Former GWS captain Phil Davis spent half an hour on the phone with Jeremy Cameron after the latter’s decision to join Geelong.
Both inaugural Giants have grown up with the club, with the key defender saying they share a tight bond given the shared memories.
The 30-year-old hoped Cameron would finish his career a one-club player and go down as the club’s best ever player so far.
“It was obviously very disappointing. Obviously once Jeremy made the decision he gave me a call and we chatted about it for 20 or 30 minutes,” Davis told SEN SA Breakfast.
“When you’ve played footy for long enough with anyone you have so many shared experiences that you form a very tight bond.
“I think at the end of the day in talking to him, I understand. It wasn’t a money thing, the club didn’t do anything wrong – which sometimes easier and sometimes harder to take when you lose someone of that calibre.
“How I reflect on it is he gave nine years of about as good service as you can give a football club and there are other factors that got in the way.
“It was disappointing, I would have loved him to retire a Giant, if not the greatest ever Giant, but I guess that’s not how it’s going to pan out and he’s moved onto a new chapter and we’ve got to move forward, but we’re very thankful for what he did for the football club.”