GIANTS coach Leon Cameron expects West Coast ruck Nic Naitanui to take to the field on Sunday despite speculation the Eagle is struggling with soreness.

Cameron spoke with the media ahead of the club’s first run at Optus Stadium on Saturday afternoon and said he expects the ruck battle to be crucial to the result on Sunday.

“I think the eight-day break helps. They played Saturday against Adelaide and we did (played Saturday) too,” said Cameron.

“This time of the year when you just start to get over the halfway mark you need the eight days some of the time, some of our boys are still sore from the weekend when we played Hawthorn.

“But there’s no doubt the extra day helps, so we expect him to play and it’s a huge challenge for Dawson Simpson, Rory Lobb and Adam Tomlinson, and those guys that are going to go up in the ruck against Naitanui, Lycett and Vardy. 

“I think that’ll be one of the duels of the day.”

Cameron said the GIANTS coaching staff had used the eight-day break to prepare for a variety of possible line-ups. 

“You’ve got to prepare for all three. We saw a lot of Vardy last year and we played the Eagles three times and each time Vardy was playing, so we’ve seen a lot of him and know he’s got a leap and a mark and can kick goals.

“He’s in good form. Equally, we’re really happy with where Dawson Simpson’s at, he’s playing some of the best footy he’s played.

“He’s grabbed the opportunity, Lobb’s back in the team and we feel as though we get some really good yardage from our stoppages with Dawson in it.

When asked about an earlier than expected wake up due to a fire alarm at the team hotel in the early hours of Saturday morning, Cameron jokingly suggested it could be his West Coast counterpart behind it.

“It was a bit interesting, I thought I saw Adam Simpson running away after pushing the fire alarm button,” he said with a smirk.

“He might have got us up a little earlier.”

Cameron and Simpson were both assistant coaches at Hawthorn before stepping into senior coaching roles at the start of 2014 and have stayed close since then despite coaching on the opposite sides of the country. 

“Fortunately it was a false alarm and we got out of bed but tonight we’ll get a good sleep and look forward to the clash.”