GREATER Western Sydney has made a flying start to the season, but star defender Heath Shaw isn't taking anything for granted.
The Giants are sitting 5-2 after backing up last week's belting of Hawthorn with an impressive 18-point triumph over Fremantle for the club's first win in Perth.
Last season, the Giants were being talked-up for a maiden finals appearance after also winning five of their first seven games.
But things went pear shaped in the second half of the year and they finished 11th.
"So far so good. We'll take it. We're five and two but there's still room for improvement," Shaw said.
"There are parts of the game we know we can get better and parts of the game that we can definitely improve and that's good for this group.
"We're definitely not going to get ahead of ourselves because we know where we stand."
Shaw was among the Giants' best in their first triumph over Fremantle and breakthrough win at Domain Stadium.
The versatile defender had 26 touches in his entertaining battles with Dockers forward dynamos Michael Walters and Hayden Ballantyne.
Saturday night's victory was the Giants' fourth in a row - another first for the AFL's newest club - and added an exclamation mark to their ultra-impressive 75-point victory over Hawthorn in round six.
But while that win produced some glittering passages of play, round seven was all about slugging it out. Both teams kicked only four goals each in the second half.
"We had two teams that were pretty good contested ball sides going at it, it was two pretty solid midfields. It was a good contest," Shaw said.
"I think sometimes you need to win the tough ones and that was a really tough game. Last week it was open and free flowing, and high scoring but we had to really work hard this week and it was a real positive that we had to grind it out and we were able to come out on top."
The Giants host struggling Gold Coast next week, who are on a four-match losing run and coming off a dire 73-point belting by Melbourne on Saturday, but Shaw remains cautious.
"You've seen the competition, it's pretty even. Anyone on their day can beat anyone," he said.
"It's showed that in the first seven rounds so we need to be on our toes."
