Adelaide fans are notorious for their inability to be objective and South Australian media said the young defender was chasing the big money on offer at Greater Western Sydney and sacrificing his football career and success.

Five years later and Davis is co-captaining a red-hot Giants team one win away from a maiden grand final.

"It's been an interesting journey in terms of public perception, more from South Australia," said Davis.

"They jumped on me and thought I wasn't exactly the smartest man and that I made a bad decision. I've said the whole time that I really enjoyed my time in Adelaide, but for me I thought this was the best opportunity to have success."

The Giants' preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs promises to be played at breakneck speed with both midfields stacked with young and exciting talent.

GWS have burst into premiership contention this season through the pace of Dylan Shiel, Stephen Coniglio and Tom Scully, as well as the ball-winning Callan Ward.

The Dogs have been electric in their demolition of the West Coast Eagles in Perth and wearing out the might of Hawthorn in their respective finals games.

Davis said his side won't be shying away from a fast and aggressive match-up.

"Their [Bulldogs] forte is at the coalface, their contested ball stuff is very good so we understand we'll have to be at our best in that area. You can't have them beating us by 20 contested ball wins and five to 10 clearances in a game. They have some pace but so do we."

The match-up likely to be at the centre of this element of the game will be the battle between Coniglio and Marcus Bontempelli.

The former wins his own ball, averaging 28 possessions a game this year, but can also play a tight, defensive role. Bontempelli is quickly emerging as the Dogs' spiritual leader and barometer for his team's success.

"Steve's done a few roles this year and done it really well," Davis said. "He's a vital part for us not only with his offensive stuff, which is enormous, but his ability to nullify some players is important too.

"If he goes to Bontempelli or [Tom] Liberatore we'll expect the same thing from him because he's such an important part of our team."

Another crucial factor will be the tactical strategies of the Western Bulldogs' forwards.

Their primary goal scorers, Tory Dickson and Jake Stringer, are middle-sized forwards, and it is likely coach Luke Beveridge will allocate a defensive forward on Heath Shaw who played his best game of the season when the two sides played in round nine, amassing 36 possessions.

Therefore the 194-centimetre Davis will be responsible for one of the resting ruckmen Jordan Roughead, or his former Giants teammate, Tom Boyd.

"They throw a fairly different look than other teams and for me, I'll try and keep myself relatively consistent and play on the big forwards and a bit of time on Stringer, depending on where he's playing," Davis said.

"The Doggies are spread in terms of their forward options because they don't have that focal point, which is a little bit different, but obviously Stringer is a super player and whoever is on him will have a tough time."

AFL PRELIMINARY FINAL

Saturday: GWS Giants v Western Bulldogs, 5.15pm, Spotless Stadium