One-time whipping boys, GWS Giants ready to hand out the beatings

IT’S the torturous pain fuelling the Giants’ premiership charge.

GWS forward Jeremy Cameron. Picture: Peter Ristevski

IT’S the torturous pain fuelling the Giants’ premiership charge.

The dozen times GWS were forced to absorb 100-point AFL hidings has left a lasting impression on Jeremy Cameron that drives the star forward every time he takes the field.

It might have been easy for coaches and critics in those fledgling years to make excuses for the club getting belted week after week,

But just ask the players involved in those humiliating afternoons whether they will ever be able to forget.

“There are teams that really did flog us into the ground in our early days and I think the memories of sitting in the change rooms wondering what happened and why it was such a big defeat do sit in the back of your mind,” Cameron told The Daily Telegraph ahead of Saturday’s grudge match against one of their former masters, cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans.

“Deep down you know what happened on the day and what happened throughout those years.

“Now we just want to get better as a club and really build into our own powerhouse really.”

Callan Ward and Jeremy Cameron celebrate a goal. Picture: AAP

Former cricketer Gavin Robertson who has worked with the Giants in a community role since the club’s inception, has likened the fire that’s been ignited in the likes of Cameron to the dominance of the Australian Test team which started more than two decades ago.

The humiliation players like Ian Healy, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh endured at the hands of the West Indies and other big nations throughout the 1980s was never forgotten, even when the team started to turn things around.

“I remember numerous conversations where they said, ‘even though we are the best in the world, we are never going to take our foot off the throat,’” said Robertson.

“It was like a drug.

“When you look at (GWS originals) Phil Davis or Callan Ward or Tom Scully for example, I think those people have never forgotten what they’ve been through.

“They play like, ‘I’m going to show the world because I’ve had my time of being punished around.

“Until you’ve lived through it, it’s really hard to imagine.”

Cameron said the GWS youngsters understood the big picture of what the club was shooting for back in their early seasons, but said the reality was much harder to swallow.

“At times it was tough,” he said.

“In our first season it was a bit surreal. We couldn’t believe we were playing footy really. We were only 18 years old and we were out on the biggest stage.

“It was a bit daunting.

“As an athlete you always want to win and we were going out there wanting to win, but we knew that it probably wasn’t going to happen.

“Geez, looking back now, we’ve come so far. But we still have a fair way to go, so we’re looking forward to that.”