GWS defender Connor Idun reckons it's time for the Giants to write a new chapter after relying on history to secure an AFL finals spot.
While not ruled out of the finals race, Adam Kingsley's men sit 11th after giving up the final Wildcard spot to St Kilda.
GWS (6-7) had hoped to continue momentum in their first match after their round-13 bye, but instead lost by eight points to the Saints.
The Giants have used the mid-season bye as a turning point in previous campaigns, having turned around a 3-7 start in their first year under coach Kingsley with a seven-match winning streak to reach finals in seventh place.
Last season, GWS were ninth (9-6) before their round-16 bye and finished fifth with a 16-7 overall record, suffering defeat to Hawthorn in the first week of the finals.
Defender Idun can only express his frustration with their record ahead of a home clash against Carlton at Engie Stadium on Saturday.
The Blues (5-8), sitting 14th, have put themselves in the frame for a late charge towards September after claiming four wins from four under interim coach Josh Fraser.
"We've been here before, the last three years we've started the year off-song and really got going, but it won't just happen itself," Idun told AAP.
"We kind of just rely on that previous history of getting going, but we've got to get to work really hard throughout the week and it'll stem into gameday.
"We definitely can do way better. Like, we're inconsistent - 50 per cent of the time we're going really well, playing grand final worthy footy and then the other 50 per cent we're pretty far from it."
Both sides have made just one change, with Stephen Coniglio returning from a hamstring strain just as youngster Toby McMullin is sidelined with injury.
Carlton winger Flynn Young was omitted for Matthew Cottrell.
Idun says absorbing pressure from the Blues will be key after failing to maintain composure against St Kilda.
"Yeah, Saints are really good at pressure, they brought it from all directions … there were a few times we did panic and cough up across the back of that," Idun said.
"I know you can't always kick 14 goals in a quarter ... but we're a hunter team.
"If we want to play finals, pressure has got to be at its highest."
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Saturday's match will also mark the club's Cultural Heritage Series game - a multicultural festival aiming to spotlight the diversity of western Sydney.
"This round is about celebrating everyone's culture, every culture needs to be feeling important this week," Ghanaian-Australian Idun said.
"There are so many multicultural AFL players, I think it'd be nice to get one of those Origin games going - Multicultural v the Indigenous boys, that'd be a great spectacle."
