Xavier O'Halloran has emerged as an X-factor at the GIANTS in 2023 but his recent rise is another reminder that not all AFL careers develop in a linear fashion.

The 22-year-old has broken out as an efficient forward-half threat in the past three weeks, kicking six goals over that period at critical times for the GIANTS.

O'Halloran is showcasing his ability to be a gamechanger, without necessarily being a prolific ball-winner, and it's that trait that led to the GIANTS taking him at the end of the first round in the 2018 national draft.

But it's taken some time for those talents to fully emerge.

He played 17 games in 2021 and only 14 last year, as he battled to win over the GIANTS' coaching staff.

Now in his fifth season in the system, it's finally starting to click for O'Halloran under Adam Kingsley.

"It has been pleasing on a personal level," he said.

"I got to work in the pre-season with a new look from Adam (Kingsley) and the rest of the coaches, which has been extremely refreshing.

"I've gone out with a confidence and full belief in myself that I do belong there and that I can play my best footy at the level."

The change at the top at the GIANTS has not only instilled the conviction in O'Halloran that he could be a crucial contributor at the club, it also helped keep the Victorian in Sydney.

"Off the back of last year, coming to the end of a contract for any player, you have to consider all options," he said. 

"But the chats that I had with the club and with Adam before I signed on were very pleasing. That was a big reason why I stayed. He was great in affirming a belief in me and enabling that confidence to sort of grow and go from there."

Kingsley did spot a lack of confidence in a player that had struggled to lock down a regular spot but his desire to keep him at the GIANTS has been rewarded.

"He probably didn't view himself as being in the best team, that was my perception stepping in," Kingsley said. 

"Opportunity opened up for him and he's grabbed it with both hands. I'm not sure where views himself now but I can tell you he's in our best team," the GIANTS coach added.

With only 37 games under his belt, O'Halloran still has a long way to go and sterner tests to come, like the table-topping Magpies at the MCG on Sunday, with their host of quality small defenders.

But he is finally starting to make his mark in the AFL system in further proof that not all young talents develop at the same rate.

"My path hasn't been the same as other first-round picks or the same as anyone else. Everyone's journey is different, whether that be due to injury or selection or whatever," he said.

"It can be frustrating and mine hasn't been a bump-free ride. That just reinforces why you're there and why you want to do it. Which probably clicked for me a bit more over this pre-season coming into my fifth year."

O'Halloran had shown glimpses of his talent prior to 2023, but it's his main asset of kicking goals from distance and at pace that has come to the fore this season, including a brilliant solo effort against the Western Bulldogs in Canberra last week that sparked the GIANTS' comeback.

"The coaches are enabling us to play to our strengths. Which one is my workrate and then being able to damage without touching the ball a whole heap of times," he said.

"In junior footy, there was certainly a few times where I was able to showcase that ability to kick a goal. That confidence is what I was trying to find again this season and play with the reason of why I got drafted."

A first goal at the MCG still beckons for O'Halloran but that might be realised in his fifth visit to the home of footy against Collingwood.

The GIANTS will go in as big outsiders but having shown some of the fast-finishing, fighting traits this year that have made this Magpies team famous, they're confident of springing a surprise.

"We look at chance in every game. Especially late in games where we come to the last 10, 15 minutes where we have a late surge against teams," he said.

"It just needs a little bit more polish in terms of being a more complete four-quarter effort. We're definitely on the right track."