Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron admits there's no way to avoid losing some rhythm because of the AFL bye.
The upside for Cameron is Brisbane, who the Giants tackle at the Gabba on Saturday, are also coming off their mid-season break.
Hawthorn defeated Adelaide last Saturday night, becoming the first team to win this year after a bye.
The week off provides players a chance to switch off mentally and refresh physically, but it arguably came at a particularly poor time for GWS given the expansion club's momentum.
The Giants had snapped a four-match losing streak with a gutsy away win over Adelaide then thumped Gold Coast by a record 108 points, demonstrating exactly the sort of consistency that Cameron craved in May.
"The challenge is, like for every other club that has a bye, picking yourselves up after having a rest," Cameron told reporters.
"Because you do lose a little bit of rhythm.
"It's a huge challenge.
"Brisbane won their first game after the bye last year by 12 goals, so clearly they did it really really well - and we did it well last year.
"We can't afford to have any mistakes. We sit outside the eight and we've got to continue to play some really good, hard footy to catch the frontrunners."
Midfielder Jacob Hopper is among the GWS players who wish they didn't have last weekend off.
Hopper's career-best form has come after two injury-riddled seasons, during which he spent time on the sidelines because of heart surgery plus finger, back and ankle setbacks.
"I was probably keen to keep going. Being injured the last two years, it's good to be playing some footy," Hopper said.
"The sort of footy we are playing, we all kind of wanted to keep going.
"But it was our turn for the bye. It was a good opportunity to put the feet up, refresh and really plan for the second half of the season."
The Giants, floated as premiership favourites by some pundits during the off-season after reaching preliminary finals in 2016 and 2017, are currently 10th on the ladder.
"We can't just expect to play finals footy. It's something we're going to have to work really hard for," Hopper said.
"We had a pretty disappointing month (in May) ... hopefully we can keep getting better and better."
