The GIANTS are preparing for inspirational Geelong captain Joel Selwood to play in Saturday night's top-four showdown at Spotless Stadium.
Selwood was knocked out in the opening minute of the Cats' tight win over Fremantle last week and played no further part in the game after clashing with Docker Hayden Ballantyne.
The Cats skipper managed to jog off the ground after waving away the stretcher and although he was diagnosed with concussion, Selwood remains a chance to face the GIANTS, a fact that was no surprise to his three-time premiership teammate Steve Johnson.
"I think he should probably take a week off and definitely be right for the following week," Johnson joked.
"I would be surprised if he didn't (play).
"I haven't given him a call, he commented on one of my Instagram posts but that was about a week ago, so this week there hasn't been too much interaction."
The ladder-leading GIANTS should get a boost for their first match against Geelong in Sydney since round 18, 2014, with Josh Kelly (hip), Devon Smith (knee) and Rory Lobb (groin) all a chance to return to the side this week.
The trio trained strongly and completed the club's main session on Wednesday, giving coach Leon Cameron a much healthier list to choose from, despite the loss of draftee Tim Taranto (ankle) from last week's win over the Brisbane Lions.
Johnson said the three stars would be welcome additions to the team that never looked in trouble against the Lions, but didn't please Cameron after giving up six goals in the last term.
"It would be better if we were a bit more ruthless for the full four quarters and that’s what we'll be trying to achieve this week," Johnson said.
"I think it's a good thing that the coaching group don't brush over any deficiencies in our game just because we won by 10 goals, and that’s what you've got to be able to do when you want to be a ruthless team."
The result of Saturday night's encounter will prove crucial in the context of the season, with the GIANTS and Geelong both heavily favoured to claim a top four spot and home ground advantage in the finals.
"If we can earn four points ourselves we take four points away from them," Johnson said.
"Clearly when you play well against certain opposition it can have a flow-on effect in games in the future, so we want to set a really strong example that we're a competitive footy team that you don't really want to come up against.
"We hope that this is a really hard contest, a finals-like game, and we can play close to our best footy."
The GIANTS take on Geelong in a blockbuster Saturday night clash at Spotless Stadium.
