GREATER Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley has delivered a blunt reality check following his side’s 23-point loss to Carlton on Saturday afternoon.
While Kingsley has maintained a firm conviction all season in the Giants’ ability to surge into the finals, his tune softened slightly after the 12.16 (88) to 9.11 (65) defeat at Engie Stadium.
Speaking post-match, he insisted he has not completely lost faith in his players, but sounded a distinct alarm — warning that their time for talking is over as they teeter on the brink of letting the season slip away with a 6-8 record.
“If it keeps going for too much longer, that’s going to wane a little,” Kingsley said.
“We need to do something about our form and our inconsistency and get back to our best quickly. That’s evident.
“We’re running out of games to find that, and talk’s cheap, as I’ve said in the past, so we need to bring that to life.
“I’m confident that our best is still good enough to compete with any team in the comp. We didn’t deliver our best tonight. We haven’t delivered our best for the last four weeks. And if we don’t deliver our best, then we’ll get what we see too regularly at the moment across this season.
“So, we’ll continue to work and review and try and improve and train to get better and bring our best more often for longer periods of the game. But right now, we’re not the team we want to be. So, we’ve got work to do.”
The defeat came as the Blues dominated their forward 50 game to claim victory, despite a third-quarter fightback where the Giants regained momentum by kicking four consecutive goals to tighten the margin.
Asked what positives he could take out of the match, Kingsley had little to offer.
“I’m not sure. You know, we’ll be pretty disappointed with the way that we performed,” he said.
“I think the third quarter showed that we’re capable, but that’s not enough, really, to satisfy us.”
Adding injury to insult for the Giants, key defender Jayden Laverde was ruled out in the third quarter with hamstring soreness after taking a knee to the back and stumbling forward.
While any diagnosis remains unconfirmed, Kingsley suspected Laverde suffered a minor hamstring strain, noting the club will spend the week figuring out how to replace him in the line-up.
Meanwhile, under interim coach Josh Fraser, Carlton claimed its fifth consecutive victory to close in on the wildcard positions.
Having flipped their campaign after losing eight of their first nine games this season under previous head coach, Michael Voss, the Blues are not openly discussing finals.
“We haven’t openly spoken about that,” Fraser told reporters.
“My experience suggests that once you start to lift your eyes too much, you can take your focus away from what got you into a position where you showed signs of improvement in the first place.
“I’m comfortable that this is our path forward. Games like this evening continue to build belief, but for us, it’s important how we front up and do Monday well, how we train Tuesday, and how we prepare Thursday. For me, that’s the process that gets the results we’ve had.
“We understand we’ve still got work in front of us, but I’m very process-oriented, and I think that’ll hold us in good stead.”
Repeatedly asked if he has turned his attention to coaching the team long-term, Fraser insisted he is not looking beyond this season.
When asked if he has even entertained the idea of coaching in 2027, he replied: “No. Not at all”.
Fraser explained he sees “no need to”, choosing instead to focus entirely on the present opportunity to help the side improve week by week.
