All the key quotes from coach Leon Cameron’s weekly press conference ahead of the clash with the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

On Stephen Coniglio re-signing

It’s great news, it’s fantastic news, he’s a really popular player among our playing group. He’s got some great leadership qualities. He’s from a fantastic family, great values and we’re rapt that he’s committed to our footy club. It just reinforces that they want to be here for the right reasons. Bit by bit as the year has gone on the club has negotiated with these young individuals and all of them want to commit to our footy club and he’s no different. For him to knock back offers from elsewhere, again, shows that we’re heading in the right direction and we’re rapt to have him aboard.

On Tom Scully’s 100-game milestone

100 games is a significant milestone. To play 100 games of AFL footy, it’s hard. From his first game when he played at Melbourne to coming here to the GIANTS, it’s been a tough road for him. One thing that’s stood the test of time for Tom is that he has stayed the course with where the club was heading. He’s been respected among the footy club because of his work-rate. You can never ever question his work-rate and professionalism. The defensive side of his game is just outstanding which is now helping our young players understand you have to be a two-way player. Now we’ve seen in the last 12 months his offensive game is starting to become a real weapon. We’re really proud Tom has got to that milestone, it’s a significant milestone for any player, he’s a really popular player amongst our group.

On the Suns

It was a good win down in Canberra (in round four) but we know they’re a different team. They obviously have a number of players back that are playing better footy. Ablett’s back, Dixon is back - we don’t know if he’ll play this week but he was playing some fantastic footy. You can clearly see since the bye they’ve re-grouped and got some players back from injury and they’re playing some better footy. It was only a matter of time - we went through this last year, we had a number of injuries we had to address and then we got some of those players back. No doubt that gave confidence to such a young group and we played a lot better footy in the back half of the year. They smashed the Kangaroos two weeks ago and nearly beat the Bulldogs who are a top six side. They’re in a lot better form than in the first part of the year.

On stopping Gary Ablett Jr

It’s a huge test, we’ll discuss that today. There’s always the argument of do you run with him knowing he’s probably always going to get his 30 possessions and hit the scoreboard or do you give a young midfielder an opportunity to play on him. Does Jack Steele end up on him and you go what do you learn from this quarter? You’re going to learn a lot. Does Stephen Coniglio run with him or does Callan Ward? There’s number of options for us that we’re going to look at but ultimately he’s one player and there’s 21 other players at the Gold Coast Suns that can play the game and we’re clearly seeing that at the moment.

On Jonny Patton’s NEAFL return

He pulled up really well, we’re rapt with him. I think he played about 45 minutes, his energy was there no doubt, playing his first game in 11 months. His touch was a little bit off but he obviously kicked a goal. He came out and trained really well this week. We’ll ramp it up to probably 75-80 minutes this week and then the week after he’s available to play a full game. From there you start judging his performances in terms of when we think he can play AFL football at that level. But it’s a good little step in the right direction and hopefully we keep taking this little steps over the next few weeks with him.

On Dylan Shiel’s knee injury

He’ll be operated on tomorrow. The surgeon’s going to make some calls when he’s looking at that during the operation. I know it’s a vague six to 12 weeks but we actually don’t know. We’re playing in six weeks so he could come back in the back end of the year but we’re also mindful that the welfare of the player comes first and if it’s an eight or 10 or 12 week injury and it’s long-term then we’ve got to make sure we take that outlook on him. It’s disappointing because Dylan was having a breakout year, he’s committed to our footy club and he’s an exciting, talented player that’s got great leadership qualities. We’re going to miss him but it’s a great opportunity for someone else to step in this week.

For more from coach Leon Cameron, click play on the video above
 
The GIANTS play the Suns at Metricon Stadium on Saturday at 2.10pm with live coverage on 7mate in NSW and the ACT and Fox Sports 3 from 2.00pm. Follow the game live on the GIANTS Game Hub or keep up to date on Twitter and Facebook.