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AAP
AAP
Roger Vaughan

Davis says Giants have elevated the worst of their game

Phil Davis says GWS, seen here after a goal against Port Adelaide, improved faster than he expected. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

GWS great Phil Davis puts the barnstorming AFL run of the Giants down to their worst being much better.

Davis, who will retire once this season ends, is happily playing the role of the GWS morale officer as they surge into next Friday night's preliminary final against Collingwood at the MCG.

Like coach Adam Kingsley, Davis admitted after Saturday night's semi-final win over Port Adelaide that he did not think they would improve so quickly.

The Giants were in the bottom four after round 12, but have won 11 of their past 13 games in Kingsley's debut season as a senior coach.

Asked if he had thought they had such rapid improvement in them, Davis said: "I should be able to lie, but I can't - I didn't think so.

"I (could) see the good stuff, but with a young team, we were (conceding) so many goals, and that usually takes time.

"But (Port) didn't kick more than three in a row or two in a row and that, to me, has been our biggest improvement.

"Our good has always been very good, but now our bad - we're really raising the floor of our game."

Davis is one of the most important figures in the expansion team's young history and he is enjoying his part in their unlikely finals campaign.

He jokingly calls himself their "chief morale keeper-upperer".

"I'd love to be out there. It's not quite the same," he said.

"At halftime we get in here, we'd kicked six behinds in a row, maybe.

"I was saying 'It's all good'. That's my role - it's all okay.

"I just try to make sure everyone knows they're very good."

A big factor in the Giants' final wins over St Kilda and Port has been an ability to score from stoppages, including nine goals to three against the Power.

That hasn't been a feature of their game until now.

"There's no doubt we set up to be a very strong turnover team. However, we've really been able to cash in (from stoppages)," he said.

"Now it's probably like the cream on the cake.

"In finals, you have to go to another level and stoppages provide that for us at the moment."

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