GWS embrace the challenge of facing the roaring Lions

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GWS embrace the challenge of facing the roaring Lions

Greater Western Sydney are ready to take on arguably their biggest challenge of the season, heading up to Brisbane to take on the second-placed Lions.

After delivering a massive ***** to Hawthorn’s finals aspirations last Sunday, Adam Kingsley’s men have won their last five games and are right back in premiership contention.

But their hopes for a maiden flag could easily be stamped out with a red-hot Brisbane unit, on a nine-game winning streak, waiting to host them at their Gabba fortress on Saturday.

With 12 points separating league leaders Sydney from 11th-placed Collingwood, a loss to the Lions could have serious ramifications for the fourth-placed Giants.

Kingsley’s side handed Brisbane, then sitting at 2-4 on the ladder, a 54-point smacking in round seven but star ball winner Tom Green says it doesn’t make their upcoming clash any easier.

“They’re running a little bit hotter than they were when we played them last,” Green said on Tuesday.

“When you look at the results that they’re getting, they’re certainly doing plenty right.

“It’s nice to know that we’ve got some form against them, but I’m not sure how much of that we’ll be able to take into this encounter.”

Winning the first-half battle will be number one on the agenda after GWS pulled off another late comeback to stun Hawthorn at Canberra’s Manuka Oval last round.

The premiership hopefuls booted seven goals in the final quarter to overcome a 28-point deficit for a two-point win.

“It is nice to get results like that but you don’t want to have to be doing it over and over again,” Green said.

“Other teams now know that they can be up by five goals at three-quarter time and they’re not safe … but we’d like to start winning them a little bit before the last five minutes.”

It was Canberra product Green who kicked the match-winner in the 29th minute of the final term.

But Green says it was a blistering engine room performance by Brent Daniels in the fourth quarter that lifted the team across the line.

Injected into the contest alongside Giants skipper Toby Greene late in the game, pressure forward Daniels stunned the Hawks’ midfield with 23 disposals and one goal.

“I don’t want to say he won the game off his own boot but he went pretty close to it,” Green said.

“I’m not in a position to kick a goal like that without the last quarter of Brent Daniels or some of Toby’s (Greene) key moments or Jack Buckley has a massive tackle at the end game.”

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