GREATER Western Sydney has enjoyed bigger and more convincing wins this season, but coach Leon Cameron says the more like Saturday's grind against Gold Coast, the better.
The Giants won by 15 points, but only after staving off a plucky Suns outfit that briefly hit the lead in the final term despite a mountain of statistics building against them.
GWS won the disposal count (384-305), inside 50s (53-37) and had 29 scoring shots to 19, but took until the final 10 minutes to seal victory.
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Cameron was delighted with his team's maturity, but said they were still not good enough to think about finals yet, despite being securely locked in the top eight.
"I like our boys playing these sorts of games," Cameron said.
"It doesn't come easy and they've got to understand, they've got to be patient, they've got to show composure, they've got to communicate, things they wouldn't have even thought about when they were playing Under-16s, Under-18s.
Five talking points: Gold Coast v Greater Western Sydney
"The more and more we play in these tough, tight games, the better off we're going to be."
The Giants now boast a 9-6 win-loss record ahead of hosting Geelong in Canberra next Saturday in what Cameron hopes will be a sellout contest.
History shows 12 - or maybe 13 - wins will be enough to play finals, but the Giants coach said his team couldn't take their eye off next week.
"We are a young side knowing we're heading in the right direction,” he said.
"We've made some really great improvement this year. We're three games ahead of what we did last year in terms of wins, but we're not good enough to look that far ahead, yet.
WATCH: Leon Cameron's full press conference
"In saying that I don't want to put a ceiling on our young boys because they want to have a crack every week.
"Two wins in a row without some of our key personnel in (Shane) Mumford and (Phil) Davis and (Joel) Patfull shows that some of the young kids believe they can do things on the ground without that sort of leadership."
Cameron was full of praise for game-breaking half-forward Devon Smith, who kicked three of his four goals in the final term to get his team over the line.
"Devon's such a competitor. He's a huge part of our footy club. It was pleasing he stood up in that last quarter when we needed him."
