GWS get Patton of the future

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy believes the long-awaited selection of No.1 draft choice Jon Patton will be a bonus for fellow forward Israel Folau.

Jon Patton

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy believes the long-awaited selection of No.1 draft choice Jon Patton will be a bonus for fellow forward Israel Folau.

Patton will line up with the Giants' other 19-year-old goal-kicking star, Jeremy Cameron, easing the pressure on Folau, who missed two matches with a hamstring strain.

"Instead of getting the best or second-best defender, Izzy will now get the third tall defender, so things will open up for him," Sheedy told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

GWS have their midseason bye this weekend and Sheedy gave the players five days off to freshen up before taking on in-form Richmond the following Saturday at Skoda Stadium.

Sheedy believes the week's rest, combined with Patton's promotion after revolutionary knee surgery in Sweden last January, and the return of Folau, will have young Giants primed to upset Richmond.

Tigers coach Damien Hardwick, like Essendon's James Hird, was part of Sheedy's fourth premiership as coach of the Bombers in 2000.

"Babyface Hardwick better make sure his players don't come here with a sloppy attitude," Sheedy said with a smile. "We'll be waiting for them up the Parramatta River, waiting for Ivan the Terrible (ruckman and cult hero Ivan Maric) with his mullet."

Buoyed by his side's best half of football in their 10-game history, when the Giants were level with reigning premier Geelong at Geelong to half time last Saturday before fading, Sheedy believes Skoda Stadium will become an imposing venue for visiting sides.

"We sucked the life out of Essendon the previous week there and look what happened to them, they were beaten by bottom team Melbourne on Saturday night," Sheedy said.

"We'll do the same to Richmond," he enthused.

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