Jeremy Cameron is one of 10 current GWS players who were on the field the day Hawthorn annihilated the Giants by 162 points at the MCG – the worst result in the club's history.
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For some, the scars inflicted on arguably the club's darkest day in round 15, 2012, had not fully healed. That was until Saturday night.
Against the premiers, and on the back of an 87-point thrashing at the hands of West Coast in Perth, the Giants notched their best win in the club's history, according to forward Jeremy Cameron, who after the full-time siren had sounded, said he looked around the field at the guys who stood beside him on that dark day three years ago.
"It probably was [our best win ever]," said Cameron, who booted an equal-career-high seven goals. "It was right up there. It was quite nerve-wracking the last five, three minutes of the game.
"When the final siren went it was great to see the joy on the boys' faces especially after last week. That was the best thing about it, the way we bounced back.
"I remember back to playing at the MCG against Hawthorn, but they beat us by 160 points. Those things stick in your mind. We are building a fair bit of trust in each other to stick in games for longer."
Not many people gave the Giants a chance against the Hawks, despite both teams winning three games going into the match. However, Cameron said this season has been different to others because the average age of the squad has risen since they were all thrown into the AFL spotlight as baby-faced teenagers.
Along with greater expectations, Giants players are now prepared to give advice to one another more so than when they first joined the club.
"We're a new team this year, we don't think about the things that happened back then," Cameron said of the thumping against Hawthorn in 2012.
"Our expectations of each other have risen a lot. Out on the field we are coaching each other which is something that you really have to work on over time.
"In the first few years you're 17, 18, 19 years old and it's quite tough to challenge each other out on the ground. We're all 22 years old now, so if Devon [Smith] tells me off or Adam [Tomlinson] has a go at Dylan [Shiel] we don't take it personally anymore, we just think about improving."
Another reason Cameron was so thrilled about the Giants' 10-point win was their ability to wrestle back momentum. On two occasions, Leon Cameron's men lost the lead and in the past may have buckled under the pressure. But they showed resilience, a trait they are acquiring more of every match, to reduce an 18-point buffer, to lead by 18 points, and then eventually hold out by full-time.
"In previous years if they [other teams] got a quick jump on us it would blow out and we would think, 'Oh geez this is going to be a long day,'" Cameron said. "But to come up against a quality side like the Hawks ... we stuck to our structures and that went a long way to winning the game."
