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Greater Western Sydney believe they can consistently match their rivals after notching back-to-back AFL wins for the first time to mark another stride forward for the club.
Following last week's 45-point away win over Brisbane, the third season franchise notched a 15.10 (100) to 14.8 (92) victory over Carlton at Spotless Stadium on Sunday.
They kicked 10 goals in the first half for the first time in their history and their score of 10.2 was also their biggest first-half total.
The Giants move to a 4-9 win-loss record, the same as the Blues, who suffered a fourth straight loss.
"It [winning back-to-back] installs that belief that no matter who we play now, we can beat them," Giants forward Jonathon Patton said.
Giants coach Leon Cameron said his team's efforts over the past four rounds following a 113-point shellacking by Richmond was really pleasing.
"They want to stand for something; they are standing for their defensive work," Cameron said.
"To get a couple in a row and now four for the year - and be really competitive in probably 10 out of 13 weeks - has created an enormous amount of confidence."
Down by 22 points late in the second quarter, Carlton pulled back to within eight in both the third and final terms.
The Giants scored plenty of goals from turnovers, while Carlton didn't notch a set-shot goal until the third quarter.
"Last week, I was probably disappointed for the players. This week, I'm very disappointed in [them]," Carlton coach Mick Malthouse said.
"We were dreadful in one touch. We gave the ball back to them time and time and time again and you can't win games of footy when you give the ball back."
While lamenting the lack of individual leadership, Malthouse refused to use the late withdrawal of captain Marc Murphy with hamstring tightness after the warm-up as an excuse.
Rhys Palmer kicked three goals for GWS, with Will Hoskin-Elliott, Dylan Shiel and Patton each bagging two.
For Carlton, Troy Menzel kicked three while Jarrad Waite, Brock McLean and Dale Thomas all contributed two. Ruckman Shane Mumford logged 55 hitouts for the Giants, while Stephen Coniglio and Callan Ward tallied 29 touches for the winners and Mitch Robinson notched 31 possessions for the Blues. AAP