Swans Media analyses all things GWS as the Sydney Swans prepare for Sydney Derby XVIII at Giants Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Recent form
The fifth-placed Giants are eyeing three successive wins after overcoming Collingwood by 47 points and Port Adelaide by one.
In a match in which the Giants led the Power from siren to siren, Tim Taranto (31 touches), Jacob Hopper (30) and Toby Greene (30) were their chief ball-winners, while towering forwards Jeremy Cameron and Jeremy Finlayson jagged three goals each.
Ins and outs
Veteran Giant Brett Deledio and emerging defender Jake Stein will return to the home side’s 22.
Deledio was managed as GWS met Port Adelaide, while Stein has earned a recall for his third senior match after a week on the sideline of his own.
Sam Taylor (hamstring) and Daniel Lloyd (calf) are GWS’s outs for the round, and star Giants Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio, Callan Ward, Jonathon Patton and Matt de Boer remain in a crammed injury ward.
Key match-up
Rising Sydney defender Aliir Aliir is expected to clamp hot Coleman Medal favourite Cameron in Dane Rampe’s absence.
Cameron, who’s topped the Giants’ goal-kicking every year since the club’s 2012 inception, has snared 57 majors this season to be well ahead of 48-goal Kangaroo Ben Brown in second.
Aliir (195 centimetres, 97 kilograms) and Cameron (196 centimetres, 96 kilograms) are virtually identical in size, meaning the duo’s agility and the midfield battle promise to factor significantly.
Last time they met
A host of Giants fired as GWS romped to a 41-point win over Sydney at the SCG when the clubs last met in Round 6.
Tim Taranto finished with 30 possessions (17 contested) and a goal to collect a game-high nine AFL Coaches' Association votes, with Coniglio (24 touches, four goals) earning eight votes.
Meanwhile, Jacob Hopper (33 touches), Kelly (31 disposals, one goal) and Zac Williams (30 possessions) won plenty of the Sherrin, and Heath Shaw (25 touches, seven rebound 50s) was excellent in his trademark role as an attacking defender.
What they said
GWS co-captain Phil Davis: “We’re two highly competitive sides. The Swans are a side with a great culture and a great history and still a lot of great players playing, with some really good, young, talented players coming through too. It’s going to be a huge challenge, I must admit, like most derbies around the country, and the ladder doesn’t come into it too much. Both us and the Swans play a really similar brand of footy in terms of that really competitive style, and that’ll probably take over come Saturday."
