Callan Ward is bracing for a month-long stint on the sidelines to open the AFL season as Greater Western Sydney's relentless injury curse lands an early blow.
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The Giants co-captain will avoid surgery but could miss the opening four rounds of the season after suffering a lateral collateral ligament strain in his knee during a pre-season clash with Sydney last week.
Ward's absence throws a spanner in the works of a new-look midfield however Giants star Phil Davis is confident the club's crop of rising stars can fill the void.
It isn't all bad for the Giants as they prepare to welcome Toby Greene and Adam Tomlinson back into the fold for their final pre-season clash against the Adelaide Crows at Manuka Oval on Friday night.
Josh Kelly has been overlooked but the star midfielder is likely to be fit for the season proper, with the Giants set to turn to their next generation to plug a gap left by trades and injury.
"You can never replace Cal one-for-one, but I think we’ve got the depth to add to our squad and be a really strong middle unit against Essendon [in round one]," Davis said.
"We’ve shown with our depth through the midfield, we’re a strong side. We’ve still got Kelly and Hopper to get back into the side for round one.
"There’s no doubt whenever you lose experienced players like [Tom] Scully, [Dylan] Shiel and [Rory] Lobb, you need players to come in and fill their roles. Fortunately for us, when we’ve had to trade out good players in recent years we’ve got some good draft picks and got some quality players in.
"With that clearing of space comes opportunity. For some of our young blokes that’s absolutely fantastic, whether that be [Harry] Perryman or [Isaac] Cumming, or [Jye] Caldwell and [Jackson] Hateley last week.
"They’re going to be important for us because there is a few spots available this year that probably weren’t there last year."
Stephen Coniglio will take the captaincy reins against Adelaide with returning ruckman Shane Mumford listed as an emergency as GWS enter their eighth season in Canberra.
The Giants' rise up the ladder has coincided with their run of dominance in the capital but more pressing for coach Leon Cameron this week is getting some miles in the legs of his key players.
"Toby will come in and play some managed game time on Friday night which is the perfect preparation for the season for him," Cameron said.
"After his ankle surgery in November, our medical team have been really cautious and built him up to make sure he’s ready for round one and they’ve done a terrific job.
"It’s also great to see Adam ready to go after his calf injury, he gives us great versatility and running power and is an important player for us.
"We had some good patches and some okay patches against the Swans and this week is really a chance to continue to build on the things we’ve worked on over summer."
AFL PRE-SEASON
Friday: GWS Giants v Adelaide Crows at Manuka Oval, 7.10pm. Tickets from Ticketek.
Giants squad:
FB: L Whitfield, P Davis, I Cumming
HB: A Kennedy, J Finlayson, L Keeffe
C: S Reid, S Coniglio, H Perryman
HF: D Simpson, H Himmelberg, B Daniels
FF: J Hately, J Cameron, D Lloyd
RR: M Flynn, T Taranto, A Bonar
Int: S Taylor, B Deledio, J Caldwell, M Buntine, T Greene, H Shaw, M De Boer, A Tomlinson
Emg: Z Sproule, N Shipley, S Mumford, J Stein
