What if they put on a final and no one came? It's a question the cynics have asked every time two newish AFL franchises in non-traditional environments have begun to realise their on-field potential.

Which is exactly why the league's bosses would have been happy on two fronts after Greater Western Sydney's 75-point thumping of Hawthorn at Spotless Stadium on Saturday night.

This was without question the most complete performance from the Giants in their 94-game history, one which suggested that barring a major collapse, GWS are headed for their first finals appearance. And to that end, the attendance figures from the big win over the Hawks would have felt like another important milestone.

While Saturday's crowd of 13,766 was still a long way short of what we expect for AFL games in football's heartland, it nonetheless represented the biggest attendance for a non-Sydney derby at the Giants' home base. And it followed improving crowds in both GWS' home games in Canberra this season, too.

It's a slow business building support for the Giants, but success will clearly expedite that process. And that's coming quickly.

Really, GWS should be 5-1, that first loss to Melbourne the result of sloppy conversion. They've beaten Geelong, taken it up to Sydney, and now smashed Port Adelaide, St Kilda and the reigning premier in succession.

Cats coach Chris Scott was just one who believed most of the pre-season prognostications had badly underestimated the Giants' 2016 prospects. But it was easier to do so with a club around which there is less hype, even interest, than any other. It was probably a factor also in the misreading of their 2015 performance.

The Giants had seven wins up from their first 10 games last year, by which time they were fifth on the ladder. In round 11 , against Collingwood, they lost experienced trio Shane Mumford, Phil Davis and Joel Patfull in one hit as well as valuable midfielder Stephen Coniglio.

Mumford, arguably their most important player, missed the rest of the season. As a quartet, that group played just 15 of 44 possible games. Not surprisingly, GWS would win only four of their last 11.

That mediocre finish and a low profile made it too easy to, in racing parlance, "prefer others" when it came to the 2016 form guide. And, clearly, with those players back and significant improvement coming elsewhere, to our cost.

GWS' riches have been most apparent in their depth of potential midfield stars. The roll call of the likes of Coniglio, Dylan Shiel, Tom Scully, Callan Ward, Lachie Whitfield and Josh Kelly is as extensive as ever.

They also continue to get tougher. The Giants on the differentials have moved from 14th for contested possession to third before this round, and from 15th to second for clearances. They beat up Hawthorn in both areas on Saturday.

But there appears to have been bigger gains still made at either end of the park. You could have got decent odds of that happening up forward when Jeremy Cameron was suspended for four games pre-season, Cam McCarthy having already been given indefinite leave.

That didn't account for the benefits provided not only by a rejuvenated Steve Johnson, but Rory Lobb's dramatic growth (not to mention his literal height), and the goals coming consistently from the smaller likes of Toby Greene and Rhys Palmer. So much so that Jonathon Patton has been peripheral to it all.

At the other end, GWS are leaking a lot fewer scores, and also getting tremendous rebound not only from Heath Shaw, but two rising stars in Zac Williams and Nathan Wilson.

There's a nice balance about the whole set-up, and not just a touch of swagger about how the Giants strut their stuff. They've never lacked front, even when they were getting ritually hammered, but now the talk is being backed up consistently.

There's two very winnable games coming up for GWS against a down-at-heel Fremantle and Gold Coast, before a very testing month against the Western Bulldogs, Adelaide, Geelong and Sydney.

But in their current mood, you couldn't discount the Giants in any of them. Confidence feeds on itself, and Leon Cameron's team has an insatiable appetite right now for big-name scalps and the consequent rise in status those will bring.

What the Giants' and the AFL's administration will be just as hungry for should that happen is an accompanying buzz around the competition's newest club.

You can't manufacture passion for and interest in a sporting team. If not based around decades of history, it has to at least stem for an obvious geographical identification. The whole concept of Greater Western Sydney is so broad and indistinct as to make that harder than for Gold Coast.

But the Giants certainly have it over their fellow AFL "newbies" right now for performance. They're exciting to watch, audacious in style and manner, and they'll be making a lot more opponents besides Hawthorn look silly over the next few years.

The MCG won't be packed to watch them play in September just yet. But there is a pretty good story building around GWS, and even the cynics are going to have little choice but to start paying attention.

And while I'm at it...

North Melbourne might be a little more miffed about the lack of attention their exploits this season have received if they weren't so used to it.

It's easier for the football world to focus on the so-called heavyweights of the AFL regardless of how they're performing, which in most cases right now, is pretty badly. At least they'll provoke some sort of reaction.

But the seeming indifference to the Roos is contagious, to the point where perhaps it is affecting some otherwise rational views about the state of play in the competition.

Like the betting markets, for example, which on Sunday had Hawthorn still premiership favourite at $5, West Coast and Sydney next in line at $6, and the Kangaroos behind that lot at $7.

That's despite the fact the Roos remain undefeated, with wins over three of last year's finalists, while the Hawks are fortunate to be 4-2, West Coast remain suspect away from home and even Sydney struggled on Sunday to beat  Brisbane.

AFL Legend and respected commentator Leigh Matthews contended on Sunday, meanwhile, that North Melbourne hadn't proved themselves on the MCG. Which they haven't in 2016. They have, however, won five of their last six games there, three of them finals, no less. You certainly don't get the feeling the grand final venue has Brad Scott and co racked with anxiety.

Even knocking off the second-placed team on the ladder on Friday night doesn't seem to have altered perceptions much. Which is intriguing in its own right. Because while it was far from spectacular, North Melbourne's win over the Western Bulldogs should by rights addressed much of the doubts about their September prospects.

The Bulldogs' previous lowest score this season was 13.7 (90). Against the Roos, they could manage just 6.9, and were held goalless in the final quarter. North, while the AFL's heaviest- scoring team, were conceding an average 14 goals per game prior to Friday night.

In this victory, they conceded the contested ball and clearance counts, and the Bulldogs had 10 more inside 50s. But the Roos have consistently out-tackled their opponents this season, and never gave the Dogs any space on Friday, winning that statistic 92-66.

Their back six held together brilliantly, Scott Thompson playing one of his finest games, and well supported by the likes of Robbie Tarrant, Jamie Macmillan and Luke McDonald. And in the middle, Andrew Swallow and Ben Cunnington racked up 14 tackles each, twice as many as any other player on the ground.

North Melbourne's tall forward line has looked threatening all year, and remains their most potent weapon. But the team which has hit the scoreboard hardest this season proved on Friday it can scrap with the best of them as well.

There's not a lot more the Roos can do to prove they should be rated at least the equal of their rivals in the flag stakes. Except maybe win one.