GREATER Western Sydney could be boosted for its clash with Essendon on Saturday at Spotless Stadium, with star midfielder Josh Kelly in the frame to make a long-awaited return.
Kelly is part of a long injury list at the Giants, and has missed the past six games with groin issues.
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GWS has won just two of the six games in which the club champion has been sidelined, and Leon Cameron's side has been hurt by the absence of his influence in the midfield and quality foot skills.
The gun onballer has increased his training over the past fortnight, and while he failed to hit the track with the squad on Tuesday, he is expected to take part in Wednesday's main session and press his claims for a recall to face the Bombers.
The news isn't as positive for co-captain Phil Davis, who is in danger of missing a second straight week with concussion after copping an accidental elbow against West Coast in round eight.
Davis also missed Tuesday's light skills session, but could play if he can pass concussion protocols later in the week.
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"Phil will be an interesting one, he's still touch and go for this week," Cameron said.
"His symptoms are starting to clear up, but it was obviously a big hit, so he'll be one that will be monitored during the week.
"It's disappointing to not have one of your captains out there, especially when you're playing a brand of footy that needs to be more consistent than what we're throwing up at the moment."
The Giants have copped plenty of negativity in the media on the back of their recent poor form and three-game losing streak to Geelong, West Coast and North Melbourne, and Cameron said handling that sort of pressure is part of the game.
"When you lose you open yourself up to criticism, I'm not stupid," he said.
"Have we lost our last three? Absolutely. Is there more pressure on us? Yep, you can't deny that
"Whether that's our playing group, whether that's me, whether that's our footy program or our injury list, it doesn't matter.
"We're in the win-loss business.
"Obviously we've got more areas of concern than we'd like, but we're confident that if we continue to turn up, things will change.
"What we've served up in patches in the last few weeks is good enough to win those games, but we need to make sure our effort goes for longer and actions speak louder than words.
"Sides have been down for three or four weeks and have turned things around and we're confident we can come out the other end."
