A 'GOOD cop, bad cop' routine was behind Greater Western Sydney co-captain Phil Davis' much-publicised shove on teammate Rory Lobb during the round seven upset loss to St Kilda.

The heated altercation, at three-quarter time of the 23-point loss at Etihad Stadium, began with Davis shoving Lobb in the chest before veteran teammate Steve Johnson intervened.

Johnson was also seen arguing with Jeremy Cameron as the Giants crashed to an unlikely defeat. 

GWS football manager Wayne Campbell revealed on SEN on Tuesday morning the physical challenge on Lobb was a preconceived idea of Davis and fellow leadership group member Devon Smith. 

"Devon made a point that he thought that Rory needed to improve a couple bits of his game, so he and Phil had a good discussion about the way they were going to approach it," Campbell said. 

"Phil was going to have a bit of a whack at him and then Devon - as a forward line player - was going to cuddle him after that. 

"We discussed it, but (the club's) leaders said if you're going to be competitive and you're going to have a crack at each other and set high standards, sometimes you're going to be on the end of (strong feedback). 

"We didn't have an issue with it, and Steve Johnson and Jeremy Cameron will have 16 (arguments) a game, I reckon. 

"We thought it was good."

Campbell believes if the Giants had beaten the Saints as expected, the altercations would have been seen in a different light.

He pointed to Hawthorn veteran Shaun Burgoyne's dressing-down of James Sicily for an undisciplined act in the Hawks' win over Melbourne just days later. 

"Our players are incredibly competitive, they set really high standards, and I think (those situations) get highlighted when you lose," he said. 

"I saw last week one of the footy shows highlighted Shaun Burgoyne going really, really hard at one of his younger teammates for giving away a 50m penalty, but because Hawthorn got the win it became fantastic leadership from Shaun."