The Giants put on their best performance of the season so far but it wasn’t enough to counter a strong showing from Carlton’s forward line.

Blues midfielder and 2019 debutant, 18-year-old Madison Prespakis, secured her status as a rising star to watch in one of the competition’s more entertaining games of the season. She scored three goals and racked up a game-high 21 disposals.

"I’m probably a bit emotional at the moment," Prespakis said later. "It’s been my life’s dream to play AFL. I just won my first AFL game with the girls and I couldn’t be prouder."

Blues captain Brianna Davey added: “Mads has been great, for a young player to come in and impact the competition straight away is a huge thing.”

Prespakis was in powerful company with fellow forwards Tayla Harris (three goals) and Darcy Vescio (one) helping the Blues to their highest AFLW score.

‘‘We worked harder than we have [ever before] and I think we deserve it,’’ Harris said.

The Giants forward line couldn’t match their rivals on the scoreboard, but Gaelic footballers Cora Staunton and Yvonne Bonner, alongside Collingwood recruit Christina Bernardi, still gave the crowd of 3800 something to cheer.

Bernardi kicked two goals, and the Irish players one apiece, displaying significant improvement after struggling to convert opportunities in recent weeks.

“Our forwards, for the opportunities we gave them, were pretty effective,” Giants coach Alan McConnell said after the game. “We just didn’t get there often enough.”

The Giants defence struggled against the pressure from Carlton, and were missing Emma Swanson due to injury and Nicola Barr to a suspension.

“Across the board, we need a more even contribution from everybody,” McConnell said.

In high spirits following the club’s fan day, the Giants ran out under a banner that read: ‘‘Drummoyne sucked so bring on Blacktown, it’s time to turn our season upside down.”

But the team left the field devastated as their finals hopes for 2019 slid further away, having entered the competition highly rated.

“There was a lot of expectation around the team. We’re not where we would like to be, particularly based on all the hype at the beginning of the year," McConnell said.

“If you win four games anything is possible. Fairytales happen, but there are things we need to manage."

Both GWS and Carlton had entered the game desperate for a first win of the season to keep their finals hopes alive. Carlton hadn’t won a game since they faced GWS in Drummoyne last year, while for the Giants it was a symbolic opportunity to mimic the winning streak that they began in round three last year that saw them become finals contenders.

Carlton made a strong start to set up a 14-point lead.

The Giants hit back in the latter half of the quarter and both teams maintained the pressure in the second quarter.

Carlton managed to pull away and get 20 points ahead going into the second half of the game, doubling the Giants’ score.

Though GWS fought back and the teams scored two goals apiece in the third quarter, Carlton stretched their lead in the fourth quarter.