The third-season franchise have lost six in a row and are second last on the ladder with a 2-7 record and a percentage of 68.8.
In their last two games, they suffered 111 and 113-point maulings by West Coast and Richmond respectively, with neither of those clubs in the top eight.
While Gold Coast, who are just one year older than GWS are third with a 7-2 record, McLachlan was adamant the GIANTS would also flourish in the not too distant future.
"We understand how hard their job and their journey is," McLachlan said of the GIANTS in Sydney on Tuesday morning.
"When you take the list development approach that both the Suns and the GIANTS have, I think people understand it's a longer, tougher journey to success.
"But when you get there, I think the highs will be higher and more enduring.
"I think we're starting to see that with the Suns on the Gold Coast.
"They are now 7-2 and everyone is looking quite warily at them and I think the GIANTS’ time will come.
"They (GWS) have got an extraordinary amount of talent there.
"They will have their ups and downs, but we're incredibly confident about where they will be on-field in the next year or so and hopefully the broader success follows after that."
McLachlan acknowledged the success of the Suns generated expectations of GWS.
"I think expectation creates challenges and they are obviously going to have a challenging week after a bad couple of losses," McLachlan said.
"But I think people do understand they are really young and with youth you get highs and lows and they are just going to have to be resilient and work through it.
"The system says with that talent and the good culture they have and the great coaching staff, they will get through this.
"The pressure was on Richmond last week, it was on Carlton three or four weeks ago, at the moment it's on the GIANTS."
McLachlan emphasised the AFL was concerned about any struggling clubs, not just GWS.
"I think whether it's the GIANTS or St Kilda or Brisbane (Lions), clubs who are finding it tougher, there's no joy in that, for the AFL or anyone in the industry," McLachlan said.
"We're working with the clubs to hopefully develop the clubs on and off field. That's one of the key challenges for us.
"It's problematic at a few clubs and that's one of the big challenges of the coming years, to narrow the gap between the top and bottom."
