The GIANTS will keep the same 22 that beat Gold Coast by a club-record 102-points when they head to Hobart to take on North Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.
Big forward Jonny Patton, who was a late withdrawal from last week’s match, hasn’t been included in the senior side this week.
He’s close to overcoming the hip injury that kept him out of round two but is expected to line up in NEAFL on Saturday at Blacktown.
“It was really close and he trained really well on Wednesday,” said coach Leon Cameron.
“He had an interruption the week after we played Adelaide so that week really didn’t help him.
“We feel as though he just needs some more game time and some more training as well before we bring him back and the guys that played last week we were really happy with.”
Sitting at 1-1 to start the season, the GIANTS fly south to the Apple Isle to take on North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena.
It will be exactly five years to the day that the GIANTS last played in Hobart. Back in round two, 2012 - in just the GIANTS’ second-ever game - it was a 129-point hiding at the hands of the Kangaroos.
Much has changed over the past few years but Cameron knows he has a task on his hands in round three with the GIANTS having only ever beaten the ‘Roos once, in the final round of last season.
“The Kangaroos apply an enormous amount of pressure and are really hard at the footy so we’ve got to make sure that we bring our end of the bargain,” he said.
“That is to compete, and hopefully we can lock the ball in our front half of the game.”
Cameron got a close look at this week’s opponent when the GIANTS took down North by 38-points in the final pre-season match in Canberra a month ago.
“There’s no doubt their hardness at the footy is second to none. I actually think they’re the hardest team going around,” he said.
“Their contest is ferocious, we witnessed that in the third JLT game, they were ruthless at the footy and ruthless at the man with the ball so we’re expecting a ferocious contest.
“We feel like that’s an area we’ve gotten better at over the last 18 months but it was poor round one, better round two but we’ve still got a way to go.
“If we can measure up to the Kangaroos in that area then I think it’s going to go a long way to us getting opportunities to hit the scoreboard.”
This weekend marks a few special milestones. Steve Johnson will qualify for AFL life membership after playing his 300th game, including pre-season, State of Origin and International Rules matches.
He’s also sitting on 499 goals and if history is anything to go by, is likely to kick his 500th on Saturday.
Another special milestone, that took a lot longer than he would have liked, is co-captain Phil Davis’ 100th AFL game.
After battling injuries, the most serious being when he nearly lost his kidney in 2014, Davis will notch up the milestone in his ninth season.
The GIANTS head to Tasmania to take on North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena on Saturday at 1.45pm in round three of the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership season.
Round Three
North Melbourne v GIANTS
Saturday April 8, 1:45pm
Blundstone Arena, Hobart
GIANTS Team
FB: Zac Williams, Phil Davis, Matt Buntine
HB: Josh Kelly, Adam Tomlinson, Adam Kennedy
C: Heath Shaw, Callan Ward, Toby Greene
HF: Devon Smith, Rory Lobb, Steve Johnson
FF: Ryan Griffen, Jeremy Cameron, Tom Scully
RR: Shane Mumford, Dylan Shiel, Jacob Hopper
Interchange: Sam Reid, Tim Taranto, Nick Haynes, Nathan Wilson
In: -
Out: -
Emergencies: Jonathon Patton, Aidan Corr, Harry Perryman
