GWS football boss Jason McCartney has backed interim coach Mark McVeigh's scathing assessment of the club in the wake of Round 20's 73-point loss to Sydney.
McVeigh was frank in his post-game press conference, labelling the Giants' performance against their cross-town rivals as disappointing and embarrassing as they fall to 16th spot on the ladder with a 5-14 win-loss record.
"They're far superior to us at the moment, clearly," McVeigh said post-game.
"There's just the unfortunate part of dealing with whether players have checked out or not.
"That's as honest as you possibly can be.
"I'm extremely disappointed with today, we embarrassed our club.
"I just think as a collective, we've got to shift the standards of our footy club and it's very hard to do on the run in-season.
"We need to reset and change a lot of things come pre-season. That's as blatantly honest as I can be.
"We've got to find the players that will fight right to the end."
๐ฌ "It's very unlike the GIANTS, these are the games you've got to get up for and our club has prided ourselves on that for a long period of time.โhttps://t.co/HhtBWx5cs3
— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) July 30, 2022
Speaking to The Herald Sun, McCartney admitted that the performance was "uncharacteristic" from the Giants, but said he had no issue with McVeigh's strong post-game comments.
โThat is the great thing about โSpikeโ, he is heart and soul and heโs desperate as we all are to fight to the end. He was disappointed yesterday. There wasnโt the effort and intent across the board. Itโs unfamiliar territory for the group and maybe the coaching piece plays a part, but we arenโt happy with how we are going,โ McCartney said.
โIt was about the collective efforts of the group and we want to finish off the season strongly and we had good chats with the players about that. We havenโt had a performance like that since I donโt know when. It was uncharacteristic and we can do something about it.โ
Giants coaching director Jimmy Bartel also backed the interim coach, agreeing with his assessment of the team's disappointing performance.
โHe couldnโt have said it better. He is a guy who is passionate about his job and trying to make the team as good as he can in an interim role and I felt for the guy,โ Bartel said.
โWe never got going (this year). Injury, form and confidence rolled into one. The brand of footy they started off the year with, sides have worked it out pretty quickly.
โ(It is) a strong stoppage game and in todayโs footy if you donโt play the front-half turnover game you just invite the pressure.
โWhen they put in performances like that, I couldnโt agree with Mark any more. The numbers say that, their performance said that. He was spot on in his press conference.โ
The Giants currently sit in 16th place on the ladder with just five wins to their name with three rounds remaining. The club is set to face Essendon, the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle on the run home.
