GIANTS defender Heath Shaw will miss the remainder of the 2018 season after scans revealed the veteran tore the MCL in his knee during Saturday’s game.

Shaw tore his medial collateral ligament in the fourth quarter of the GIANTS’ win over the Crows in Canberra and will require surgery 

“He obviously collided with Adam Kennedy in the game and we knew at the time that it didn’t look great,” said GIANTS Head of Athletic Performance David Joyce.

“Remarkably, he was still in pretty good spirits even though he was being escorted from the field on the medi-cab.

“The scans have shown he’s torn the medial collateral ligament which is the ligament that supports the inside of his knee.

“We’ll need to operate on that … we’ll do that in Melbourne probably next week, he’s going to see the surgeon tomorrow.”

Star midfielder Josh Kelly will be assessed across the week to determine his availability to take on the Swans in Saturday’s Sydney Derby XV.

Kelly was knocked out in a tackle by the Crows’ Taylor Walker and could not play out the game.

“As is always the case with concussions, we’ve got a pretty strict protocol that we go through and welfare is the main concern with all these guys,” Joyce said.

“He’s improved every single day which gives us a lot of confidence that he’s not going to have any lasting effects and we’ll just see how this week plays out.”

Sam Reid will miss this week’s clash with the Swans with scans revealing a minor strain in his myofascia after the versatile GIANT was unable to finish the match against the Crows.

“‘Reidy’ has got a really small strain of the myofascia … if you think about it it’s the Glad Wrap around the muscle, so he’s not strained the muscle itself,” Joyce said.

“They’re usually much, much quicker turnarounds so I’d expect him to miss this week but probably not too much after that.”

Forward Matt de Boer was a late withdrawal for Saturday’s match and will be sidelined for one-to-two weeks with a hamstring strain.

“He’s another one who continues to improve. He was a bit tight after the Carlton game and we decided not to push the issue,” Joyce said.

“He’s had some hamstring issues with us in the past and with Fremantle … he’ll probably miss another week or two.”

For the first time all season, Zac Williams has been removed from the GIANTS’ injury list with the defender to return from a pre-season achilles tendon injury in the NEAFL on Saturday.

“Zaccy’s done an absolutely outstanding job with his achilles,” Joyce said.

“The physios have done an amazing job, Alex in the strength and conditioning and Nick Walsh has done a superb job; not just to get his achilles right but to make sure he’s conditioned appropriate to play a high level of footy. 

“We expect Zac to take the field next weekend and put a really good foot forward for hopefully a finals appearance.”

Williams will take to the field for the NEAFL GIANTS against the Swans as a curtain-raiser to the Sydney Derby, with the NEAFL to begin at 1:10pm, followed by the main game at 4:35pm.