Leon Cameron remains positive his young players are maturing despite the disappointment of another lost opportunity on Saturday.

The GIANTS were let down against Richmond by their goalless second quarter, which led to them playing catch up after half-time on the way to the 27-point loss.

But Cameron was buoyed by the way his players responded when challenged at the main break and thought it showed their level of development. 

"It's a sign for these third-year players that we are making some serious ground," Cameron said. 

"Yes, we'd like to win, we can't get away from the fact.

"But their maturity level is getting better week by week, game by game, and I can clearly see that, and I think the footy punter can see that.

"But it doesn't help us because we're sitting here and we've lost another game.

"We've just got to keep on progressing.

"We thought we came out and showed what we're really about for three and a half quarters today and that was the pleasing thing.

"We need to do 120 minutes if we're going to get over the line."

Flanked by Adam Treloar, who had an incredible 14 touches in the third quarter and responded – along with the likes of Dylan Shiel – to the half time directive, Cameron acknowledged the players' disappointment in another missed chance.

Treloar felt they were "definitely" becoming a better team, measured in their response to an opponent that smashed them by 113 points in round 10. 

"For us to only lose by [27 points], they were all over us in that second quarter and I think two years ago, even last year, we would have just dropped our heads and they would have run all over us," Treloar said.

"They were 80 points up against us the last time we played them and ended up beating us by a fair bit, so for us to hold on … I think in that last quarter all the players felt we had the advantage."

Cameron and Treloar said they didn't see Reece Conca's strike on Devon Smith in the second quarter that left the Tigers' midfielder on report.

Treloar added he didn't notice the failure of two light towers in the same quarter, although Cameron jokingly asked if they could blame the power outage for the way they played.

Phil Davis' performance against Jack Riewoldt (one goal) was applauded by the coach, as was the effort the players brought for the majority of the game.  

"I thought [Davis] played a really good game," Cameron said.

"I think we tend to forget because Phil's missed 10 or 11 weeks of the season, he played a great role round one on [Lance] Franklin, he played a great role on [Tom] Hawkins and now he's played a great role on Riewoldt and [Levi] Casboult.

"He's had some big jobs and actually come out the other end, so we're rapt that he's playing some great footy and that's why he's one of our captains."

Josh Hunt was subbed out with a hip flexor injury and is in doubt for the GIANTS' home clash with North Melbourne next Saturday.