Tom Green soaks up grand final fever before Giants' draft bid

Teenage Canberra midfielder Green was a special guest at the Giants' grand final lunch at the National Arboretum and the excitement of 500 guests gave him a taste of what's to come if he makes the leap into the AFL.

Green is tipped to be taken in the top 10 in the draft in November and the Giants are already weighing up trade moves to ensure they can keep him at the club.

Green's mission will start just days after the Giants play Richmond in the grand final when he tries to impress at the AFL combine next week.

If all goes according to plan he will be a part of the Giants in 2020 and GWS list manager Jason McCartney believes he can be a strong audition to a side on the cusp of a breakthrough premiership.

"He's been playing for the Giants academy team and he's represented himself and his family really well over the last couple of years," McCartney said.

"Tom is one of those players who's going to be up in the early part of the draft. We want to keep developing players in our region and Canberra is part of that for our long-term strategy.

"It's a bidding system [for the draft], our first pick is No. 11. We have the ability to match bids and I would envisage [Green] going inside anywhere from No. 4 to 10. He'll go early, but we've got ways and means to manipulate around that. There are many levers we can pull."

The Giants show rolled into Canberra for the club's annual grand final function, but there was an extra element this year with the squad preparing to play at the MCG on Saturday.

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The premiership anticipation added an extra element to the lunch and the Giants' finals charge comes as the ACT government continues negotiations about extending the club's partnership in Canberra.

McCartney, who played for North Melbourne in the 1998 grand final, says the Giants are perfectly placed to upset the Tigers this weekend.

"You just have to make the most of the opportunity. Grand finals are so hard to get to," McCartney said.

"There are no guarantees. It's about maximising the opportunity, I don't believe you need a lot of [grand final] experience going into the game.

"You've just got to grab your opportunities when they present themselves. The reality is it's going to be hard. Lists evolve and change. If you're selected this week, you've earned the right and you've got a chance to go out there and become a premiership player. That's what our group's focus will be."

Crunch time has arrived for Greater Western Sydney's grand final hopefuls Stephen Coniglio and Lachie Whitfield, who must train strongly on Wednesday to be any chance of running out onto the MCG against Richmond.

Both Coniglio (knee) and Whitfield (appendix) were on light duties on Tuesday, but will need to step up their training dramatically for the team's main session of the week, which will be closed to the public and media.

Whitfield is expected to be passed fit, having fully recovered from his emergency surgery last week, but there is significant intrigue surrounding Coniglio, who is desperate to play in the club's first grand final.

The GWS vice-captain hasn't featured since round 17, when he tore a ligament in his knee against the Tigers. Teammates had all but written him off a couple of days ago, but there is rising optimism that he could complete a remarkable comeback so he can be part of what looms as an historic occasion.

"He's starting to move pretty well, Cogs," said GWS head of football Wayne Campbell. "He's got excited this week. He'll train and we'll see how that goes. We would never put pressure on him. He'll almost make the call, I reckon, as to whether he's done the work and his knee's stable."

If Coniglio makes himself available for selection, it will pose two interesting questions to coach Leon Cameron and his coaching staff.

One, is it worth risking a long-term injury to bring in a bonafide star who hasn't played an AFL game in more than two months? And two, who makes way for him?

Rookie forward Bobby Hill seems certain to miss out for the returning Toby Greene (suspension), but Lachie Keeffe's strong performance against Collingwood means a real selection headache for the Giants to make room for Whitfield, let alone Coniglio as well.

Co-captain Phil Davis, who hurt his finger, calf and shoulder against Collingwood, is considered a certainty to play.

As for Brett Deledio, who is retiring at the end of the season, it seems the luckless veteran has accepted that he will be watching Saturday's match between his current and former teams from the grandstands.

"I'll give myself every opportunity and try and show the coach I can still play the game on Wednesday but I'm probably pushing it uphill," Deledio said on RSN radio.

Whitfield, meanwhile, should be bracing for a brutal physical examination against the Tigers. The 25-year-old has been regularly targeted by opposition teams this year because of his smaller stature and importance to the Giants' system of play.

His surgery scar, however small, could amount to a bullseye for Richmond - although the appointment of umpire Shaun Ryan to the grand final should be something of a safeguard for him.

Ryan was the official who warned GWS wingman Adam Kennedy against touching Brisbane Lions star Charlie Cameron's injured elbow earlier this month, citing rules stipulating that such actions are against the spirit of the game.

Giants veteran Heath Shaw believes if the Tigers try to hit Whitfield where it hurts, they'll only be harming themselves - although if he was in their shoes, he wouldn't even know where to aim.

"I don't know exactly where the appendix is," Shaw said. "If you're going out of your way to target a player, you're probably going out of team structure.

"[Whitfield] is a good player and he does get targeted because he is a good player. Lachie's very tough. For a skinny little runt, he's one of the toughest players I've played with."