Vice-captain Josh Kelly will be given every chance to take on Collingwood at the MCG in Saturday night’s Semi Final.

Kelly hurt his knee late in the first quarter of the GIANTS’ win over the Swans and was unable to take any further part in the game.

But the star midfielder hasn’t been ruled out of this week’s crunch final.

“Josh has got a pre-existing lateral meniscus issue … that he manages beautifully,” said GIANTS Head of Athletic Performance David Joyce. 

“Basically, the meniscus sits inside the knee and is the shock absorber for the knee and on the weekend, he had a twisting incident which has aggravated it. We tried to see if he could function and we just decided it wasn’t worth risking him. 

“He has actually presented really well over the last couple of days, he’s walking around the club and he’s doing everything to be right for this weekend. 

“We’re going to give him every opportunity, he’s obviously very important to us, we expect him to improve day by day and we’ll give him every opportunity for this week.” 

Veteran Ryan Griffen will be available for selection after fully overcoming a hamstring injury suffered in round 22.

“Ryan would have been effectively available to play last weekend, we just wanted to increase his loads and he’s ticked every single box,” Joyce said.

“He’s sprinted, had an outstanding 10km+ session on Saturday so he’s locked and loaded and ready to be selected this weekend.”

Aidan Corr (groin) and Sam Taylor (hamstring) are both listed as tests for this week’s match. 

“We’re going to continue to work with Aidan, he’s probably a test for this weekend,” Joyce said.

“He punched out an 8km session on Saturday as well and is a test for this weekend.

“Sam’s another one who is running really well, getting up his sprint loads and doing plenty of footy stuff so we’re happy how he’s tracking at the moment and another one to discuss in match committee.”

Ruckman Dawson Simpson has recovered far quicker than expected from the ankle fracture and deltoid ligament damage he suffered in round 20, with the big man re-joining training last weekend. 

“He’s surprised us all. He’s been unbelievably diligent with all his work and is banging down the door for more work,” Joyce said.

“His ankle fracture itself has healed beautifully and the deltoid ligament is healing as well so he integrated into training on Saturday, we’ll train tomorrow for main training and he’ll put his hand up from there.”

Rehab Group - September 11