GREATER Western Sydney has failed to handle the pressure of big games this season and must make a stand against Fremantle this afternoon, Adam Tomlinson says.

The Giants had a chance to consolidate a spot in the top eight and just about lock themselves in for a finals berth against Geelong last week, but produced a disappointing performance and lost by 27 points in Canberra.

They now sit in tenth spot and face the competition's top side in Perth, but a victory over the Dockers would see them jump into eighth on the ladder, sending the Cats back to ninth.

Tomlinson says the Giants needs a challenge like Fremantle to snap them into gear after last week's poor showing.

"The game had a bit of expectation on it and I feel that a lot of times when there's a bit of expectation we underperform and don't put the hard work in that we should," Tomlinson told AFL.com.au.

"It's as if everyone is relying on someone else, everyone sits back a little bit and waits for the usual people to step up, but we've all got to put our hand up and go for it.

"I think it's a perfect game for us to prove ourselves. We don't have a great record over there but there's a lower expectation of us and there's not as much riding on this game.

"We're not just going to wave the white flag, and I really want to play some hard, contested football against them."

Tomlinson played his 50th game against the Cats and has settled back into senior footy with ease after missing a large chunk of the season with a toe injury.

The 21 year-old key position player went down against Melbourne in round two, and didn't play again until round 15 against St Kilda at Spotless Stadium.

Despite playing just one game in the NEAFL, Tomlinson asked Giants coach Leon Cameron to play on Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt and kept the champ to one goal and 14 possessions for the day.

Tomlinson's flexibility has seen him used as a ruckman, forward and key defender in 2015, and despite his shutdown role on Riewoldt, he sees himself at his most dangerous inside the Giants' forward 50.

"I prefer playing in the forward line purely because I can dictate where I run, and I feel as though my running ability is one of my greatest strengths," he said.

"I sit down with Leon (Cameron) a fair bit. I get on really well with him and we always speak about the ability to go forward and back and learning both roles as well as each other.

"I feel that when I go to the backline it's one of the best learning experiences you can have for when you play forward, because you can work out what you hate being done to you.

"For me it's a great strength being able to play at both ends – it gives the coaches confidence that if something goes wrong in the backline I can jump down there, or vice versa.

"I like having that responsibility, it's a little bit harder in some ways but I do enjoy it."

The Giants have locked down some of their stars in Jeremy Cameron, Dylan Shiel and Stephen Coniglio in recent months, but Tomlinson says all the talk and media speculation surrounding the club's out of contract players has had no effect on the team.

Midfielder Adam Treloar is the key target still unsigned beyond this season, with rumours he's being heavily courted by several Melbourne clubs, but Tomlinson doesn't believe the playing future of the young gun is a burden on the Giants.

"A little bit of stick gets thrown around banter-wise, but it's not really up to us. Everyone has their different reasons for signing, and some people might want to sign now or sign later on," Tomlinson said.

"Some of the boys take it pretty personally and some are pretty open about it, but it's not something we go into much depth about.

"We leave it up to the individual and the ones that have re-signed are really happy that they've done so."