Conor Stone will make his debut for GWS against Collingwood this week

Ravaged by injury and struggling in the new-age AFL, meet the first game Giant who is primed to take on the Pies this week.

Can young bull Tom Green stamp himself on the Giants? Picture: Getty Images

Conor Stone doesn’t prescribe to talk of him being disadvantaged from last year’s COVID-ruined football season.

Greater Western Sydney picked the Oakleigh Chargers standout in the first round of the 2020 AFL Draft and he’ll make his senior debut against Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night.

It comes at a time the Giants are 0-3 and fresh from losing Stephen Coniglio, Phil Davis and Matt de Boer to injury, but Stone plans to grab his chance and run with it.

When the coronavirus obstacles piled up on him last year, he found a way to not only keep his AFL dream afloat but enhance his reputation. Stone was considered a draft bolter, with his package of athleticism, power, silky skills, potential, leadership and studious ways winning over not only GWS.

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Conor Stone will make his debut for GWS this weekend. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“I’m pretty self-driven but I have a lot of self-driven mates as well who are motivated to get better, so training during the lockdown last year was good,” he told The Saturday Telegraph.

“I was able to work on a few things that needed improvement, so that if I did get that chance, which came at the Giants, I was able to put my best foot forward as soon as I walked through the doors. There are a lot of resources at the club … and they’ve been great for my development in my first pre-season.”

Stone’s first call was to his mum, Dee Young, before breaking the news to his dad, Hartley, a former St Kilda reserves player who was supposed to coach him at St Kevin’s last year. The advice was similar to what coach Leon Cameron delivered: Embrace the pressure rather than being overwhelmed by it.

He’s ordered 30-plus tickets for family and friends to attend the match, which will help him feel like he has ‘home’ crowd support.

Conor Stone is ready to make his mark at the injured Giants. Picture: Phil Hillyard

MCGUANE’S REPLACEMENTS: WILL GIANT RING-INS SEIZE DAY?

Mick McGuane

Out of adversity comes opportunity.

And there’s plenty of both at Greater Western Sydney, with a third straight loss on Sunday night compounded by significant injuries to Stephen Coniglio, Phil Davis and Matt de Boer.

The Giants are already without Lachie Whitfield, Harry Perryman, Braydon Preuss, Adam Kennedy, Daniel Lloyd and Sam Reid, so their depth is again being tested.

My interest is in the potential replacements. They need to seize this opportunity, because anything but that might result in their final game for the club.

If you haven’t been getting a match, then you fail to perform when you do, what reason will Leon Cameron and co. have to pick you down the track? The coach needs you now.

Can young bull Tom Green stamp himself on the Giants? Picture: Getty Images

It won’t be quite that cut-throat for midfield bull Tom Green, but there’s no reason he can’t stamp himself as a regular while the big boys are out.

Even the established crew, such as Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto, need to take on more responsibility.

I imagine Jake Riccardi will come in this week – after a couple of practice matches, following an ankle setback – while Jeremy Finlayson is another potential inclusion.

I get why Finlayson has struggled to break in so far, even taking into account his interrupted pre-season.

Competitiveness, poor body language and consistency of performance have all been of varying concern when it comes to him in the past.

Lachie Keeffe will probably go down back with Riccardi’s return and he’s been filling the back-up ruck duties as well, but possibly Cameron could throw that challenge at Finlayson.

It’s a tough gig for three-game ruckman Matt Flynn to back up from Max Gawn to take on Collingwood’s Brodie Grundy on Saturday night.

Will Jeremy Finlayson win his spot back? Picture: AAP

Could Kieren Briggs be paired with Flynn in a genuine two-pronged ruck division?

There’s lots for Cameron to weigh up, especially when he crunches the numbers up forward.

GWS has the fifth-most forward-half turnovers in the competition this year and has generated the fourth-most points from them, but that’s largely where the positives start and end.

The Giants rank 15th for inside 50 differential and 16th for time in forward half differential, and retain barely 40 per cent of their kicks inside 50, which is the second-worst in the AFL.

That combination is resulting in them being placed 17th for both scores per inside 50 and points for. You’re not going to win many games averaging a tick over 67 points.

That said, last week’s performance provides a decent platform to springboard from, especially with their intent and contest work.

Without Coniglio and tagging option de Boer, who will pick up the slack? Green is an obvious one, but should Callan Ward, the midfielder be reincarnated?

Then there’s stand-in skipper Toby Greene, a genius up forward but also incredibly valuable in the centre. Cameron might be reluctant to rob Peter to pay Paul.

However, GWS must win the clearance battle against the Magpies if the Giants are to give their forwards any chance of kicking a winning score.

It’s season-on-the-line stuff this week and Cameron’s men have to find a way.

Stephen Coniglio is among a number of Giants on the injured list. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

CAMERON’S WAR: GIANTS NOT BUILT FOR TODAY’S AFL

—Jon Ralph

Leon Cameron’s biggest challenge at GWS isn’t keeping his job.

Despite the external noise Cameron is extremely safe given the difficulties the Giants always knew they would encounter in a year of transition.

For Cameron, managing the injury crisis and fallout from publicity including the Amazon documentary is equalled by the task of winning games with a list never designed for football in 2021.

The list was built on the task of winning finals playing brutal combat football with big bruising midfielders who thrived at stoppages.

Football this season is about designated kickers and blinding ball movement, with stoppages falling off a cliff from 63.6 per game last year to just 49 per game in 2021.

GWS doesn’t have its best kicker in Lachie Whitfield (bruised liver), lost its best half-back charger in Zac Williams to Carlton and its Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron in a line-ball call.

Now Stephen Coniglio will miss with an identical injury ankle to the one that saw him miss 12 weeks in 2017 and Phil Davis (calf) is out for six weeks, with five of the top 10 in last year’s best-and-fairest gone or injured.

Leon Cameron has his hands full managing the expanding injury crisis at the Giants.

And in a game where commentators are fearing for the inside mid as a one-trick pony, GWS have a bucketful of that exact player.

Stephen Coniglio, Callan Ward, Tim Taranto, Tom Green and Jacob Hopper had all hoped to be playing 2019-style football this year as the game returned to normal after a COVID interruption.

Leon Cameron had admitted the Giants had battled in 16-minute quarters and were desperate for a return to stoppage-heavy football — the GWS strength despite all the focus on their ball movement.

Instead through new rules the game has pivoted away from the Giants at the same time they have lost solid talent (Jeremy Cameron, Jye Caldwell, Jackson Hateley, Aidan Corr, Zac Langdon) and lost most of their leaders to injury (Coniglio, Davis, Matt De Boer, Whitfield).

It means Cameron has had to play inside midfielders out of position while rivals pick specialists instead.

Cal Ward has played 36 per cent of his time on a wing while Melbourne chooses Ed Langdon, who played 100 per cent game time in Round 2 and ran 15.5km against GWS.

Tom Green, the definition of an inside bull, was out of the side in Round 2 but has played 41 per cent forward this year while Tim Taranto has played 35 per cent forward.

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Leon Cameron talks to his players. Picture: Getty Images

Meanwhile, with talls Jesse Hogan and Braydon Preuss also injured, the Giants are 17th in scoring, 17th for scores inside 50, 16th for time inside forward half, 16th for inside 50 differential.

Club director Jimmy Bartel continues to publicly defend Cameron’s position despite the wave of criticism.

Only seven AFL games ago the Giants officially re-signed Cameron, knowing full well over the off-season GWS was not in the top half-dozen fancies this year.

Imagine if the club turned around less than a year later and moved him on despite a disastrous injury list and the new rules taking away one of the club’s greatest strengths.

So Cameron can only attempt to stem the bleeding while regenerating a list that was ravaged at the end of 2020.

Never say never, because football is full of insane occurrences from officials that change their mind.

But the Giants hierarchy will have his back in this most difficult of years as Cameron attempts to reset a list, endure another injury crisis and fast-track the juniors while enduring more focus than any rival coach in the league.

GROUND ZERO: CAN GIANTS CLIMB OUT OF THIS MESS?

—Marc McGowan

Winless Greater Western Sydney’s teetering season is on the verge of collapse, with three major injury blows out of Sunday night’s loss to Melbourne.

Scans confirmed that captain Stephen Coniglio has suffered a syndesmosis setback and he will undergo surgery this week and be sidelined for about eight matches.

Defender Phil Davis will miss six games recovering from a “significant” calf injury, while tagger Matt de Boer ruptured a hamstring tendon and could be out for about 10 weeks.

Compounding the news is Harry Perryman’s glandular fever diagnosis, which is likely to require another fortnight to recover from after he sat out the Demons defeat with illness.

They join a swelling injury list that includes Lachie Whitfield (bruised liver), Braydon Preuss (shoulder), Adam Kennedy (shoulder), Daniel Lloyd (quad) and Tom Hutchesson (hamstring).

The Giants’ head of medical, Cullan Ball, said he expected Coniglio to have his operation on Thursday to have the injured ankle joint stabilised.

Stephen Coniglio has suffered a setback and will be sidelined for about eight matches.

“It’s disappointing for Stephen,” Ball said. “We think he’ll miss around eight weeks depending on how quickly he progresses.”

De Boer will avoid surgery despite the seriousness of his hamstring injury, Ball said.

The Giants will try to post their first victory of the year when they travel to Melbourne to face Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night.

Brent Daniels is expected to be fit for the Magpies clash despite also hurting an ankle against the Demons, while forwards Jake Riccardi and Jeremy Finlayson will push for selection.

Star recruit Jesse Hogan (quad) is also available after an extended rehabilitation block, including a vigorous training hit-out at the weekend.

In some good news, dual club champion Whitfield will resume contact work this week and could be ready by Round 6.

“He just needs to build a bit of fitness and match conditioning now,” Ball said. “We’ll hopefully get him back in the next couple of weeks.”