GREATER Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley was left frustrated by the huge price paid for losing Toby Bedford halfway through the heated clash with Sydney due to “blurred vision” after the midfielder copped a high hit.

The Giants were mounting a strong comeback after giving up the first five goals of the game when Bedford ran onto a loose ball inside the forward 50 but was met heavily by Swans defender Lewis Melican charging in the opposite way.

SWANS V GIANTS Full match details and stats

Melican will be sweating on the Match Review Officer’s verdict after swinging an arm and collecting Bedford high with the Giants’ midfielder subbed out at the main break before the Swans held on for a 14-point victory.

“He seems okay. He's just got really blurred vision, he can't see out of that eye at all. We had to make the sub at half time, which was obviously quite disappointing for us,” Kingsley said.

“He started on (Isaac) Heeney, and didn't start particularly well, but he'd shifted to (Chad) Warner after probably five minutes of that (second) quarter and was doing a really good job. I don't think Warner touched the ball for the remainder of the quarter.

“When it's a really important player to the way that you play structurally, then you've got to go to plan B, which isn't as good as plan A.”

Warner finished with 24 disposals and was awarded the Brett Kirk Medal for best afield, while Heeney had 22 touches and booted a goal as the Swans kept the Giants at arm’s length during the second half.

The Giants started with Jake Stringer as the sub for just the third time in his career after their boom recruit had largely underwhelmed while booting 3.12 this season before facing the Swans.

But Stringer gave the Giants a firm reminder of his talents with three classy goals in the final term that gave his third club a sniff late in the game.

“I thought when he came on, he was okay. He's out there running at the moment, trying to top up. We need to get some work into him to get him near his best,” Kingsley said.

“If that means he misses a week, and we use that extra week to train him and get some work into him, then that's what we'll do.

"His goals were kind of when we needed them, just keeping us in the hunt ... we know his capability, we've got to get him near his best in terms of fitness and athleticism.”

Both sides came out firing after throwing barbs at each other during the build up to the Sydney Derby, with the Swans sending Joel Hamling and Aaron Francis forward in part to nullify the Giants’ defensive weapons.

Hamling and Francis were able to limit Giants key backs Sam Taylor and Jack Buckley’s intercepting impact while getting under their skin with some rugged challenges and niggle usually initiated by the defence.

"I think in every game you've got to get to the line and test it," Swans coach Dean Cox said.

"We're in such a ruthless, competitive environment, or game that we're playing, that you have to get to (the line) as often as you possibly can. We went away from that last week, so the players wanted to redeem that.

"Joel and Aaron were really keen for the role. We can't allow (Taylor and Buckley) to play it on their terms and the boys did a really good job of that."