GIANTS vice-captain Tom Scully is relishing the prospect of playing on one of the biggest days of the AFL calendar - ANZAC Day.

The GIANTS will play on April 25 for the first time in their short history when they host Gold Coast under lights in an early evening match in Canberra.

Scully says the players will head into the contest in an upbeat frame of mind despite suffering their first loss of the season when they fell 21 points short against cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans on Saturday.

And everyone is especially looking forward to this weekend's trip to the nation's capital.

"It is fantastic the club has been given the privilege to play on ANZAC Day. I know certainly from our footy club's perspective we just can't wait to get down there," Scully said.

"We are really excited about it."

With two wins and one defeat after three games, 2015 has been the GIANTS' best start to a home-and-away season.

The club matched the Swans for most of the round-three contest at the SCG, with a loss of composure, a few critical turnovers and some wayward kicking for goal - GWS managed 3.13 to 10.6 in the first half - proving the difference.

Despite the loss, Scully said there were still plenty of positives to come out of the game, particularly the way the team continued to battle hard.

"Sydney out-pressured us and probably won some crucial contests when it mattered, but we still had our fair share of the footy and just weren't taking our opportunities," Scully said.

"We still take some really good confidence out of the second half."

The 23-year-old (he turns 24 in May) finished as one of the GIANTS' better players, gathering 27 possessions and 12 marks and consistently offered teammates an option out wide with some clever and determined running into space.

His efforts drew praise from GWS coach Leon Cameron.

"I thought he was terrific for the whole game," Cameron said.

"No doubt his back half was just power running.

"He got better and better as he game went on."

Cameron said the club needed to work on finding ways "to make sure that we use Tom a little bit more".

"There is no doubt we made some serious ground on our ball use to get it to Tom when he does break hard, because he has got an enormous engine," Cameron said.

"It is a great advantage to have that sort of a player in a side than can play 90-95 per cent of game time and still run at that level."