold Coast we messed up the first quarter; Hawthorn we messed up the second quarter; and in the end, it costs you games here and there and that’s why we’ve been in and out of the eight.

“I understand we’re young and will make some mistakes, but clearly we’re looking to close that gap. It was our most consistent performance tonight.

“Our challenge is to win two, three and four in a row if you want to compete at the end.”

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