The Canberra Demons have emerged as a genuine NEAFL finals contender with a stunning upset of the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But player-coach Kade Klemke was quick to put a lid on the excitement following the 13.17 (95) to 12.7 (79) victory at Alan Ray Oval on Saturday.
It was a superb fightback from the Demons, who had just three goals to their name at half time despite dominating the contest.
Klemke believes Canberra "got the Giants at a good time" with the club's senior side enduring a bit of an injury crisis.
"They've got a lot of injuries at the moment so we understand that we've got a lot to improve still," Klemke said.
"But we'll take the win as it comes and it was great for our group. We're young and I think it's been a while since we've beaten the Giants. We just want to keep getting better and better each week.
"We know that if we can play like we did today we can match it with any NEAFL but we've got to make sure that we do this every single week.
"Last week we were very disappointing and we didn't turn up to play, whereas this week we did and we get the win. It'd be good if we could do this every week."
The Demons are now 2-1 to start the season and sitting fourth on the ladder after winning just three games last season.
The Giants were boosted by the inclusion of AFL veteran Matt de Boer, GWS' new recruit from the Fremantle Dockers, in his NEAFL debut.
But rather than focusing on shutting down a player with 138 AFL games to his name, Klemke was more than happy to "let him go".
"We decided that [Harrison] Himmelberg and Harry Perryman were probably their more dangerous players," Klemke said.
"De Boer is coming back from injury and he was dangerous at times, but I thought [Lachlan] Maples did a fantastic job on both those guys at times, especially on Perryman.
"Perryman had a good first quarter and I think Maples shut him down after that. Our aim was that we wanted to stop the influence of their better players and I thought we did that really well today."
CANBERRA 2.6 3.8 9.12 13.17 (95)
GIANTS 2.2 6.4 10.4 12.7 (79)
GOALS – Canberra: J Bennett 3 M Hardie 3 A Bruce 2 A Swan 2 T Faul L Meline L McKay. Giants: H Perryman 3 M de Boer 2 M Flynn R Pollock K Briggs B McGinness B McParland L Tiziani Z Sproule.
BEST – Canberra: S Martyn K Klemke A Swan I Taylor L Maples. Giants: H Perryman T Mohr D Simpson M De Boer D Lloyd.
