GIANTS star Dylan Shiel has urged his teammates to maintain the rage against Gold Coast at Spotless Stadium on Saturday.
The
Leon Cameron's men had lost four straight games going into the match to slip to 11th on the ladder but laid 96 tackles against the Crows in a show of intensity rarely seen this season.
Shiel said on Wednesday the GIANTS took some time to enjoy the performance but quickly turned their focus to the struggling Suns.
"It was a special win, and to beat the Crows in Adelaide for the first time was important," he said.
"We'd been challenged by the footy world, by Leon and the coaches, and we challenged each other.
"During that month we had some difficult conversations that needed to be had, and with our backs against the wall, it showed a lot of character.
"A win like that can certainly help turn the season around, and the mood around the footy club has certainly lifted, but if we don't back it up this week it'll count for nothing.
"The biggest challenge for us is to maintain the rage on game day this week."
While the GIANTS' defensive pressure played a major part in their win over Adelaide, it also allowed the team to show off how damaging their best running players can be.
Lachie Whitfield (597
Shiel said starting strongly against Gold Coast was the key to the GIANTS playing their best and most damaging style.
"I certainly think that if we can get that tough brand of footy going early in the game, the rest of our footy comes after that and looks after itself," he said.
"It shouldn't be a challenge to maintain that intensity, but clearly it is because we haven't been able to, and not every team can, in every game throughout the year.
"During those four losses we couldn't put three or four quarters together, and we had some 15-minute patches of footy where we let ourselves down and got heavily scored against.
"Football is a confidence game and a lot of it is played in the mind.
"Our footy club has been questioned about whether or not we can really take it up to really good sides in this competition, but I guess the proof is in the pudding and we'll have to see what happens."
