AFL Grand Final: Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron says Giants proud of their season

Coach Leon Cameron does not believe the Giants’ grand-final flop has tarnished their best season to date.

Leon Cameron, senior coach of the Giants, after the team’s defeat in the AFL grand final. Picture: AFL Photos via Getty Images

Leon Cameron does not believe the Giants’ grand-final flop against a ruthless Richmond on Saturday has tarnished the club’s best season to date in their eight-year history.

As Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron said he was unsure how long it would take the Giants to recover from their 89-point thrashing, the club coach conceded his side were extremely disappointing.

But the Giants’ coach believes his club has built the foundations for sustained success and will learn from the championship loss to the Tigers.

“We will let the dust settle and what happened today will be addressed at a later date,” Leon Cameron said.

“You can’t sit there and say there is no next week. In six months time we will be prepared to go again.

“I don’t think it tarnishes [the year]. It is disappointing … but we have an understanding that we need to be a little bit better than today.”

The coach felt the Giants settled into the grand final well but a lapse of concentration late in the first term, which allowed Norm Smith Medallist Dustin Martin and Dan Rioli to snare goals in the final 90 seconds of the quarter, was a clear setback.

The Tigers dominated the second quarter when booting five goals to zero, but the Giants coach felt at half-time that if they could snare a couple of early goals in the third term, they might yet claw their way back.

Instead Richmond upped the ante further in a devastating display.

“We are rapt that we have played on this stage but disappointed that we didn’t live up to our end of the bargain,” he said.

The Giants coach dismissed suggestions that his side were physically exhausted after three tough finals victories.

But captain Phil Davis clearly carried an injury into the match and Cameron revealed that Matt de Boer had been battling a knee problem throughout September.

Cameron believes that the Giants boast the necessary youth and talent to challenge again in coming years.

Midfielders such as Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper, who broke a goal drought lasting more than two quarters for the Giants, are already quality players who will continue to improve.

Josh Kelly and Lachie Whitfield should continue to blossom, while Toby Greene will have better days than the one he produced in the grand final.

Heath Shaw would have retired had the Giants claimed the premiership but said afterwards that he now planned to continue on.

Jeremy Cameron put the Giants in front for the only time in the grand final when booting an excellent goal from outside 50m at the 20-minute mark of the first term.

He was among teammates shattered in the rooms after the loss, with shell-shocked players being consoled by their families.

But the champion goalkicker felt confident that the Giants would rebound strongly next season.

“We will give ourselves another crack at it. We are a very tight club,” he said.

“I am not sure what it is like in other clubs but everyone in this club is a really good mate and we help each other out a lot away from football and we are better people because of it.

“It is going to be tough tonight and it is going to be tough throughout the next week. I am not sure when we will get over it.

“But all I know for certain is that we will and we will come back stronger.”