STAR defender Sam Taylor will miss next week's showdown with Carlton twin towers Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay, although he and Stephen Coniglio have both been cleared of serious damage from Greater Western Sydney's bruising win over St Kilda on Saturday.
A sickening head clash with Saint Jack Steele that knocked out Taylor and put him in hospital soured the Giants' win, although GWS coach Adam Kingsley confirmed post-game the defender received no major damage and would enter concussion protocols.
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Coniglio was also spared the worst, cleared of a serious knee injury after going through initial ACL tests post a final-quarter incident.
Kingsley said Coniglio would go for scans to confirm the initial diagnosis, which he described as "not minor, but not serious".
St Kilda were spared their own major injury, with coach Ross Lyon saying key forward Max King had "wrenched" his knee but has been cleared of any ligament damage.
Of the Saints’ late run, when they kicked the last six goals to almost steal the victory, Kingsley said his side shut up shop too soon.
"We went a little bit too early on protecting the game and protecting the ball and didn't play our normal way for long enough in that quarter," he said.
"(That) probably invited them to attack us ... (and) put our backs under enormous pressure.
"They held up really well for the most part, but ultimately the dam wall broke a little bit in the last seven minutes of the game and forced it to be a really, really tight, close game which either team in the end could have won."
Lyon took minimal satisfaction from the Saints' late charge, indicating it was the sort of ball movement he'd wanted to see all day.
"Basically that's how we've moved it a fair bit during the year ... we thought in the third (quarter) we were dominating at times, 15 entries and we were just butchering golden opportunities and they counter-punched off it," he said.
"It's a mixed bag (but) it's nothing to be happy about. We're in a professional national league wanting to win games.
"We overplayed stuff at times. They were really sharp early which we know they can be as they're very talented, but we worked our way through it."
The Saints have a short turnaround before they play the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
