GREATER Western Sydney has responded to AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick's line that the new club now had "no more excuses", declaring it has never made any and is more than ready to compete.
Fitzpatrick raised a few eyebrows at the opening of GWS' new training and admin centre last week when he said everything was now in place for the club and suggested it was time for it to step up to the plate.
He had earlier stated the Giants had been a little behind League expectations over their first two years in the competition in terms of wins and losses.
But the newcomers are welcoming increased pressure heading into year three and embracing the challenge, according to first-year coach Leon Cameron.
"I don't think we've had any excuses since the start anyway," Cameron told reporters on Wednesday.
"Mike's obviously formed his opinion after the opening of our fantastic facility last week, but we haven't had any excuses either.
"We understand we're a club that's building from scratch, but our kids don’t use any excuses.
"We're here to perform week in, week out.
"I look at it as nothing new, we're a young club and we're ready to roll."
Asked if Fitzpatrick's comments had surprised him, Cameron responded: "No, I think it's good. The pressure is on everyone.
"The pressure is on us and it's on the other 17 footy clubs.
"This game is full of pressure and I think our players are ready to advance to the next level, all of our staff, our coaches, everyone.
"We've had a couple of years to find our feet, we're into our new facility here and we look forward to the 2014 season proper."
The Giants, who opened their 2014 pre-season with a 40-point defeat to the Sydney Swans last week, will continue their preparations against St Kilda in Wagga Wagga on Saturday.
Tom Boyd won't be there, instead turning out for the reserves in a practice match in Canberra due to a slightly disrupted pre-season so far.
But the Giants will unveil last year's No.2 overall draft pick Josh Kelly, who has impressed during his short time as a Giant.
Tom Scully is also in doubt with an ankle problem.
"We thought our guys that played last week performed pretty well," Cameron said.
"It's not a matter of rotating, there will be a couple of guys that come into the squad.
"Young Josh Kelly will play his first game, which is fantastic for our footy club.
"He's a really professional young kid and prepares himself really well.
"He's well respected, just because of his work ethic around the group. For a first-year player to make that sort of impact has been great."
Overall Cameron is pleased with his young side's progress, which included some competitive stretches against the Swans in Canberra.
"We were rapt with some of the things in terms of maintaining the ball for a bit longer than we did last year, a lot more inside 50s, (and) we thought we matched it in terms of contested ball for periods of the game," he said.
"They probably had the better of us in the second quarter, but generally our ball movement was a little bit better."
Twitter: @AFL_JD http://afl.to/jamesdampney
