THERE'S not much Greater Western Sydney wants for on its star-studded list.

If you're nit-picking, another quality ruckman would help ease the load on big man Rory Lobb and allow him to spend more time in attack alongside Jeremy Cameron.

But the likely arrival of this year's under-18 All Australian ruckman Kieren Briggs as an academy pick in November's NAB AFL Draft will go some way to filling that hole, so it's unlikely the Giants will identify that as a pressing need ahead of next month's player exchange period.

Giants coach Leon Cameron was confident his team was "on the right track" in the wake of its 10-point semi-final loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Friday.

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Although it was an earlier exit than the previous two years when GWS reached preliminary finals, Cameron felt the club had made some ground in 2018, noting they had learned to "win a bit ugly" and had fast-tracked the development of younger players such as third-year key forward Harry Himmelberg.

"Do we have to tweak some things? Definitely because we fell short again, but I can't see wholesale changes (being made)," Cameron said.

Which means GWS's only pressing need is player retention.

After re-signing star forward Toby Greene and co-captain Phil Davis earlier this season, the expansion club has enjoyed a rare quiet year on the out-of-contract front.

With Ryan Griffen announcing his retirement after the semi-final defeat, the club has only a handful of  uncontracted players to deal with including Dawson Simpson, Tim Mohr, Lachlan Keeffe, Dylan Buckley and Sam Reid.

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This does not mean the Giants can relax ahead of the Trade Period, however, because the interstate raiders are once again hovering outside the gates of Spotless Stadium.

Midfielder Dylan Shiel and ruckman/forward Lobb are the senior players in their cross-hairs this year, while 2016's No.5 draft pick Will Setterfield has also been linked to a move home to Victoria. 

Shiel and Lobb are contracted until the end of next season, Setterfield, who is recovering from a pre-season knee reconstruction, until the end of 2020. 

Shiel and Lobb, in particular, remain key players, but rival clubs feel they are gettable this year given GWS' salary cap is widely thought to be sufficiently tight that it needs to trade a player of their ilk to create breathing space.

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The Giants maintain this is not necessarily the case, but the clubs circling Shiel (principally Hawthorn, Essendon and Carlton) and Lobb (Fremantle) will ask the question and try to convince GWS to part with them a year early.  

Creating cap room this year could also help the GWS list management team to lock away the other host of stars the club has coming out of contract next season.

Next year is the first season when Giants players become eligible for free agency and there are five very good ones set to be in that position – Shiel, Stephen Coniglio, Nick Haynes, Matt Buntine and Adam Tomlinson.

Perhaps the club's best player, Josh Kelly, will also come out of contract, although his six years of service won't qualify him for free agency. Lobb and emerging youngsters Jacob Hopper and Harry Himmelberg are others who will be in the same boat. 

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The Kangaroos threw the kitchen sink, dishwasher and stovetop at Kelly last season, and they and nearly every other Victorian club will only up the ante next year.

The 23-year-old is already one of the best midfielders in the competition and has to be the Giants' priority re-signing. If they think Shiel or Lobb moving at the end of this year could help them do that, then they should consider it.

Of the pair, Shiel shapes as the loss GWS could best recover from given their midfield riches include Kelly, Coniglio, Callan Ward, Tom Scully, Lachie Whitfield and Hopper.

Lobb's importance has been magnified since Shane Mumford's retirement at the end of 2017 and he rose to the challenge of playing on Collingwood's All Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy on Saturday night, finishing with a credible 12 disposals, 29 hit-outs and one goal.

Barring the Giants making a play for a rival ruckman, Lobb appears indispensable in 2019.

As unpalatable as it will be for Giants supporters to consider trading Shiel, especially after watching him stand up with 22 possessions, five tackles and four clearances against the Magpies, they can take comfort from looking at some of the talent the club has let go since its entrance to the competition in 2012.

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Taylor Adams, Adam Treloar, Devon Smith, Tom Boyd, Nathan Wilson, Caleb Marchbank, Jack Hombsch, Dom Tyson, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Lachie Plowman head a long list of players GWS has traded.

There's no denying the quality on this list, but equally those departures have done little to diminish the star power of the Giants' list.

Asked directly about the speculation on Shiel's future, Cameron said it was something the club would deal with in the coming weeks.

But the Giants coach seemed to suggest if worst came to worse and Shiel left the club would be able to cover his loss as it had done so seamlessly with countless others in the past.

"(With) all of the guys that have come – and some have gone – we've done a remarkable job in keeping a number of our players through the expansion years," Cameron said.

"We've created a really good culture, but there is always going to be speculation because we've got some good quality players and that's just the way it's going to be."

It's an enviable position the Giants find themselves in.