LOSING Adam Treloar to Collingwood was a big blow for Greater Western Sydney, but not as bad as many think, says Dylan Shiel.
Shiel has nothing but admiration for Treloar - but he firmly believes the Giants' midfield has never been placed better to take the AFL by storm.
Treloar is a blue-chip midfielder, averaging 27.5 disposals in 2015 and 25 touches over his 79 career games, so his loss will be felt – and Giants coach Leon Cameron hasn't tried to disguise the fact.
"You don't have three or four clubs offering him (Treloar) six-year deals for no reason," the coach said.
"Adam has the deal of a lifetime (at Collingwood).
"We'll miss him, but one of the greatest things is we feel as though we've got some great kids coming up."
After missing the final eight games of last season with a knee injury, Shiel is one of the Giants' Generation Next expected to pick up the slack.
"I think the balance of our midfield is as good as ever," Shiel told AFL.com.au on the Giants' pre-season training camp in Noosa.
"We've got a great captain in Callan Ward leading from the front, we've got Steve Coniglio, Ryan Griffen going into his second year at the club, Tom Scully, Josh Kelly, Lachie Whitfield, our outside midfielders.
"I think individually those younger guys are ready to take their game to another level.
"It's easy to harp on about how good we could be, or what we need to work on, but you never really know until games arrive."
Shiel, now 22 and with 64 games under his belt, has as much talent as any of his teammates. But all he wants to hear about is performance.
"Adam's a massive talent and a massive loss to our midfield group because he was such a prolific ball winner, but it gives opportunities for blokes like Jack Steele and Jacob Hopper to come through," Shiel said.
"There's no excuses.
"Those early years, yes we were young, but we were significantly beaten by not just older, more experienced midfielders, but by better ones.
"We're trying to bridge that gap and I think the last two years we've made some really big steps.
"Being a young side we were able to show glimpses of what we could do, but we let ourselves down, more from a mental point of view with our lapses of concentration, which we're trying to address."
Dylan Shiel was in career-best form early in 2015 before injury struck. Picture: AFL Media
Shiel has recovered well from a torn lateral meniscus and is back in full training.
He is a meticulous and considered young player, and says if the Giants are to improve on last season's 11 wins, it will come from the young core.
It's a challenge he relishes after having to watch his teammates fade out in the back half of last season.
"I was watching most of the games in Sydney from the coaches' box, which was educational, but at the same time it was very frustrating not being out there," he said.
"We only won four games in the second half of the season, which was hard to watch. It definitely hurt."
