LEON CAMERON is hoping for a glimpse into the future when Greater Western Sydney takes on Hawthorn in Launceston on Saturday afternoon.
Cameron, the Giants' senior assistant coach who will take over the top job from Kevin Sheedy at season's end, spent two years at the Hawks under Alastair Clarkson and knows first-hand the talent they possess.
It shapes as a 'David versus Goliath' tussle between a Hawthorn side riding a six-match winning streak and a GWS outfit coming off a 135-point loss to Adelaide.
But Cameron expects the Giants to compete and believes it can be a terrific learning experience for his young side.
"I spent two great years at Hawthorn," Cameron told AFL.com.au.
"They're a terrific football club and a club that we aspire to get to one day.
"From admin to football to sponsorship to membership, everything they do, it's a club we aspire to be like.
"It'll be intriguing watching on the other side because when you're sitting there with Hawthorn watching Franklin and Roughead and Mitchell and Hodge and all these great players, our young lads can hopefully take a fair bit out of it.
"In saying that, they're looking forward to taking them on as well.
"Hopefully we can remember it for the right reasons; that we competed from minute one to minute 120, hit the scoreboard when we had our opportunities and defended a lot better than we did last week."
Last week's loss was the first time Cameron had seen the Giants dismantled in such a one-sided manner.
He concedes the effort was disappointing, but insists it didn't make the task in front of him seem any more daunting.
"No, definitely not," he said. "Before taking on this role, I anticipated it would be a very big task because you're still dealing with unique circumstances.
"We've got a group of young players … and we're going to have some ups and downs.
"You just don't want them to be as damaging as they were on the weekend in terms of the scoreboard.
"You can cop getting beaten, any coach in any sport can cop getting beaten, as long as the effort and intent is there.
"We're improving in a number of areas, but having such a young list against a mature-age side that can play some really good footy came back to haunt us a little bit."
The Hawks, for their part, seem a little concerned about the level of inside knowledge Cameron possesses.
They posted a story on their website on that very subject, which stated Cameron "will have an intimate knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the Hawthorn players and will be looking to impart his opposition intelligence on the Giants players".
Asked if he did have some inside knowledge, Cameron replied: "I'd hope so.
"I'd be disappointed if I didn't know a bit about their side.
"I'd like to think I know how they roll, how they play, but to be honest it's more about us turning up and trying to compete.
"We had a really good, honest review this week, we've trained well, our effort levels have been great and they want to redeem themselves.
"That's all you can ask."
