The injury list at Greater Western Sydney is growing, with Jeremy Cameron and Brett Deledio ruled out of the Giants’ AFL clash with Geelong.

May 2, 2018

Greater Western Sydney have been hit by more early-season injuries to key players but coach Leon Cameron denies the club face a crisis like 2017.

Ahead of Friday night’s clash with Geelong, Cameron said the Giants’ injury woes were not comparable to last May when 10 players were sidelined.

“Obviously, there is some quality out. I mean, we’re talking about (Jeremy) Cameron, (Brett) Deledio, (Toby) Greene and (Zac) Williams, (Tom) Scully, (Josh) Kelly and (Rory) Lobb,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“They’re good-quality players. Would we prefer them to be playing? Absolutely.”

“But three or four of those guys are in that sort of one-to-three week mark” while, in 2017, the injuries were in the “eight-to-10 week mark, or the entire season – we had two knee recos (reconstructions) early in the year.”

Cameron said this season’s injuries were “just a natural attrition of footy”.

“If there’s an ankle here or a foot there, or if it’s a knee there or if it’s a broken finger here, I mean that’s just what happens,” he said.

“Geelong are going through it … I mean this time of the year, there are probably 15 or 16 clubs going through a similar thing to us.”

The Giants have ruled out Jeremy Cameron, who has a toe injury, and Deledio with hamstring soreness for the match against the Cats.

Leon Cameron said although the injuries weren’t significant, he wasn’t prepared to risk the players with just a six-day turnaround since the match against Brisbane.

They join Kelly, Lobb, Will Setterfield, Scully, Greene and Lachie Tiziani on the injured list.

Cameron said Kelly was up and down so would remain sidelined.

“He’s had some really good days, he’s had some okay days, but there is no doubt he is heading in the right direction,” he said.

Lobb is set to come back next week against West Coast.

Cameron, who will notch up his 100th game on Friday as senior coach, said the Giants’ only match under lights for the season would be a “huge challenge”.

“Geelong are going to be disappointed with losing down at home. They’re hard to beat at the best of times down there, so we know they’re going to be looking to rebound,” he said.