WEDNESDAY is D-Day for Greater Western Sydney stars Toby Greene and Brett Deledio with their chances of returning against Richmond at Spotless Stadium on Saturday night to hinge on a testing mid-week training session.
Greene (foot) hasn't played senior footy since round five after he missed most of the summer with a broken toe and then pinged his hamstring in the season opener against the Western Bulldogs.
Deledio (calf) last played in the Giants' win over Brisbane one week later, with his spell on the sidelines lengthened after he injured himself while making his way back from a hamstring injury.
MATCH PREVIEW Greater Western Sydney v Richmond
Despite the long lay-offs for both players, coach Leon Cameron is considering recalling them for a vital clash with the Tigers if they can negotiate the club's main training session of the week.
Greene and Deledio have worked impressively together for the past month and joined the Giants' main group last week, before they completed a high intensity session on Saturday with the senior squad in Perth ahead of their game against West Coast.
Cameron said the 22 who played against the Eagles would have a light session on Wednesday, with Greene and Deledio to remain on the track in a bid to prove they should be selected against the premiers.
The GWS coach acknowledged the risk involved in picking Greene or Deledio – or even both – especially given they'd be playing on limited minutes against the best team in the competition.
"We're playing a side whose intensity throughout the 120 minutes of footy is elite, so we've got to take that into consideration," he said.
"The game is so hard. We ask players to play offence and defence, there's that many contests and the intensity is huge.
"We think they're ready to return at some level, whether it's the AFL or NEAFL.
"It's going to be a really interesting training session and if they do get through, fingers crossed, we've got some good selection issues to thrash out."
Deledio would have to be slightly ahead of Greene in terms of his conditioning after the veteran completed a meticulously planned pre-season in a bid to banish the calf and Achilles issues had carried through last year.
But with the Giants' forward line missing star big men Jeremy Cameron (suspended) and Jonathon Patton (knee), Greene's importance surely must make him an attractive prospect for the coaching staff.
The 2016 club champion and All Australian also has the advantage of being able to play deep forward to lessen his running load, and his proven ability as a match-winner could give the Tigers headaches.
"Having him up and running would be massive for us, but we've also got to be mindful that it's going to take him a couple of weeks to get rolling," Cameron said.
"We've got to be really careful because he's had a limited preparation, we all know that, it hasn't gone as smoothly as we wanted it too.
"Whether it's this week or next week, in the NEAFL or the AFL, we've got to be patient.
"But when he does get rolling he is a very good player and we're obviously a better team if he's in the side."
In further good news for the Giants, mature-aged forward Daniel Lloyd is also close to a return from a knee injury, and if Greene and Deledio aren't picked at AFL level, all three could play in the NEAFL against Gold Coast in the curtain-raiser to Saturday night's main game.
