Speedster Zac Williams comes into the GIANTS side to take on the Adelaide Crows on Saturday night as a replacement for fellow gun Lachie Whitfield.
Young defender Sam Taylor also returns to his customary defensive role after a bad cork saw him miss last week’s win over the Gold Coast.
Williams has spent the last fortnight on the sidelines after picking up a minor hamstring injury against the Blues in round nine.
The dashing defender returns to the side in place of Whitfield, who will miss the next month with a broken collarbone.
“It’s disappointing Lachie is going to miss the next three or four weeks of footy with his collarbone but equally Zac Williams has recovered from his hamstring and Sam Taylor from his cork last week,” coach Leon Cameron said.
“Those two guys come back into our team and are looking forward to playing again.
“It’s a huge challenge for us, we had a great game against them last year. We understand the magnitude of the game but having those two boys come back in is great.”
The GIANTS are taking on the Crows almost exactly 12 months on from a dramatic win at Adelaide Oval that kick-started the club’s surge to the finals.
But Cameron knows it’s a completely different scenario this time around.
“Clearly there’s a number of teams starting to make their move on the season,” Cameron said.
“Adelaide had a really good win last week against Melbourne and their fightback after half-time was pretty special for them so we understand that the game’s going to go up a level.
“It’s going to be a cracking game and there’s no other way of looking at it. They’re in good form and we need to maintain ours."
The coach is pleased by his side’s recent record in the City of Churches with the men in orange winning both clashes there last season.
"It can be a really fantastic environment because there’s passionate supporters from both the clubs that are based there,” Cameron said.
“We know there’s going to be 50,000 there on Saturday night, it’s going to be really loud. We experienced that last year and we’re looking forward to that.
“The more experience we gain in those sorts of environments, the better off we are as a footy club.
“That will be no different on Saturday night and our players look forward to that.”
The GIANTS take on the Crows on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval with live coverage on 7mate in NSW and the ACT and Fox Footy all around Australia.
Round 12
Adelaide Crows v GIANTS
Saturday, June 8 at 7:10pm CST/7:40pm EST
Adelaide Oval
FB: Zac Williams, Sam Taylor, Heath Shaw
HB: Adam Kennedy, Phil Davis, Nick Haynes
C: Brett Deledio, Josh Kelly, Matt de Boer
HF: Adam Tomlinson, Harry Himmelberg, Harry Perryman
FF: Brent Daniels, Jeremy Cameron, Toby Greene
RR: Shane Mumford, Stephen Coniglio, Jacob Hopper
Interchange: Isaac Cumming, Tim Taranto, Sam Reid, Jeremy Finlayson
In: Zac Williams, Sam Taylor
Out: Lachie Whitfield (collarbone), Lachie Keeffe (omitted)
Emergencies: Jackson Hately, Aiden Bonar, Lachie Keeffe, Daniel Lloyd
