Sound list management in Greater Western Sydney's formative years could be about to pay dividends with the sudden injury crisis at the club softened by a depth of experience that took patience and forward thinking.
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Throughout the early days of 2012 and 2013, coach Kevin Sheedy regularly stated that the priority was to expose as many players as possible to game time at the top level. It would mean that at times like these, with four key players lost to injury in one afternoon, the side would not be a walkover.
"At the time it could get a bit frustrating because all you wanted was to play your best 22," co-captain and foundation player Callan Ward said. "But we were developing and it was important to give guys game time, blood all those first-gamers. To have guys play up to 15 or 20 games a season in those first couple of seasons was very beneficial. I guess now we're starting to see that."
With Shane Mumford gone for the season, Phil Davis and Joel Patfull out for at least six weeks each and Stephen Coniglio sidelined for at least a fortnight - 449 games worth of know-how wiped out in last Sunday's 42 point loss to Collingwood - the Giants will field two debutants on Saturday against North Melbourne, midfielder/forward Jack Steele and tall defender Caleb Marchbank.
Surprisingly, they are the club's first debutants this season, making GWS the last club in the competition to field a first-gamer this year. By comparison, fellow fledgling club, Gold Coast have fielded seven debutants this season, more than any other club, including three in round one.
"I don't really like to compare us to too many clubs, especially Gold Coast. I'm a huge believer that you really have to earn your games and I think we've got that at this club now," Ward said.
"Caleb and Steeley have played some really good football in the NEAFL. I think it's great for our club that they've had to work really hard to get their spot.
"Before these injuries last week we'd only played 26 players for the season. We've had guys play every game this season and cement their spot in the 22. The other thing is that, with these two guys playing their first game this week - two or three years ago we probably would have played six or seven or 10 new players by now because that was really the only option."
Coach Leon Cameron said there was no way to replace players with the experience of Mumford, Patfull and Davis. However, he said, genuine competition for spots through depth of talent meant there were "great young kids who are just itching to get an opportunity and we see two this week".
"We've got depth in terms of young kids, first, second, third year players that are playing some really good footy," he said.
"The challenge for them is to come in and take up 120 minutes of AFL footy, which is a big jump.. That's the thing I'm really excited about, to see how they stand up to that sort of challenge."
Without Mumford last year in five games, the Giants went winless. They believe they will respond better this time. Guiding the ship will be another layer of leadership, featuring Ryan Griffen, Tom Scully, Heath Shaw and Ward. And around them will be a range of personnel with 50-plus games, owing to the policy of blooding players in the early years, which enabled the group to be largely settled by 2015.
"We've been hit pretty hard with injuries and it's all come at once," Ward said. "But I don't think we're in trouble at all, to be honest. I think we've got plenty of guys who can step in."
