CRITICS of Greater Western Sydney's performance in its loss to Hawthorn on Sunday – from inside and outside the club – haven't missed the Giants over the past couple of days, and the players are happy to admit they only have themselves to blame.
The Giants trailed the Hawks by just seven points at half-time of the clash at the MCG but managed just one goal for the rest of the match, as they were picked apart by the home side's passing game.
Some of the club's best players this season were well below their best, with Stephen Coniglio, Jacob Hopper and Jeremy Cameron failing to lay a tackle between them, and the team kicked just 5.8 for the day, with three of those coming from Jeremy Finlayson.
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Former Geelong great and GWS board member Jimmy Bartel was one of many to lash the performance, calling it the worst loss in the club's history, but co-captain Phil Davis said his players had more to worry about ahead of Sunday's match-up with Carlton at Giants Stadium.
"I'm not big into that (sort of stuff), I don't have a board at home listing every loss or every win (we've had) and where they sit," he said.
"The great thing about football is that everyone is entitled to have their say and I'm sure lots of other people have had their opinions too.
"What I do say to our fans and our members and our supporters is that we're really disappointed.
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"There's no doubt the way we played is not Giants football, it's not what we want to do, but the great thing about this competition is that you get to hit reset every week.
"We've got to address some of the wrongs from the weekend and we're confident we can do that.
"We're hungry to atone for such a performance against Carlton."
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Davis said he saw no indications in the lead-up to the match that such a woeful showing was on the cards, just as he was shocked by the Giants' round five loss to Fremantle in Canberra.
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But the skipper, who will play his 150th senior game against the Blues, backed his team to respond.
"I've got a lot of faith in the playing group, I'm very proud of them as individuals and collectively, and a lot of our performances this year have been terrific," he said.
"As a leadership group the message (we're giving the players) is about saying, 'Let's get back to playing our best footy. It is there, so let's find it and bring it back this week'."
GWS coach Leon Cameron has also come in for some criticism after his side's 33-point loss to Alastair Clarkson's Hawks, but Davis said he's also solely focused on getting the best out of his players this week.
"He was very calm, precise and straight to the point," he said.
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"He's very good at delivering messages, he's very analytical about the game, so he's been able to pull the game apart and show us the areas we want to get better at."
Davis is hopeful Lachie Whitfield (hip/quad) and Shane Mumford (knee) will be available to face Carlton, with veteran Brett Deledio also likely to be available for selection after missing six games with his latest calf injury.
