GREATER Western Sydney wasn't supposed to set any records in its first season in the AFL.
Expectations have been appropriately subdued for the AFL's newest team but it has already managed to set a record with its sixth player nominated for the NAB AFL Rising Star.
It surpasses the record of five shared by Essendon's 1993 team and the Fremantle side of 1996.
Adam Treloar's 37-possession performance in Saturday's loss to Collingwood has seem him join teammates Dylan Shiel, Jeremy Cameron, Stephen Coniglio, Tomas Bugg and Toby Greene as nominees for the award.
Treloar has been one of the Giants' most consistent players in their first year, playing all bar one game since making his debut in the round three-loss to West Coast.
For the past couple of months he has been talked up as a potential candidate for Rising Star honours but he said the thought hadn't entered his head as he focused on getting the next win for his team.
"If you're not winning, you're not really thinking about individual awards. I never thought I was going to win it so it was a surprise for me this round," Treloar said.
As well as their abundance of Rising Star nominees, the Giants hold another less enviable record, with a collective 590-point losing margin over the past five matches - the heaviest five-match losing streak in AFL history.
But Treloar says the simple matter of finishing off quarters is what has held them back.
"It's always the last bit of the quarters and it has also been late in the game as well where fatigue kicks in and the young boys are getting tired. I think that plays a part but you can take a lot of positives out of this week," he said.
"No one sees the good stuff we do. We beat Collingwood at centre bounce clearances when they are probably the best midfield in the whole competition.
"It was really positive and if you take away the last five minutes of each quarter we would only lose by two or three goals. If we can stick in for the whole quarter in the next couple of weeks we give ourselves a big opportunity."
GWS is sure to improve as time wears on and has three very winnable games in front of it against Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and Melbourne.
Treloar doesn't hesitate when asked if his team can score another victory in the coming weeks.
"We're pretty confident. We're not thinking about the end of the season yet, we're thinking we want to give it a red hot crack," he said.
"We're going to be ruthless and try to win the next few games. Hopefully we can pull a couple of them off, I'm hoping we can pull it off. I'm hoping we can and the team is hoping we can."
Luke Holmesby is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter - @AFL_Luke
