WHEN Hawthorn takes on Greater Western Sydney in Tasmania on Saturday, the Giants will be without the man most likely to have been given the match up on star forward Lance Franklin.
Co-Captain Phil Davis has been grounded by a stress related back injury since Round 6, where he was ruled out of his team’s loss to Essendon.
The key defender has missed the past two matches, leaving a hole in the young defence.
David has become one of the best stoppers in the competition, given he constantly finds himself standing the best forwards in the game with almost unlimited supply into the opposition's forward 50.
That means Tim Mohr and former Hawk Stephen Gilham will have their hands full on Saturday with Franklin and Jarryd Roughead.
Adelaide forward Tom Lynch booted 10 goals against the Giants in Round 7, with Kevin Sheedy lacking defensive options to stand the medium forward.
The Giants will be without gun midfielder Dom Tyson who will miss another two weeks with a knee injury, while Chad Cornes remains on the sidelines.
The task of impacting the scoreboard is now on the shoulders of Jeremy Cameron, with promising forward Jonathon Patton out for the season with an ACL rupture.
GWS Injury List
Chad Cornes (knee) - indefinite
Phil Davis (back) - 5 Weeks
Kristian Jaksch (knee) - 3 weeks
Jono O'Rourke (jaw) - 3 weeks
Jonathon Patton (knee) - season
Andrew Phillips (hamstring) - test
Sam Schulz (virus) - test
Dom Tyson (knee) - 2 weeks
