GWS SKIPPER Toby Greene had booted four goals in each of the opening two rounds to kickstart his season, but Carlton defender Nic Newman was having none of that in the Blues' round three bout with the Giants.
Despite his blistering start to life as his side's standalone leader, the 29-year-old was unable to emulate that early-season form, managing just five disposals for the day under Newman's watch.
GIANTS v BLUES Full match coverage and stats
The reliable defender collected 24 disposals himself to be one of the Blues' best in the hard-fought 10-point win at Giants Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
"I think Newman did a terrific job on him," Giants coach Adam Kingsley said.
"We tried to do a couple of different things to get him into the game, but it was just one of those games where he didn't have his usual impact but he'll regroup and get ready for Essendon next week.
"We spoke about him paying in the midfield and he went into quite a few stoppages in that third quarter particularly ... but his opponent just had a really good day on him."
Blues coach Michael Voss was full of praise, saying Newman played "an incredible game".
"To be able to play against Toby - who we rate really, really highly; he's a very, very good player - so to be able to minimise his influence on the game the way that he did was an exceptional effort," Voss said.
GWS kicked three consecutive goals either side of the last change to claim the lead, until the Blues were awarded a controversial free kick in the goal square when Stephen Coniglio disputed a decision.
Jesse Motlop converted to put the Blues back in front and the lead was never surpassed.
Kingsley wouldn't be drawn on whether the free kick was there, but said his side would move on quickly.
"It's hard for me to comment because I don't know what was said," he said.
"Clearly we don't want to be giving away free kicks in front of goal.
"Guys know when they make mistakes of that nature. It is what it is, we move on. Everyone makes mistakes."
It was the Giants' second consecutive loss after a thrilling round one win over Adelaide, but Kingsley remains upbeat about his young side and said there's plenty of positives to take out of the match.
"I'm clearly frustrated with parts of our execution, but the reality is we've been in every game we've played, we were able to win round one in a close game and obviously we were on the other side of the ledger today, so I think the system and our competitiveness and fight has been really strong," he said.
"We've got to be able to continue to try to execute it better to give us a chance to finish our work, defend a little better, defend a little stronger ... but I see a lot of moments when we're doing it really well, we've just got to have more moments."
Blues coach Michael Voss said it was "grit" that got his side over the line in the end - the Blues' third close result in as many games.
"There wasn't a whole lot of method when we were going forward so we made that really hard for us," he said.
"We had plenty of opportunities in the third quarter and I guess those missed opportunities probably energised them a bit and kept them in the game and they were good enough to be able to bounce back.
"I'm just really pleased the boys have gone to work on finishing our games because we needed it and I guess I'm just really pleased we closed out the game the way we did ... we found a way to win on the road, we don't underestimate how big that is when you travel and come away with the four points."
Carlton remains unbeaten after three rounds, with a Good Friday clash with North Melbourne to come this week.
