Sydney midfielder James Rowbottom and Giants defender Harry Himmelberg addressed the media ahead of the 30th Sydney Derby this weekend.

Rowbottom spoke about the rivalry with GWS, reviewing the loss against the Gold Coast and the club's injury list. 

On going into a derby searching for form

"We're obviously struggling to find a win at the moment and regardless of the derby or not, I think we're in need of a win and searching for that form and it does just amplify the moment even more."

On the rivalry with the Giants

'I can't speak for the Giants, but there obviously is a rivalry, but we very highly respect the Giants and the way they go about things and it's just a game at the end of the day. It's a fierce competition and there is a rivalry, but I'm not sure hate is the right word that we'd come and use."

On reviewing the loss against the Gold Coast

"Obviously it was a harsh review, we obviously played some really good footy in the first half of that game, which we touched on as well and can't lose sight of, but our second half was really disappointing and we looked that square in the face and have tried to put some things in place to learn and get better in that regard and hopefully can extend momentum going forward."

On Chad Warner's contract extension

"I'm sure you'd probably know it doesn't really change Chad, regardless of decision or not. He's a bundle of energy and we love having him around. It's obviously great news that he's extended with us and can put it to bed for a bit and all the media noise can stop around it. But yeah, it's obviously very positive for us, he's a great player for our team."

On his on-field leadership responsibilities 

"That was one thing I was personally really disappointed with on the weekend, that third quarter I wasn't able to identify and try and galvanise the boys as well as I could  and probably let it slip for a bit too long. That's probably a problem we have as a team in general, so if I can play my part and get that done a bit earlier, then that'll be good."

On the need to put together a four-quarter performance

"It's just about playing four quarters of footy, we've played two or three good quarters throughout games and then let ourselves down for one or two and we're just really trying to, as I said, stem momentum and work out how to get a good four-quarter performance."

On whether the side will draw inspiration from its Qualifying Final win over the Giants last year

"I'm not sure yet, we'll preview everything tomorrow but personally, probably not. We've got probably more pressing issues, team and form and everything in the last couple of week that we probably need to review and fix rather than looking back six months to try and draw inspiration."

On the club's injury list

"It's obviously a challenge, but it's not an excuse. We've still got a relatively experienced team at the moment and we're the ones that are making mistakes and not providing our best footy. So I don't think injury is an excuse, it's obviously a challenge to have a fair few of our best 22 out, but as Harry said, we're after our best footy regardless of who's on the field."

On Aaron Francis

"Since then, he's been great, to be fair to Aaron, he's had a really strong pre-season, off-season and start in the VFL this year and it was really good that he grabbed his opportunity with two hands. He's been really predictable for us up forward the last couple of weeks,  regardless of his scoreboard impact, his ability to make a contest and just being predictable for our forwards and mids, getting back to the drop of the ball has been really positive."