GREATER Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron believes veteran Ryan Griffen can still play a role in his side's premiership tilt despite undergoing serious ankle surgery this week.
Griffen, who hasn't played for the Giants since round three after he suffered a syndesmosis injury to his left ankle against North Melbourne, was poised to return after the club's round 13 bye, but re-injured the same ankle on Saturday.
The 30-year-old midfielder underwent surgery on Monday and is expected to miss up to three months of footy.
It seems like an impossible task for Griffen to force his way back into the senior team in time to feature in the finals, but Cameron hasn't ruled out the former Western Bulldogs captain.
"If anyone is going to get back, 'Griff' will get back, I'm really confident," Cameron said on Wednesday.
"Whether that’s at the backend of the regular season, or hopefully we're playing, and it's on the eve of the finals."
"It's disappointing but it's just one of those freak things that happens in footy, it could have happened to anyone.
"His mindset is like, 'Well I've got to get back to work and get ready to go' and that’s footy. Sometime the luck goes with you and sometimes it doesn't.
"A lot of our guys have done their rehab really well and returned from injuries this year, and I expect Griff to do the same thing."
Griffen is one of several important Giants to be cruelled by injury this year, with Stephen Coniglio (ankle), Nick Haynes (hamstring), Devon Smith (knee) and Jacob Hopper (finger) all missing extended periods.
High profile recruit Brett Deledio (calf) still hasn't played a game for the club, while Adam Kennedy and Matt Buntine are both done for the year after undergoing knee reconstructions.
Former Richmond star Deledio has been plagued by calf issues since being traded to GWS late last year.
Cameron has studiously avoided nominating a time frame for Deledio's return, but hinted he might be back in action a couple of weeks after their bye next week.
He will rejoin the Giants' main training group on Thursday for at least part of their key session of the week.
"He's going to do a little bit of training tomorrow, and then progress from there and where that leads to, whether that's one week, two weeks after the bye, hopefully there's no hiccups," Cameron said.
"But we're mindful it's been a really slow process so we'll continue to take it slow with him. If that means getting him ready to play footy at the back end of the year.
"But he's in a really good positive mindset and so are we. We're heading in the right direction with him.
"But he's got to get through probably at least two to three weeks of good footy training before he actually rolls out and plays."
