The changes
In: Tendai Mzungu, Harry Perryman
Out: Jeremy Finlayson (knee), Steve Johnson (knee soreness)
What to expect
Despite enduring a debilitating season that has seen multiple injuries to key players, the GWS Giants have performed outstandingly this season.
As the league makes the turn for the final two months of the home and away season, the Giants sit half a game ahead of Adelaide at the top of the ladder after their draw with Geelong last weekend.
The Giants have built their dominance this season through the midfield, where they pace the league for clearances per match.
The sheer level of talent in the Giants’ engine room is the simple but effective justification for their supremacy.
Along with having 11 players averaging at least seven contested possessions a game, the Giants also rank second in the league, behind the Hawks, in disposal efficiency.
Although the Giants are the third-highest scoring side in the league this year, they only have three players that have kicked over 13 goals for the year in Jeremy Cameron (40), Toby Greene (30) and Jonathan Patton (26).
With Greene’s availability for Saturday’s game in serious doubt, if the Hawks can stop the Giants’ two key forwards in Patton and Cameron, they will go a long way toward limiting the Giants potency.
Players to watch
Jeremy Cameron has gone to another level in 2017.
The Giants’ key spearhead in attack currently leads the Coleman Medal race with 40 goals this year and is setting new career-best numbers in many key categories.
The 24-year old has also taken more marks than any other forward in the game, as the argument of whether he is the flag favourite’s most important player seemingly becoming more and more unquestionable as the season progresses.
Another key cog to the Giants’ winning dynamic is their ruckman, Shane Mumford.
Now in his fourth season at the club, Mumford is arguably enjoying the best year of his career.
His 39.3 hit-outs per game is a career-best, with only Adelaide’s Sam Jacobs having had more hit-outs this year than the 200cm behemoth.
But Mumford’s value goes far beyond his ability to win the ruck duel, with the former Cat and Swan having one of the biggest on-field presences of any player in the league.
No ruckman that is averaging over 31 hit-outs a game this year is averaging more tackles than Mumford, with his bone-crunching bumps and fearsome implied pressure all part of why his side walks a little taller when ‘Mummy’ is out there alongside them.
