Greater Western Sydney vice-captain Tom Scully insists the Giants will be just as desperate as Collingwood when his young club plays in front of potentially their biggest ever AFL crowd this weekend.
Saturday's match will be the Giants' first against Collingwood at the MCG and just their fourth at the famous venue, as they strive for their first away win.
It will be Giants coach Kevin Sheedy's record 372nd and final match at the MCG.
The biggest crowd the Giants have played in front of so far is 38,203, the attendance for their very first game against Sydney at ANZ Stadium last year.
Their next best was 30,143 against Essendon at Etihad Stadium this year, while the best attended of their three MCG games to date was the 26,518 who turned up to watch their club record a 162-point loss to Hawthorn last year.
The Pies have averaged a whopping 59,384 across seven home games this year, though five of those fixtures were against other Victorian teams.
While Collingwood will be smarting after losing to Gold Coast last week, Scully stressed the winless Giants would be equally hungry for a win.
"Obviously they would be disappointed losing last week, but at the same time we're as desperate as anyone to get a win," said Scully, who will return to the team after missing last week with concussion.
"We're under no illusions that they will be coming out very determined to do well, but we're just as determined to get a win as well.
"It's a great opportunity to get down there and play quality opposition in front of a really good crowd."
As a former Melbourne player, Scully knows the MCG much better than many of his young teammates.
"It's the best ground in Australia to play on and you should really enjoy it and take the opportunity," Scully said.
He described the Giants second season as challenging, but was adamant they were making more headway than their win-loss record suggested.
"We've still yet to win a game but there's been some really encouraging signs," Scully said.
"Obviously people just look at the wins and losses and say 'you're yet to get a win', but certainly internally we know we are making big steps forward. We get judged internally on how we're going before getting judged on wins and losses.
"The biggest thing is we're judging ourselves on intensity and effort every week and this year it's probably been a bit inconsistent."
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