GIANTS coach Adam Kingsley is desperate for a more consistent effort from his team.
A third-quarter lapse in that area against the Bombers sparked the first public spray of his short head coaching career.
"I just didn't think our effort was at our usual level, plain and simple," he said.
"Whether it was a spray or just a conversation, albeit a one-way conversation, obviously yelling and screaming doesn't get a result if it becomes a habit and that's obviously not part of my coaching habit but every now and then the guys need to know what's unacceptable."
"The effort in the last quarter was closer to what we expect. I certainly won't be doing that very often but at the time I felt it was necessary," Kingsley added.
Kingsley will be hoping that vociferous message has sunk in ahead of this weekend's game against the bottom-of-the-table Hawks that he expects to be a brutal affair.
"It's going to be a tough game, we're playing Norwood Oval, it's a small ground so it's going to be a contest. Hawthorn have a lot of youth in their team and exuberance, so it's going to be a battle," he said.
"I think it's about 20 metres skinnier than GIANTS Stadium. I remember there being a brick wall down one wing, pretty close to the boundary so we might have to play down the other side," Kingsley joked.
"We might have to change the way we play a little bit, the same as Hawthorn I presume but that's OK, we need to be adaptable."
Despite being in his first year in charge at the GIANTS, Kingsley hasn't shied away from the goal of finals football this season and he said the GIANTS need to get back to winning ways this week if that is to be realised.
"I don't feel it's like a season on the line game. We've lost three in a row though now and we need to get back into that winning habit to give us a chance of playing finals, so clearly it's a very important game for us," he said.
Top draft pick Aaron Cadman is seemingly on the verge of an AFL debut and while Kingsley stopped short of providing a definitive call on his prized young key forward, he said the 195-centimetre teenager was "close" to making his senior bow this weekend.
Cadman has been in excellent VFL form over the first month of the season and was brought across to Melbourne last week as cover for Jesse Hogan, who was battling a minor quad complaint, ahead of the clash against Essendon.
While Hogan has been declared fit to play on Sunday, the GIANTS are still struggling for adequate forward support around Hogan and Toby Greene, with Jake Riccardi only managing two goals from four games this season.
Cadman looms as a fresh option in attack this weekend as the GIANTS look to rebound from the defeat to the Bombers.
"There's a chance, yeah, absolutely. We just haven't gone that way doesn't mean we won't this week," Kingsley said.
"He's been close the whole way, he's still close. Jeremy Laidler, his forwards coach, will discuss the best options and we'll run it through match committee and see what we think," he added.
Along with the No.1 draft pick in Cadman, the GIANTS have several players pushing for selection from the VFL, including Josh Fahey, forward Wade Derksen and Xavier O'Halloran.