GREATER Western Sydney will consider bringing former Richmond star Brett Deledio in for his first game since round six in next Saturday's season-defining clash against the Tigers.
Deledio and All Australian half-forward Toby Greene are pressing to return from injury, with the Giants now on a six-day break after Sunday's 11-point loss to West Coast at Optus Stadium.
GIANTS FALL SHORT Full match coverage and stats
After sliding from sixth spot to 10th on the back of that defeat, coach Leon Cameron said it would be tempting to look at both for Saturday night's the crunch match against the reigning premiers.
"Greene and Deledio trained well during the week. They had a big hit-out yesterday," the coach said on Sunday night.
"They'll put their hands up next week, and we've got big decisions to make whether they need another week of training.
"It will be tempting to look at them. They need to have a really good week."
GWS twice took the lead in a thrilling final quarter on Sunday and was left to rue missed opportunities after kicking 1.6 in the second quarter and squandering several chances on the eve of three-quarter time.
"It's disappointing. We spoke about it after the game," Cameron said.
"Especially interstate, you're trying to find some momentum and clearly you've got to make sure you nail [your chances]. To get momentum you've got to kick them.
"We'll have to work on that because goalkicking wins you matches and it can lose you matches. It's not the sole reason we got beaten today … but it contributed."
GIANTS' SEASON IN THE BALANCE Five talking points
The Giants were without the suspended Jeremy Cameron and Jon Patton, who suffered his third ACL injury during the week, with Harrison Himmelberg (two goals) stepping in and impressing in attack.
Cameron was also pleased with the contest work of Rory Lobb, while Adam Tomlinson booted a team-high three goals.
The midfielders were well beaten, however, with West Coast winning the clearances 43-33 and the hit-outs 58-29 on the back of Nic Naitanui's dominance.
"We'd been really positive in the last month in that area of our game, (but) they had the better of us in the ruck … and at ground level," Cameron said.
"We're disappointed in that because we hang our hat on our clearance work and we hang our hat on our ruck work to our mids. They got the better of us."
WATCH Leon Cameron's full post-match media conference
Cameron said there would be "huge ramifications" week-to-week now for all teams fighting for a finals spot, with seven teams sitting on between seven and nine wins.
The coach said he was looking forward to Saturday night's clash against the premiers in a rematch of last year's preliminary final.
"Clearly they’re the yardstick and it sorts you out," he said.
"We've got to pick ourselves up and go again and we've got to cop that loss on the chin."
