The Giants’ bid to dig themselves out of an early-season hole is now much tougher, with All-Australian defender Nick Haynes out of Saturday night’s clash with Fremantle in Perth.
Haynes hasn’t recovered sufficiently from an ankle injury he sustained in last week’s victory over Gold Coast –which followed consecutive defeats to start the year – but is hopeful of missing just one match.
The 29-year-old also sat out of Greater Western Sydney’s season opener with a stomach issue, so it’s been a stop-start campaign to date for one of coach Leon Cameron’s most important players.
It’s another blow for the Giants’ embattled backline, which is already without Phil Davis and Jack Buckley, while Toby Greene, Jacob Hopper and Brent Daniels are also out.
“We’re disappointed ‘Haynesy’ hasn’t got up (but) we expect he’s going to put his name up for selection next week,” Cameron said.
“He rolled his ankle and it just hasn’t come up in time. Clearly, he’s got to go through a fitness test next week to see if he’s right, but we’re pretty confident he’s going to be OK for round 5.”
Key forward Jake Riccardi replaces Haynes as the only change from the round 3 side after spending a week in the VFL, while Braydon Preuss retained the No.1 ruck role over Matt Flynn, who is an emergency.
“Jake has had a really good summer. He was disappointed in his performance against Richmond but he wasn’t on his own there,” Cameron said.
“He’s a good, young lad who is working through his craft as a key forward.
“We feel he’s got a lot to offer, especially in that forward role, but equally up on the wing and as a chop-out in the ruck. He’s become a really flexible player for us.”
The Giants are trying to join the Dockers on two wins and they beat them at Perth Stadium as recently as two years ago.
The contest doubles as spearhead Jesse Hogan’s first game against Fremantle, and at Perth Stadium, since he crossed to GWS in the 2020 trade period.
“Jesse’s had two games in a row now and the ultimate aim for him is to playxjmtzyw as much footy as he possibly can,” Cameron said.
“There will be a few nerves, because it’s the first time he gets to play against his old team, but we feel as though he’s in good shape and he’s building on his game.
“We love what he did last week and we’re confident he always offers us a big target and the longer he can stay out there, the better off we’re going to be.”
