For all the scintillating football played so far this season, a high-powered offensive brand yielding the club's first ever appearance in the play-offs, GWS still don't feature in serious premiership discussions alongside hardened finals outfits Hawthorn, Sydney and Geelong.

The narrative discusses September as being the next step in the GWS education process, a chance for this clutch of super-talented youngsters to experience a finals series without necessarily leaving a stamp on it.

But the Giants refuse to listen to outside talk, particularly backline general Heath Shaw who heard similar whispers six years ago prior to Collingwood becoming the youngest team in almost 40 years to win a flag.

Shaw has played a huge role in moulding the Giants into premiership contenders since joining the club at the start of 2014.

His off-field leadership has been just as crucial as an ability to launch coast-to-coast attacks with his cannon-like foot skills, and Shaw believes a lack of finals experience for his young teammates might just work in the Giants' favour.

"The fact there's a little bit of naivety about playing finals football and the pressure of finals football could be a benefit for this group," Shaw said.

"There's a lot of external talk about making a finals series, and experience in finals is paramount but in 2010 we [Collingwood] were the youngest team in 40 years to win a premiership.

"Overall, this Giants group is probably a lot more mature, as in they've actually had to go through a hell of a lot, being beaten from pillar to post for a few years to get to where we are now and have a taste of success.

"I just look at the games that we've played this year and the best footy that we've actually played has been against the best opposition in pressure situations.

"We've played against Hawthorn and we've beaten them, we've played against Sydney and we've beaten them.

"We've taken it up to Geelong down at Skilled Stadium and beaten them on our home deck. We took it up to Adelaide over there, we've beaten the [Western] Bulldogs on our home deck.

"On our day we are as good as any team in the comp. Other teams will know that we are a very dangerous team when we're up and running."

Shaw is one of three premiership players at the Giants, alongside ruckman Shane Mumford (Sydney) and Steve Johnson (Geelong).

He took the biggest chance of his career in October 2013. Eyeing a fresh challenge he was traded from Collingwood to the Giants, a team that had managed just three wins in its first two seasons.

Mumford also joined GWS for the start of season 2014, while Johnson debuted for the club this year.

In 2014 the club managed six wins. Last year that tally reached 11 and come the end of round 23 this time, it'll likely read 16.

"To me it was a lot of the unknown, that's why initially my expectations were fairly low on what we could actually achieve on the field," Shaw said.

"I was going from a massive club in Collingwood with a fan base that is probably the biggest going round to actually going out there, spreading the word, trying to get sponsors, trying to get fans and supporters on board to come and watch us each week.

"Looking back to where we stand right now, I'm actually rapt that I went through that experience and that challenge in the early days.

"The thing that caught my eye in my first preseason and first season at the Giants was actually how hard and tough these young kids were.

"They've been thrown into senior football straight away, they've been thrown into an AFL program which is different to a lot of other clubs. We're reaping the rewards now."

Two more pieces of business need taking care of before Shaw and his Giants turn their focus to September – Saturday's twilight game against Fremantle at Spotless Stadium before a desperate North Melbourne await next weekend.

The Fremantle game provides the Giants with a perfect opportunity to bounce back from last weekend's heartbreaker against West Coast.

That was the harshest AFL loss experienced by a lot of these GWS youngsters but with blokes like Shaw kicking about the club, you get the feeling they'll channel the disappointment of that game into a genuine finals thrust.

"It was always going to be a sombre mood and you're walking around on eggshells on Monday morning when you're coming into a review meeting," Shaw said.

"The best thing you can do is have a laugh. Try and put it behind you as quick as possible, review it the way you need to review it.

"If you can get a smile or a laugh out of a younger kid in a situation like that then you're doing pretty well."