Stewart – the son of 150-game former Collingwood and Richmond player Craig Stewart – missed a big part of the pre-season due to glandular fever and, just seconds into his return in an intra-club match before the pre-season challenge, suffered a hamstring strain that further sidelined him.

However, after a determined effort to build his fitness and regain his touch with some positive displays in the NEAFL, coach Leon Cameron picked the 198-centimetre 21-year-old on Thursday night in place of Andrew Phillips. It will be Stewart's fifth AFL game.

"I probably haven't had things go to plan perfectly, but I guess there is no such thing as perfect preparation," Stewart said. "I've done the best I can to this point. I'm feeling ready to go."

Stewart was picked by the Giants in the 2012 draft after being overlooked by Collingwood as a father-son selection and has had a stop-start journey since then. He made his debut against the Suns in the final game of 2013 and returned to the senior side for the last three games of 2014. He is considered alongside Jeremy Cameron, Jonathon Patton and Cam McCarthy as part of an exciting future forward line.

"It will be great to get a bit of a connection with Jeremy and form a bit of a relationship with him and Cam, as well as Jon Patton when he comes back," he said. "That's definitely the vision I have and something that can be potentially a real strength for us. At the moment, it's about just getting in there and building that connection."

Stewart said apart from the frustration of his illness early in the year, it was difficult sitting by while other players had the chance to stake their claims for senior berths, including his good mate McCarthy, who was one of the stars of the lead-up competition.

"About a month or so into the pre-season I was feeling quite flat. I went through the blood tests and the result was that I had glandular fever," Stewart said. "It's a difficult one to come back from because it's a virus and there's not too much you can take, and there's not much training you can do on top of it. It meant a bit of rest.

"It was quite tough to miss that time. It gave other players opportunities. As exciting as it was to watch Cam step up and play some really good footy along with some others as well, I was just sitting back wishing I was out there contributing like they were. But I was able to get over it reasonably quickly without too much of an issue and get some training in pre-season."

Just as he was hitting his straps, Stewart suffered his second setback when he tweaked a hamstring in the intra-club, testing his patience with another couple of weeks out. He described his form since his latest return as "a bit up and down", but after some consistent game time he has confidence entering Saturday's match.

"I feel very privileged to be coming back for this game," he said. "Not only is it the Anzac Day game but it's also Rhys Palmer's 100th game. He's a great mate of mine and great person to have around the club. It will be a very special game."