"The weekend we're the first to admit was a poor reflection of us," Greene said. "We're building a brand, you'll see over the next few weeks and hopefully months we'll stand up when it matters. We've got a lot of big games coming up, see where we're at in four weeks' time."
Carey's stinging rebuke of the Giants, whom he labelled on Mebourne's Triple M radio as "useless" if not able to play their "flashy" style, comes with the club still building into the season.
Tireless runner Tom Scully is out for an extended period, so too back Zak Williams, while All Australian duo Greene and Josh Kelly have also had their season interrupted by injury.
The Giants cannot place a definitive return date on Kelly, who is set to miss his third consecutive games this week with groin soreness.
The club is mindful the season is still young and are sticking to a conservative path with last year's best and fairest winner.
"He's carried a bit of groin soreness, he carried a bit last year and a bit at the start of pre-season but got a really good pre-season behind him," the Giants' head of athletic performance David Joyce said.
"It's just started to creep up on us again. We're going to take a gun to a knife fight, as they say. We're just taking him back a little bit. It's a very, very long season, we're just taking it session by session and week to week."
Waiting game: Josh Kelly is still battling groin soreness.
Photo: AAP
Kelly was due to run on Wednesday and will complete more sessions on Friday and over the weekend.
"He's putting together a good body of work and we hope to see him feature in the next little while for the footy club," Joyce said.
Greene said he was nearing full match fitness after missing rounds two and three on top of a preseason disrupted by injury.
He was well beaten by Saints captain Jarryn Geary, and missed a set shot which would have iced the game late in the last quarter.
"You want to make an impact when it matters. I did have a set shot late, it was really disappointing," Greene said. "It's something you always want to stand up in big moments, I'm sure every player is the same."
Ruckman Rory Lobb is closing in on a return after two matches with a knee issue. How Lobb pulls up on Thursday after Wednesday's session will determine if he comes back into the 22 to face the Lions.
"I genuinely don't know what he's going to be like on Thursday, but I expect he's going to be pretty good," Joyce said.
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Andrew Wu writes on cricket and AFL for The Sydney Morning Herald
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