THE AFLW ladder doesn’t mean thing. That’s what the sixth-placed Giants reckon as they head into the final three rounds of the season having to face three of the current top four teams.
The Giants are in Western Australia today to face fourth-placed Fremantle, but being just two points behind them and six off top spot, captain Amanda Farrugia said they have no doubt they can still make the 2018 final.
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“Every round has provided surprises in terms of results. I don’t think there are any firm favourites,” she said.
“People were touting Melbourne to be the premiership favourites but then they just got beaten by Collingwood who are towards the bottom of the ladder.
“There’s definitely stronger teams and weaker ones, but we consider ourselves to be a chance every single week and every time we go out there.
“We’re definitely still in it.”
The Giants’ have one win, a draw and two losses from their first four rounds, which puts them on a win-ratio equal to the end of 2017, when they finished in last place.
But in the final three rounds they face Fremantle (fourth), the first-placed Western Bulldogs and finally Brisbane Lions, who are currently second.
Farrugia said the team isn’t concerned with bettering last year, instead it’s about doing what they need to do to be a shot at the final.
“We don’t make a huge amount of comparisons between us this year and last year because we’re a completely different side in pretty much every way, aside from a few players that are still around,” she said.
“We have different structures, different priorities, there’s a new coaching style.
“This year we were starting fresh and we set very high expectations for ourselves and even though we’ve matched our win-draw-loss from last year we by no means are happy with where we’re standing.
“Every game between now and the end of the season is a priority-win for us and we have firm confidence that we can do well and can beat these teams, it’s just a matter of whether we can put in four quarter performances, which has been our downfall for part of this year.”
That will be the focus against Fremantle — putting in a consistent, whole-game effort.
“There are definitely some … really positive things we can take out of last weekend [with the draw against Adelaide], but the five minutes that we weren’t switched on, were pretty bad for us,” Farrugia said.
“It’s just making sure that we do all the things that we want to do for the entire game.”
