GREATER Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley remains confident the Giants can still contend for the premiership even after Sydney dismantled them by 27 points at Engie Stadium.
The Giants trailed by as much as 58 points early in the third term but fought back with eight of the last 10 goals of the game to give the rampant Swans a hint of a scare on Saturday.
GIANTS v SWANS Full match coverage and stats
Despite the Giants' fifth loss in their past seven matches and an up-close view of the benchmark, Kingsley has backed his side to match it with the ladder leaders and stay in the premiership race.
"Absolutely. Very confident," Kingsley said on whether the Giants are still in contention. "We got beaten by clearly the best team in the competition and they're going to be the ones that everyone has to beat.
"But again, I'm really confident in the way that we played. I thought we fought hard, we've got some players to come back, who knows what's possible.
"We're certainly better placed this year than what we were last year and we were able to string a bit of a run together. I'm really confident in our people."
The Giants expect vice-captain Stephen Coniglio, as well as Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming and Darcy Jones to be available for selection next week.
But gun defender Sam Taylor will be given time to recover from a ruptured testicle sustained in the win over Port Adelaide last week.
"I would expect 'Cogs' to be fit," Kingsley said. "He got through training, no problems, just wasn't 100 per cent confident without the same level of contact (in training).
"We're not going to push (Taylor). It's not a great injury.
“We're going to take as much time as he needs, we're going to make sure that he's comfortable and ready to run first. That might even be a couple of weeks."
The Swans have now won 10 matches in a row for just the second time since 1932, with the only other occasion since then being in 2014 when they reached the Grand Final.
Their latest emphatic victory was once again built on a midfield dominance with Errol Gulden electric as he gathered 41 disposals to earn a third consecutive Brett Kirk Medal.
But with Isaac Heeney having one of his quietest matches of the season and Chad Warner well held by Giants forward-turned-tagger Toby Bedford, James Rowbottom stepped up with a dominant display.
The bullocking onballer gathered a career-high 31 disposals along with game-highs for clearances (11) and score involvements (10), in arguably the best performance of his 107 matches.
"He was fantastic," Swans coach John Longmire said. "He was really good early in the game and then he paid a bit more attention to (Tom) Green in that second half.
"Green was going really well and Rowbottom's ability to (shut him down) was fantastic.
"He's been very important for us. He puts enormous pressure on the contest. His contest-to-contest surge running was really important."
