Greater Western Sydney GIANTS Co-Captain Phil Davis says the young side’s focus is firmly fixed on this Saturday night’s historic first match at SKODA Stadium against Essendon.
Speaking at the club’s recovery session at Bondi Beach this morning, Davis said the loss to the Brisbane Lions was a valuable experience for the young squad which had had five weeks in a row on the road.
“It was a tough day, but a good learning day. It’s was a great learning experience, it’s always good when you get to play on the best players,” Davis said.
“Members and supporters are the life blood of a football club and we know that a lot of them will be disappointed by our performance this week but we have a chance to make up for that on Saturday night.
“We can’t wait to get to SKODA Stadium, it looks incredible and hopefully it will become a real fortress for us in the years to come.”
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PHOTOS OF THE GIANTS RECOVERY SESSION
The GIANTS are hoping a crowd of up to 20,000 will attend the first match at $65 million redeveloped stadium that will be officially opened by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell this week.
Davis said that the GIANTS are looking forward to playing the Bombers who are on top of the AFL ladder with seven wins from eight matches but said he is confident that the young guns will be in the contest on Saturday night.
"If we bring the right effort, we can compete. The great thing about the competition at the moment is that if you attack the football hard, you can beat anyone.
"If you look at all the teams, if you don't bring that effort, you get smashed. We are a young group and we have to bring that intensity for four quarters to get a good result.
"We were in the game against Carlton until about three-quarter time and looked like we ran out of legs and it was great to get our first win against the Gold Coast.”
The Co-Captain is preparing himself for another tough challenge this week, keeping his eyes on a number of Essendon stars that he could be lining up on Saturday night.
"Their forward line is going well. [Stewart] Crameri is a super footballer," he said. It's amazing it took him that long to get drafted.
"And then you've got [Michael] Hurley and Paddy Ryder, [Tom] Bellchambers goes down there, so I think it'll be one of those three or four. I'll probably have to run on all of them at some point.
"It's pretty formidable, but I'm still a very young player and to play on that sort of quality is exciting for me."
2012 TOYOTA AFL Premiership Season – Round 9
GWS GIANTS v Essendon
SKODA Stadium
7.40pm Saturday 26 May, 2012
