The GWS Giants are set to welcome back “irreplaceable” Coleman Medal leader Jeremy Cameron for their crucial AFL clash against Hawthorn.
Cameron missed his first game of 2019 last week due to a calf injury and returns to face a Hawks outfit playing for their season in Canberra on Friday.
Giants duo Matt de Boer (shoulder) and Josh Kelly (calf) failed fitness tests and will return next week.
Cameron, 26, is on track for his most prolific goal-kicking season and with 57 majors leads the Coleman Medal race by five goals with three rounds to play.
GWS coach Leon Cameron confirmed his star forward just needed to get through their Friday morning session to line up at Manuka Oval.
“We’re confident that Jeremy Cameron will get up, he’s trained yesterday and come through really well but we’ll make that final decision tomorrow morning,” Cameron said.
“No doubt he’s had a great year and it was disappointing to lose him last week. He’s in good form and one of our leaders down the front end so those sort of players are irreplaceable.”
GWS have overcome an ever-growing casualty list this season to sit fifth, one win outside the top four, and are chasing a fourth straight victory.
But they were embarrassed by Hawthorn earlier this year and reduced to their lowest-scoring effort (38 points) of the season.
“Clearly they have an outstanding record in the last 10 years. You don’t win four flags for no reason, so yeah they’re hard to play against and did a good on us at the MCG earlier in the year,” Cameron said.
“But we’ve won our fair share in the last three or four years against them as well and we understand the magnitude of the game.
“They’ve beaten some really good sides, so we understand what they’re capable of. It’s an intriguing game and one that’s probably going to go down to the wire, like our last two.”
Hawthorn must win their remaining three games to be in contention for the finals series.