The Giants were busy in the NAB AFL Trade Period, securing two-time best and fairest winners Griffen and Patfull from the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions respectively.

To complement that, they added speedy half forward Jarrod Pickett with their first selection in the draft, pick No.4.

Their other top-10 selections netted tall defender Caleb Marchbank with pick No.6 and classy midfielder Paul Ahern at pick No.7.

But it's the arrival of Griffen and Patfull that has left them believing finals in 2015 is now a realistic prospect.

"I think that's certainly the approach we took into the trade period, to see if we could secure some additional established players," CEO Dave Matthews told SEN on Friday.

"Last year we got [Shane] Mumford and [Heath] Shaw and Josh Hunt and these players came in and made a significant difference.

"We were very committed to seeing what we could get. Ryan Griffen is one of the best players in the competition and Joel Patfull is a best and fairest winner in defence for Brisbane.

"Those guys certainly give us an opportunity to improve in those areas but then just the natural development and improvement of our list anyway, we think we've got an opportunity to push for finals."

As part of the Griffen trade, the Giants had to let go of last year's No.1 draftee, Boyd, who was keen to return to Victoria after just one season.

Matthews said the deal offered by the Bulldogs to Boyd – believed to average out at around $1million a season over seven years – was "far too good to refuse" for the emerging forward.

He added the Giants would "never have intended" to match it at the end of next year when Boyd came out of his initial two-year contract with the club.