GREATER Western Sydney narrowly failed to grasp its best chance of ending its long victory drought on Saturday, but the prospect of a winless season holds little concern for coach Kevin Sheedy.
The Giants had their noses in front at every change against the Western Bulldogs and still led more than 11 minutes into the final quarter at Canberra's StarTrack Oval.
But some of the Bulldogs' veterans, including Daniel Giansiracusa and Will Minson, were able to lift and give one more effort as the visitors eked out a four-point win.
The Giants had set themselves for Saturday's game as a real chance to snare four points for just the third time in their history and fell agonisingly short.
Tough games against the Sydney Swans, Essendon and Collingwood are now on the horizon before the Giants host fellow strugglers Melbourne.
The possibility of becoming the first side to go through a season without a victory since Fitzroy in 1964 is firming with each defeat, but the big picture is the only concern for Sheedy.
"I never worry about that," he said. "This is about developing a great team and a great club.
"That's the way it's got to be.
"The first couple of years are serious years of putting players in to develop them.
"We could play a couple of new players next week and we'll see how that goes.
"We've got eight weeks left and we'd like to play four more first-gamers.
"By the time the 22nd match comes this year, I'm hoping that most of the first-year players we've drafted would've played their first games."
Jono O'Rourke, Kristian Jaksch and James Stewart are the GWS' 2012 draftees who are yet to play a senior game and all three played in the reserves' one-sided victory over Tuggeranong in Saturday's curtain raiser.
While Sheedy isn't perturbed by the idea of going through the year winless, he knows his club had a huge opportunity to break its duck against the Bulldogs.
"We were ahead of quarter-time, half-time, three-quarter time, just a little bit of experience from Giansiracusa and Minson in the last quarter probably tilted it their way," he said.
"We were ahead all day and we're very disappointed. We had an opportunity to win a game here in Canberra and win our first game for the year.
"That was really disappointing from that point of view and frustrating more than anything."
The Giants will now set themselves for another crack at their crosstown rivals, who they pushed in round one before suffering a 30-point defeat.
"Playing against the Swans will be a pretty important game for us," Sheedy said.
"We want to really do well at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We'll have a training run there next week.
"It’s a big game for us.
"I think we're probably a better side now (than round one), but they probably are too.
"We've played well in patches, we've played some pretty tough, hard footy, but not tough enough today."
James Dampney is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter @AFL_JD
