GREATER Western Sydney is breathing a huge sigh of relief after ruckman Braydon Preuss was cleared of a serious back injury that threatened to end his season before it had even started. 

The 207cm, 118kg enforcer has been meeting with specialists in the past fortnight to identify the cause of persistent back pain that mysteriously emerged when he woke up one morning earlier this month. 

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Preuss is scheduled to meet with another specialist on Tuesday, but it is understood the former Melbourne and North Melbourne ruckman has avoided the severe injury the club was fearing ahead of round one. 

The Queenslander faced Gold Coast in Greater Western Sydney's only practice match at Blacktown, but in the days after that game he aggravated a pre-existing back injury that led to him having a bolt inserted in his back. 

Preuss is expected to miss the next fortnight but could return for the Giants' Easter Sunday game against Essendon at Marvel Stadium. 

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The Giants have three ruckmen on the list with AFL experience – Matt Flynn, Kieren Briggs and Preuss – plus Nick Madden, a project ruckman they added to the rookie list in November. 

Adam Kingsley picked Flynn to face Adelaide on Sunday and was pleased with the 25-year-old's performance against Reilly O'Brien at Giants Stadium, especially given the stifling hot conditions and lack of rotations. 

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Briggs tweaked his hamstring in the VFL practice match against Sydney at Giants HQ earlier on Sunday but was cleared of a strain on Monday.

Greater Western Sydney produced one of the best performances of the first weekend of the season, recovering from 31 points down in the second quarter to beat Adelaide by 16 points in a game when they were down to one man on the bench in the last quarter. 

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The Giants will head west to face West Coast on Sunday without All-Australian stars Lachie Whitfield and Josh Kelly after both entered concussion protocols.

Harry Perryman is also set to miss the game at Optus Stadium after being substituted out of the win over Adelaide early with a hamstring injury.  

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Former first-round pick Leek Aleer is a chance to be available against the Eagles after being a late out in round one due to a minor quad issue and soreness.

That late change led to Jack Buckley returning for his first AFL game in 623 days after recovering from a knee reconstruction.