SAM JACOBS is happy to poke the bear, but the Adelaide ruckman insists he'll fight Greater Western Sydney's beast Shane Mumford on his own terms.

The Giants' big man cuts one of the most intimidating physical figures in the AFL and has admitted he's "always trying to hurt someone".

He walks the walk too – the 105kg unit is ranked fourth in the league for hit-outs this season.

Jacobs will go head to head with Mumford at Spotless Stadium on Saturday aiming to match the 28-year-old's renowned physicality.

But rather than focus solely on out-muscling Mumford at stoppage, Jacobs will try to distract him with sound ruck work. 

"At the start of the year you definitely have a look to see when you play GWS – [Mumford] and probably (Todd) Goldstein have probably been the standouts this year," Jacobs said.

"His strength is that follow-up work and just being able to bang bodies, and you hear the GWS midfielders talk about it – they definitely walk talker when he's playing.

"I'll obviously have a big focus on following up and trying to compete with him physically around the ground this week, [but] if we're winning stoppages and getting the ball forward then he has to start thinking about ruck work – not so much trying to get into our mids."

The Giants's outstanding start to season 2015 hasn't surprised Jacobs, who pointed to the talented players now with 50 games or more experience.

As they showed against Carlton at the weekend and Hawthorn the week before, the young GWS midfielders thrive on space to deliver to a lethal attack headed by Jeremy Cameron.

Jacobs said he was also repeatedly being told by former Crow-turned-Giants co-captain Phil Davis that the future was bright.

"You look at blokes like Dylan Shiel and (Adam) Treloar, (Stephen) Coniglio played a great game on the weekend, they're all around that 50-game mark," he said.

"Their burst of speed … we really need to slow them down this week.

"We can't allow them to get all that space in behind them because they've got some forwards in good nick in Cameron and (Cam) McCarthy, and (James) Stewart played well on the weekend too … Phil Davis constantly reminds me that they're going to be good."