Shane Mumford has been thrust out of the casualty ward and into the fire after being handed sole rucking responsibilities against Melbourne Demons star Max Gawn in Canberra on Saturday.
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The 31-year-old has recovered from a right ankle injury and displaces Dawson Simpson who played his first AFL match in more than two years, deputising for Mumford in the win over Fremantle last weekend.
Coach Leon Cameron strongly considered using two specialist ruckmen to combat 208cm All Australian Gawn before giving the nod to his senior man, retaining the possibility of using 50-gamer Rory Lobb as an alternative throughout the match.
Gawn is slowly working his way back to form after spending 11 weeks on the sideline earlier this year with a hamstring tear, and managed a season high 52 hit outs in the narrow loss to North Melbourne last weekend.
"It's been a great discussion [whether to select two ruckmen]," Giants coach Leon Cameron said.
"Gawn and [Paddy] Ryder you rate them as probably the best ruckmen in the competition, we watched them have a great duel two weeks ago at the MCG.
"He's an outstanding player in his own right, he's just starting to get back into rhythm. He can feed their on ball brigade whichever way, whether it be over the back, front, side, he's got that great connection.
"He's a competitor, he marks the ball, we're under no illusion that it's going to be a huge duel for us."
Mumford is one of four inclusions for GWS which is slowly but surely clearing out its casualty ward in the lead-up to next month's finals.
Brett Deledio will make his Giants debut, and midfielder Jacob Hopper returns for his first AFL match since round seven. Veteran Steve Johnson has been cleared to play despite an ongoing knee injury.
Will Setterfield hasn't recovered from the heavy concussion he suffered last weekend, while youngster Harry Perryman joins Simpson on the omitted list.
The absence of Cameron and the potential to need Lobb in the ruck will create a smaller than usual Giants forward line, with Deledio expected to spend large periods against the Demons in attack.
Hopper's inclusion, meanwhile, adds some much-needed grunt to the Giants' midfield up against a dangerous Melbourne outfit set to welcome back hard nut Nathan Jones from a quad injury.
"We value his [Hopper's] inside work, his grunt, we're going to need that against the Demons who are fantastic around the contest," Cameron said.
"If we can bring him in and he can contribute in that area then [Stephen] Coniglio, [Callan] Ward, Hopper, Matty Kennedy, those sort of guys against a really rugged tough Melbourne midfield, it's going to be a good battle on Saturday afternoon.
"Any midfield from any team knows that the game these days it's just brutal.
"The game is full of contests. Unfortunately we've had a number of our big inside mids out.
"Ward, [Dylan] Shiel and [Josh] Kelly have been terrific under trying circumstances but there's no doubt having some extra help, it's always advantageous for any team."
