LEON Cameron expects his side to "hit Richmond head on" but acknowledged that Greater Western Sydney will be "coming up against one of the best teams in the competition" this week.
The Giants will look to get their season back on track against reigning premier Richmond, in a Grand Final rematch at Giants Stadium on Friday night.
But the Giants coach won’t be reviewing a replay of the 89-point Grand Final loss with his players ahead of the clash with the Tigers, saying that GWS "addressed that late last year".
"Richmond are back in form, have won their last three. It’s a huge challenge and we know what happened last year in the Grand Final," the Giants coach told reporters on Wednesday.
"We know that we’re going to have to play at our very best to knock them off. To us, it’s about us finding the form that we need to, that we’ve probably lacked in the last two weeks.
"We’re under no illusions how important the match is. It’s a pressure game for us, but I think that brings out the best in a lot of our players and we look forward to that challenge."
GWS expects to have gun forward Toby Greene back as he recovers from a week out with shin soreness.
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The Giants will be hoping to improve on the number of times they get the ball inside 50, which currently sees them as the lowest ranked team in the competition with an average of less than 34 entries per game. They have lost the inside-50 count in all seven matches this season, including by 22 against Brisbane last weekend.
Cameron believes that it isn’t just ball movement that the Giants need to improve in this area, but also creating repeat entries, adding more forward pressure and improving their inside-50 tackle count which also ranks among the worst in the League.
"Getting the ball from one end to the other probably isn’t the issue, it’s just keeping it in there," the Giants coach said.
"We’re just not getting the repeat entries that we need to.
"The top clubs, when they get it in [the forward 50], they don’t let it out of there. We need to join that party, whether that’s through repeat stoppages or setting up really well behind the footy.
"We clearly need to move the ball a bit better, but I’m a big believer that when we do get the ball inside our forward 50 we need to lock it in there a lot more."
Cameron wasn’t concerned with the fixturing that will see the Giants play away twice in Queensland then spend several weeks in Perth. But he expressed disappointment that the Sydney Derby will be played on the other side of the country, in round 12 in a Thursday night primetime slot on August 13.
"We would’ve loved to play the Derby here, for the fans’ sake," he said.
"Playing Sydney here, whether that be at the SCG or Giants Stadium, clearly that will be a missed opportunity for Giants supporters. So that’s disappointing. But we look forward to playing the Swans over there [in WA]."
