IF YOU just so happened to stroll into Engie Stadium last Sunday at three-quarter time without knowing the score and caught a glimpse of Adam Kingsley, you'd have been forgiven for thinking his side was a long way shy of the 52-point margin in its favour against West Coast.

The Greater Western Sydney coach's frustrations had started to build towards the end of the third term as the Eagles had three of the last four scoring shots before the final change.

That was expressed in the sternest of fashions to his charges before they broke away in their respective positional lines.

Perhaps Kingsley's mind had wandered back to the trauma of last year's semi-final at the same ground, where his team inexplicably surrendered a 44-point lead from the 18-minute mark of the third quarter.

And even if deep down he knew the Eagles were far from capable yet of generating the same unfathomable comeback, it was a chance to remind his players of what can occur from just the most momentary of concentration lapses.

"It was mainly a message about building good habits and sticking to the way we want to play," midfield star Josh Kelly said.

"There was a period in that third quarter where West Coast were on top for a period of time and we weren't able to swing the game back or do those little things that we want to be known for.

"If you offer teams even little periods of control in games then the score can swing pretty quickly.

"'Kingers' was putting that on the radar and ensuring it wasn't one where you just take a 40- to 50-point win but rather playing our way for four quarters and having a really strong win."

The Kingsley address was certainly heeded as the Giants poured on six goals to one in the last quarter to stretch the final margin out to 81 points.

That was helped along by Jesse Hogan, who kicked three of those goals for an equal career-best nine majors and a reminder that the Coleman medallist is still as dominant a force as any key forward in the competition.

Kelly spent several seasons with Jeremy Cameron as a focal point up forward for the Giants and he's well aware of the luxury that standard of target presents to midfielders, now in the form of Hogan.

"He's an unbelievable player. His strength in the contest, his work rate, his ability to help out his other forwards is unbelievable," Kelly said.

"The work he puts in from Monday to Friday, a lot of it behind closed doors is huge. He works hard on the track but then the little things he does to put himself in a position to play, especially coming off the thumb injury he had where he wasn't able to train the way he would have liked to for a month or so."

The Giants' attention now turns to the early-season surprise packet in St Kilda on Sunday at Norwood Oval as part of Gather Round.

The Saints are coming off an away win in that state against Port Adelaide last week for their third in a row.

Much like the Giants with Toby Bedford, they have a bonafide tagger in Marcus Windhager, who may be sent to the boom onballer of the opening month for the Giants in Finn Callaghan. 

"It's (getting tagged) something that's a little new to him," said Kelly of his fellow midfielder.

"He absolutely loves the challenge of it. He's someone that wants to be the best and dealing with tags is part of that. We've had a couple of conversations in regards to that because it's something he'll have to deal with going forward.

"He's the kind of player that understands that attention and thrives off that."

Like Callaghan is now, it was Kelly who once occupied the mantle of the fresh-faced, silky-smooth, left-footed youngster in the Giants midfield.

The 219-gamer is still as damaging as many onballers in the competition amid an excellent first month of the campaign and is enjoying his craft as much as ever.

"I still love it. It's hard to believe I'm 30 now, it's definitely snuck up on me. I remember thinking this will go on forever. But I'm still feeling really good and fit," Kelly said.

"I'm able to be a leader within the club and impact younger guys. It's very enjoyable and hopefully it's our best year yet coming and that's something that really does keep me going."