GREATER Western Sydney veteran Stephen Coniglio has failed to recover from a glute injury and wont feature against an in-form St Kilda on Sunday at Norwood Oval.
Coniglio was named on Thursday night after missing last week's win over West Coast with the injury but didn't get through the Giants' captains run on Friday morning.
One of Harvey Thomas or Toby McMullin is set to come in for their first games of the season when the Giants' side is finalised on Friday afternoon.
"Cogs didn't get through training so he won't play, we'll just go to the well with the next man up," coach Adam Kingsley said.
"It's a bit disappointing. We're not sure how it happened. He woke up after main training last week with soreness and couldn't get moving at the captains run. I expected him to play this week so I expect him to be back next week."
Coniglio joins Brent Daniels on the sidelines, with the small forward ace suffering a minor, albeit rare, abdominal injury.
Both players are in line to return next week.
"We subbed him [Daniels] with soreness [last week] and he subsequently got a scan which shows a little muscle tear. It's a really weird one, I've never seen it before," Kingsley said.
"Apparently, it's a muscle that 20 per cent of the population don't have. He's feeling better than what he did but he's still a bit sore so we didn't want to take a risk with him."
Despite their excellent form and squad depth, the absence of the experienced duo for the Giants isn't ideal for a clash against the early-season surprise packet in St Kilda.
Two-time All-Australian Jack Sinclair has been a major reason for that amid a scintillating start to the season, as has half-back Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera who is averaging nearly 28 touches a game.
Kingsley said both players could receive direct attention with Sinclair shaping up as the likely target for tagger Toby Bedford.
"Sinclair has been outstanding. He's leading the coaches votes, he's the No.1 score involvement player for them. He's beaten us badly before, two years ago, it's fair to say we'll put a fair bit of time into him," he said.
The Giants coach is expecting a tag the other way as well for his midfield smooth mover in Finn Callaghan, who presents an interesting sub-plot to this clash after reportedly knocking back a big money offer from the Saints before committing long-term to GWS.
"He'll want to play well. Whether that [the Saints offer] was official or not I still don't know the answer to that but Finn's been in good form for us. I expect [Marcus] Windhager, who is a really good player, a really strong tagger, to go to him. It's going to be a tough game he's going to have to bring his running shoes," Kingsley said.
The Sunday afternoon clash is one of the glamour affairs of Gather Round with both sides sitting at 3-1 for the season.
"Their contest game is really strong. They're the No.1 groundball team in the competition," Kingsley said of the Saints.
"Their ability to get from contest to contest is outstanding. They show up and support offensively and defensively. They've got numerous threats that we need to be really wary of.
"Ross (Lyon) coached teams are very strong defensively traditionally but it goes under the radar how well they move the ball.
"It's going to be a really hard-fought game on an oval that's narrower than normal."
And while Gather Round is locked away in South Australia for 2026, Kingsley has again vouched for Sydney and New South Wales to play host in the future.
"Absolutely. Gather Round in Sydney would be a wonderful exhibition of our game. I think it would be really well supported. People would come, there's plenty to do, it's a wonderful city. The weather this time of year is always good. It would be an amazing event," he said.
