Sydney's marquee recruit Lance Franklin will be rested from Thursday night's pre-season match against Greater Western Sydney in Canberra, while stars Adam Goodes and Kurt Tippett are unlikely to be fit for the start of the regular AFL season.
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Senior players Franklin, Goodes, Tippett, Mike Pyke and Lewis Roberts-Thomson miss the trip to Manuka Oval, although Goodes and Tippett are the only two battling injury.
While Franklin featured in Sydney's intra-club trial game last week, the former Hawthorn spearhead will be kept in cotton wool until next week's second pre-season trial in Blacktown.
The absence of Franklin is a blow for the marketing of the Manuka match, given it would have been the first time Franklin had faced the Giants since turning down overtures to join the expansion club.
Franklin instead signed with the Swans on a massive $10 million, nine-year deal, which has turned the spotlight on the salary cap allowance afforded to the Swans and the Giants.
Swans coach John Longmire said the club was monitoring the workload of Franklin, Pyke and Roberts-Thomson.
''They will get some good time into them next week, which was always our plan and that's what we're looking forward to doing,'' Longmire said. ''They did 60 minutes last week and they've pulled up really well. We'll still field a pretty strong team without them.''
Goodes is recovering from a knee injury sustained at the end of last season and won't be available until round three at the earliest.
Tippett is also in doubt for the start of the season after seeing a specialist to deal with tendonitis in his knee.
''Tippett will be unlikely for round one and has come back with a really solid plan,'' Longmire said. ''He has put a lot of work into strengthening his leg.
''He's dealt with it before. He's confident if he puts the right things in place then he'll be fine.''
Meanwhile, the Giants have included former No.1 draft pick Jonathon Patton in his first game at Manuka Oval since suffering a serious knee injury.
Patton tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the round-three loss to St Kilda last year.
The Giants will also field all five of their new recruits, pitting premiership-winning ruckman Shane Mumford and Jed Lamb against their old side.
Heath Shaw (Collingwood), Josh Hunt (Geelong) and Dylan Addison (Bulldogs) will also make their debuts for the Giants after joining the club in the off-season.
Longmire said there was ''no doubt'' the Giants were a stronger team this year.
