He's London born, Geelong raised and after 55 games, Connor Idun has now well and truly arrived in Greater Western Sydney.

After two solid seasons in 2021 and 2022, Idun has started to shine this season, taking his game to a new level in the GIANTS' backline over the past month.

He starred in the stirring win in his old home town of Geelong in round 11 and backed that up with the job on Dustin Martin the week after, where he kept the Tigers superstar goalless.

In the victory over North Melbourne last week, he had eight intercept possessions, the equal second most in the game.

The Idun rise has come in the absence of the GIANTS' defensive leader in Sam Taylor and All-Australian backman Nick Haynes for two of those encounters.

That has thrust greater responsibility upon the 22-year-old and it's a situation he's relished.

"I think my last month of footy's been getting to where I really want to be as a player," Idun told AFL.com.au.

"I had a chat to 'Kingers' (coach Adam Kingsley) a couple of months ago about being a bit more assertive and starting to take more intercept possessions.

"I think I've taken that part of my game to another level. Obviously, there's still a lot of work to go, but I think I'm on the right track, for sure."

The GIANTS' win in Geelong was their best of the season and it was Idun who caught the eye down back with nine intercept possessions to earn him six of the coaches' votes.

It prompted Kingsley to hand him the task of quelling Dustin Martin a week later in the narrow loss to Richmond which he did with aplomb, restricting the Brownlow medallist to 19 touches without a goal and only three score involvements.

"I played on him a couple of years ago, and I think he kicked four on me, so I was pretty keen to get that matchup again and thankfully I kept him goalless, Idun said.

"It's always a good experience to play on the best of the best, it challenges me more mentally than physically."

With Taylor returning to the GIANTS' defensive six, the form of Idun as well as Jack Buckley in the key defensive post should have the GIANTS well served for a strong second half of the season.

And if that eventuates, you can expect the pick No.61 from the 2018 draft to be spoken about more as somewhat of a late pick gem, after only discovering the game of Aussie Rules in his early teens.

"I moved from London to Australia when I was about four, so I was pretty naive to the sport. I played rugby union until I was about 12. I think my first year of Aussie Rules was around 12, 13, and I put the rugby union to the side and obviously found a passion for it. I was lucky enough to keep playing it until I got drafted, so I was a bit of a late bloomer," he said.

Idun's London links remain strong.

His father and older brother still reside there and while family loyalties are split on Premier League teams – Idun is a big Crystal Palace fan while his Dad and brother are of the Arsenal persuasion – they do get behind his AFL endeavours.

"They try and get up and watch games throughout the year, but obviously time zones make it difficult. But yeah, they're definitely watching how I'm going, for sure," he said.

"If I get over there in the future, I'll be taking a couple of jerseys and beanies over so they're decked out. They can put the soccer jerseys away and get the AFL going over there."

A first goal in the big time may generate more Idun excitement in England, even in the early hours of the morning.

He's now 55 games into his career but he's still waiting for that first major in the big time, despite playing a handful of games up forward last year.

"To be honest, I tell the boys every week that it's coming, and I get the celebration ready, but for some reason, it just hasn't come quite yet," he said.

"I need to sneak forward a bit, and I might get in Kingy's ear and say 'Swing me forward late if we're playing well'."

That's unlikely to be the case in what looms as a tight encounter against Fremantle at GIANTS Stadium on Saturday.

The GIANTS will be searching for back-to-back wins for the first time this season and its first home victory since round one over the Crows.

If the GIANTS can manage to achieve that, a late surge at the finals is not out of the question in their first season under Kingsley.

"We're filled with a lot of belief that in the second half of the year we can do some real damage." Idun said.

"New coaches, a couple of new players, we're starting to really find our feet. And yeah, we feel dangerous, for sure."