Greater Western Sydney co-captain Callan Ward says his AFL club are following the improved form of Gold Coast but know they won’t replicate it without plenty more hard work.

In their third season, Gold Coast have risen to 12th on the ladder with a 5-6 record following their stirring win over North Melbourne on Saturday night and second-year expansion club GWS are taking note.

While they’re 0-11 and on the bottom of the ladder, the Giants received plaudits at the weekend for their effort in the 59-point loss to powerhouse Geelong, which Ward believes was the club’s best game in two seasons.

“I think it was our best performance, yeah,” Ward said.

“I think we had over 90 tackles for the whole game, which was great to see.”

But Ward said the Giants were keenly aware it would be a hard slog to duplicate what Gold Coast had done.

“We can’t be a squad or a team that waits for things to happen,” Ward said.

“We need to do everything right and hope it turns like it has for Gold Coast this year.

“We need to work hard as a team and do everything the coaches ask of us.”

Ward said the young Giants squad frequently discussed what they needed to do to reach the next level.

“We’ve done a lot of speaking about putting in consistent efforts,” Ward said.

“There are players that play one good quarter here, and two good quarters there. We need to find that consistent effort.

“We’ve been speaking as a team about turning up to play.”

GWS meet struggling Port Adelaide at Skoda Stadium this weekend.