"We need to tidy up some of our fundamentals" - Greater Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley sounds call for improvement following Essendon defeat
Greater Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley called for improvement from his team after their Round 9 loss to Essendon on Saturday, May 11. The Giants were beaten 82-62 by the Bombers in an exciting match-up at the Marvel Stadium.
Greater Western Sydney started the game well by taking a 19-point lead (27-8) into the second quarter, but Essendon bounced back to win the succeeding quarters (22-15, 33-13, 19-7).
The Giants began the season in top form, winning their first five games. But their performance has declined with three losses in their last four matches leaving coach Kingsley worried.
Speaking after the loss to Essendon, Kingsley expressed his desire for improvement in his team, stating that they have not been at their best in recent weeks. He said (via Fox Footy):
"I just don't think we're playing our best footy and we've been beaten by three pretty good teams."
"Each of those teams you'd expect to finish in the top four to top six, I would imagine. What the feedback to us has been is that we're not quite at that level right at this moment and that's OK."
He continued:
"But we do need to sharpen up our game and make sure that by the end of the season we're playing our best footy. Our challenge between now and then is to be able to generate enough wins to actually qualify for finals, that's our first objective, and based on our last month of footy we're going to fail to do that so we need to address a couple of things.
"I think today we were beaten by a more desperate team, last week we were beaten by a more desperate team so we need to tidy up some of that, we need to tidy up some of our fundamentals."
Greater Western Sydney came into the tie confident of a positive result. They had won four of the last five meetings with Essendon, including an emphatic 126-point victory last year.
However, the Bombers were the better side on the night, inflicting a loss on the Giants. The victory saw GWS drop to fifth on the ladder while Essendon moved to third.
Who will Greater Western Sydney play in the next round?
Greater Western Sydney will play the Western Bulldogs in Round 10. Coach Adam Kingsley called for improvement from his team following the loss to Essendon and will hope to bounce back when they clash with the Dogs on Saturday, May 18.
The Giants started the season with five straight wins but have lost three of its past four, going down to Carlton, Sydney, and Essendon.