The Giants flew out of the traps and raced into a 27-point lead at quarter time which proved to be decisive.

As the weather conditions deteriorated, chasing the game became tougher and the Saints were simply left with too much to do as they lost by 11.9 (75) to 6.8 (44).

"We actually set ourselves for a little bit of wet-weather football because we thought more rain was coming," Giants coach Lucas Mellier said.

"We wanted to start well because we knew goals in the first two quarters were going to be worth potentially double after half-time with the weather that was predicted.

"The ball was really slippery out there in the second half and it was hard to transition the ball down the field.

"We've been building towards playing well against a finals team, that's been our focus, so hopefully we can take a lot of confidence out of today.

"It was the best four-quarter effort we've had this year."

The sides traded early blows, goals from Jacob Bruce and Nathan Wardius quickly cancelled out by Kade Garland and Nico Sedgwick, before the Giants took control.

They kicked four unanswered majors, Wardius booting two of them, with the Saints guilty of cheap turnovers which put them under increasing pressure.

With Mellier off the field for 15 minutes after being yellow-carded for a bump on Sedgwick, the Giants were kept scoreless in the second term although Brock-Burrum failed to make their territorial advantage count on the scoreboard.

And with the rain falling much more heavily after half-time, their 18-point margin was precious indeed.

Bruce took his goal tally to five and although Matt Heagney and Trent I'Anson responded for the visitors, they were further in arrears at the final change.

The rain was now torrential and the match finished in near darkness, with car headlights shining brightly across the oval.

With the ball resembling a bar of soap, the Giants' lead was never threatened as the teams kicked one goal apiece before heading for cover.

"While the difference was five goals in the end, I see it as 15 minutes in that first quarter which cost us," Saints coach Kade Stevens said.

"We were chasing tails for the rest of the day. Contested footy and tackles were the stats they were leading at quarter-time; we led them for every quarter after that.

"But we got ourselves in that position from our inability to win contested footy."

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Brock-Burrum were missing Victoria-based Damian Cupido and Ronnie Boulton but Stevens didn't use their absence as an excuse.

"It didn't have any bearing on our mindset," he said.

"Ronnie Boulton's one of our key ball-winners and probably one of our best below his knees so it definitely makes a difference but it wasn't the difference today.

"It was just their attack in that whole first quarter."

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