GWS Giants test fitness of veteran pair
Sep 20, 2017 - 2:08 AM The look in his players' eyes has convinced Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron they won't be cowed by the roar of the Richmond army in Saturday's AFL preliminary final.Cameron spoke to his squad for just 30 seconds on Monday about the prospect of playing in front of an MCG crowd expected to exceed 90,000 - the vast majority of whom will be clad in yellow and black.
"I see the confidence, I see the level of enthusiasm and that they are ready to go," Cameron said before training on Wednesday.
"I don't think a biased crowd of Richmond supporters is going to deter them from turning up on the weekend
'We look forward to that. Yes our record at the MCG ( one win, ten losses) in our short period of time hasn't been the greatest.
"We've played some good footy there but we've only won once there.
I actually don't really care about that. I just know our guys are looking forward to playing there on Saturday afternoon.
"I see it in their eyes and when I see that, I know that they are going to turn up."
Veterans Steve Johnson and Brett Deledio are set to play, provided they pull up well from a short training session on Wednesday.
Johnson, who kicked six goals in last Saturday's semi-final win, has been troubled by knee soreness throughout the season, while ex-Tiger Deledio only recently returned from ongoing calf problems.
Cameron expected forward Devon Smith to put his hand up to play, as his knee had improved dramatically over the past three weeks.
He said it would be hard to make changes to the 22 which brushed aside West Coast, but was wary of Richmond's mosquito fleet forward line. .
"Richmond are a unique side in terms of their own front half, so we will look at that," Cameron said.
"No doubt, we will discuss whether we need to go bring in another runner in the back half."
Richmond are renowned for being the pressure kings of the AFL and GWS wilted in the middle quarters of their most-recent match against the Tigers.
"Obviously everyone is going to talk about their pressure," Cameron said.
"But I feel as though our pressure in the last few weeks has been really good as well.
"We've got to make sure that they don't get their own way with the footy."
Source: AAP
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