GREATER Western Sydney's injury crisis has deepened with veteran Brett Deledio set to be sidelined for up to 10 weeks.
The 31-year-old suffered a fresh calf strain at training on Friday in his return from a four-week hamstring injury.
Giants head of athletic performance David Joyce confirmed the news on Monday.
"It's the other side to what he hurt and kept him out for large periods of last season, but it means we're going to have to take an extended break for Brett and rehab him again and get him back towards the back end of the year," Joyce said.
"It's slightly different in that it involves the tendon. His past history of soleus strains is something we have to consider very carefully with this."
"He's obviously a crucially important player for us and we want to make sure we play a really conservative card to start with and build his loads up gradually."
Coach Leon Cameron told Channel Seven the club and Deledio himself were disappointed with his latest setback.
He played just seven games in his first season at the club last year after crossing from Richmond, battling various soft-tissue injuries.
"He rehabbed his hamstring really well, then his other calf went. It's a tendon issue in his calf, so we have to be really cautious in that," Cameron said.
"He's really confident he can get back, he's done it before, two or three times, so we really backing him in.
"In terms of where that leaves us going forward, we expect him to get back and play in the latter part of the year. Clearly, he was playing some great footy up until the Brisbane game and since he's been out we've lost those last four, so he has an impact on our team because he can play some good quality footy."
GWS has lost its past four matches and travels to Adelaide to take on the Crows this Sunday.
It comes after the Giants revealed they had started to investigate a spate of injuries in the past fortnight.
Academy coach John Quinn, who has also spent time as the Giants' high performance boss, has been charged with the internal review.
Since round one, stars Jeremy Cameron (toe), Toby Greene (foot), Tom Scully (ankle) and Josh Kelly (groin) are among a long list of players to have missed multiple games.
Deledio's latest setback is his fifth fresh calf or Achilles injury since the start of 2015.
Last year Deledio was sidelined with a calf injury until the second half of the season, playing two NEAFL matches before returning in round 20. He played the final seven matches including the club's losing preliminary final to Richmond.
The former Tiger is in the second season of a three-year deal and has played 13 of a possible 35 games since arriving at the club.
Meanwhile, co-captain Phil Davis is expected to return against Adelaide on Sunday after missing the past fortnight with concussion.
He copped an errant elbow from West Coast's Jack Darling in round eight.
The club is confident Tim Taranto will be fit to take on the Crows after sitting out the latter stages of Saturday's loss to Essendon with a quad concern.
Have you taken the 2018 fan survey?
Use the form below and you can have your say on footy's big and small issues.
Survey not working in the app? Click here to open in a web view
