Toby Bedford has been assigned one of the AFL's toughest jobs - quelling the influence of Collingwood star Nick Daicos.
Calling Daicos arguably the AFL's best player, Giants coach Adam Kingsley said the Brownlow Medal runner-up will demand close attention in Sunday's season opener at Homebush.
Also on Friday, the Giants confirmed highly rated Tasmanian James Leake would make his AFL debut.
GWS have been hit hard by injury, with Tom Green, Jesse Hogan and Jake Stringer headlining the casualties, while several players also are suspended after last year's Mad Monday debacle.
While the Magpies will also be without Jordan De Goey and star recruit Dan Houston, GWS look the more depleted line-up and know they must stop Daicos.
"Nick's probably the best player in the competition," Kingsley said after Friday training. "He's a great contributor to the way they want to play.
"He's super-important to them. He's one we'll certainly look very closely at and Toby's the obvious one to go to him."
Vice-captain Josh Kelly broke the good news to Leake, 19, after training. Kingsley said the Tasmanian player, drafted in 2023, warranted selection for his impressive pre-season.
"Certainly his pre-season games, he's shown glimpses of what he's capable of," Kingsley said. "He's very clean, in and around contest, particularly if the conditions are a little wetter.
"He covers the ground pretty well, he's hard and tough."
First-year players Cody Angove and Oliver Hannaford were named emergencies on Friday after being included in the extended squad.
With Hogan and Stringer sidelined, Callum Brown's return from a hamstring injury is timely for their attack.
Small forward Darcy Jones rolled his ankle at training on Friday, but Kingsley expects him to play.
"We'll see how he pulls up, I think he'll be okay, but we'll just monitor him, obviously," Kingsley said.
Green was not expected to return from his calf injury for a few weeks, but he trained well on Friday and has raised hopes that the star midfielder will be back sooner.
"We were probably expecting to see him after the bye, but now it more looks more likely that he'll be right by next week," Kingsley said.
"Clearly there's a bit of water to go under the bridge between now and then, so he has a bit of work to do still."
