LACHIE Whitfield is feeling a "2016 vibe" about Greater Western Sydney as the Giants ride a four-game winning streak into a crunch round 18 encounter with Adelaide.
The Giants linebreaker says his side's charge from last year's 16th-placed finish to finals contention this time around is reminiscent of their star-studded 2016 outfit and their run to the preliminary final.
GWS missed arguably the club's best chance so far of a premiership with the preliminary-final loss to eventual champions the Western Bulldogs that year, but the run marked the start of the Giants' most successful stretch that ended with their 2019 Grand Final appearance.
Under new boss Adam Kingsley, Whitfield believes the Giants are building towards a similar period of success.
"You can put the last 10 or 11 years into chunks, and the vibe we're getting at the moment is like that 2016 vibe when we started to get on a roll and win games," Whitfield said on Tuesday.
"We came from a pretty low base of not playing finals.
"It's just a really good vibe around with 'Kingers' and the new system we're playing.
"It's a full team basis, we don't really rely on one bloke. It can be anyone on any given day.
"It's a really fun way to play footy and everyone's buying in."
Whitfield will play his 200th game when he lines up against the Crows on Saturday, a week later than anticipated after serving the first on-field suspension of his career for a dumping tackle against Fremantle.
His family, having booked early to be present for his milestone in last weekend's clash with Hawthorn, will now be doubling up and heading to Adelaide.
"I timed that nicely," Whitfield laughed.
"All my friends and family booked ahead, thinking it would probably be a pretty safe bet, me not getting suspended, because I hadn't been suspended before in my career.
"When you start playing footy, you probably dream of getting to 300 games, so 200 is hopefully just a stepping stone to more.
"It's also a chance to reflect on what's been a tough but fun career to date, hopefully there's a lot more."
Sitting 10th on the ladder ahead of the clash with ninth-placed Adelaide, Whitfield insists the prospect of playing finals has not been discussed at the Giants.
After starting the season with three wins from 10 games, he said they were effectively playing with house money.
"A lot of people probably ruled us out of finals contention anyway, so we're almost playing with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder," he said.
"Just to see how far we can get at this stage.
"We're on a run. If we can continue that and get to the back end of the year and finals are a chance, that's why you play footy."
