Greater Western Sydney ace Josh Kelly will miss another AFL match while still feeling lingering effects of concussion.
Kelly will be on the sidelines with Harry Perryman (calf), Zac Williams (Achilles), Brent Daniels (hamstring) and Shane Mumford (rested) when the Giants meet Adelaide on Tuesday night.
Kelly was concussed against Fremantle on August 29 and missed last Thursday’s win against Carlton.
“Clearly the Fremantle game has knocked him around a fair bit,” Giants coach Leon Cameron told reporters on Monday.
“We were expecting him to get up for this game and we’re disappointed that he’s not.
“(He) has been a bit patchy but he’s starting to come out the other side in probably the last 24 hours.
“But it just becomes too late on the concussion protocol.”
Kelly’s absence is a blow for the Giants as they enter a cut-throat phase of the season.
They enter the Adelaide Oval fixture against the last-placed Crows in eighth spot on the ladder, with games against finals aspirants Melbourne on Saturday and then St Kilda.
“We know the situation we’re in,” Cameron said.
“We need to keep winning. We can’t afford to drop any games.”
And Cameron was wary of Adelaide, who broke a club-record 16-game losing streak with their first win of the season last Tuesday against Hawthorn.
That victory was first-year head coach Matthew Nicks’ first since he joined the Crows after being Cameron’s senior assistant at GWS.
“(We were) clearly disappointed to lose him … but he was always destined to become a senior coach,” Cameron said of Nicks.
“A lot of coaches talk to each other, I have spoken to Nicksy a number of times throughout the year.
“In the last couple of weeks it has backed off knowing that we’re playing against each other … we’re enemies tomorrow but he’s a terrific person and no doubt he is going to become a very, very good coach.”