HE'S A star on the rise at Greater Western Sydney, but Joe Fonti doesn't have to look far down his family tree for further inspiration when it comes to scaling the heights of the AFL.

The 21-year-old Giant has emerged as a young gun to watch in 2026, developing as the third musketeer alongside the two Lachies in Whitfield and Ash as a defensive dasher.

And his natural talents clearly come from a strong family gene pool as the first cousin of West Coast AFLW superstar Ella Roberts, a two-time all-Australian and Eagles club champion who was born just four days prior.

"We grew up competing in literally everything and anything with each other," Fonti told AFL.com.au.

"And she a lot of the time had me covered in races and whatever we were competing in. She's someone that I definitely look up to. To be an All-Australian as a 20-year-old is incredible.

"It seems like throughout my entire childhood, I'm chasing her tail. Eventually, one day, I'll get her, but I'm very proud. She's an absolute superstar," Fonti said.

And while the family ties to Western Australia remain strong for Fonti, who like Roberts grew up as a Fremantle fan, he has zero desire to leave the club that drafted him and has him contracted until the end of next season.

"The last three years have probably been the best years of my life. I'm surrounded by great people," he said.

"We're a club that has a lot of people drafted from interstate. I can't preach it enough that we are one big family. I love all my teammates, so I couldn't be happier."

All-Australian blazers and club champion awards like Roberts may be a little while off but Fonti's ascension in the AFL ranks is moving at pace.

He is still only 25 games into his career but he has looked at home at the level since his debut against Carlton at the end of the 2024 season with his composure under pressure a feature right from the start.

He is now utilising his speed more on offence and high leap to impact contests across the back half and he says it's his understanding of the Giants' system that has led to his 2026 progression.

"When I'm out there, I'm not overwhelming myself with information and things to think about as much anymore. It's sort of all become second nature and the game starts slowing down for me," he said.

"I feel like I do have a lot of composure. I don't know if it's always been a feature for me, but training at a high intensity it gives you the confidence to know that you're going to have that same time and space in a game."

"Individually I've had an all right start but the reality is that the past two weeks as a team, we haven't got the result we're looking for," Fonti added.

The Giants sit at 1-2 to start the season after St Kilda came to Sydney and suffocated the famous GWS run and gun game out of the back half. That forced numerous turnovers and was a major part of the Saints' 32-point half-time lead that they managed to cling onto.

But there’ll be no utilisation of a plan B at GWS, according to Fonti, as teams inevitably try to follow that blueprint, but rather a perfecting of the plan A.

"I think something that 'Kingers' (coach Adam Kingsley) preaches is that we've got a system and so long as we're playing it, it works. I think it's just a matter of refining our system that we've already got in place," he said.

"In the first half it was really prevalent that the Saints got us turning the ball over in the back half in really dangerous spots, which are near impossible to defend. We'll go to work on that as a collective and it'll be an easy fix – picking and choosing when to take risks and when not to," Fonti added.

That will get put to the test under the Friday night lights this week against Collingwood at Marvel Stadium – a ground that they have lost their last two games at by 80-plus point margins, both against the Western Bulldogs.

Jack Buckley joins Sam Taylor as another key defensive loss with concussion while there remains a litany of other key injuries.

That has not dimmed the belief, though, at GWS of a third straight victory over the Magpies.

"The confidence is obviously high. We'll be looking to respond. I think if we can reproduce the same sort of brand, we gave the Hawks (in Opening Round), then we'll set ourselves up for a really good chance. I'm confident in our personnel that we'll be able to get it done," Fonti said.