Is this the year the Giants break through? Can they keep rising to the occasion in the midst of an injury crisis that would cripple almost any ordinary football club? Can they even get through a game without injuries?

The club's return to fortress Manuka brought some answers after superstar midfielder Kelly was knocked out in a sling tackle from Adelaide Crows star Taylor Walker, before Heath Shaw left the field after hyper-extending his knee.

The Giants have shown they can rise above the ordinary with a stirring 15.16 (106) to 13.14 (92) win over Adelaide in front of 13,249 in Canberra on Saturday night.

They may have to rise even further next week depending on the fitness of Kelly, Shaw and Reid. For Adelaide, recent history suggests Walker could, and perhaps should, have a case to answer.

The tackle could spark more debate about the introduction of a red card into the AFL, but Giants coach Leon Cameron says sling tackles - while not intentional - are all but impossible to rub out of the game.

"There’s no doubt there’s a hot topic about this red card system. In my opinion I don’t think we’re there because our game is a brutal game but it’s not that brutal," Cameron said.

"I know we look back last week on the [Andrew] Gaff incident, and we had the Jeremy Cameron incident with Harris Andrews, but the game is in fantastic nick.

"I don’t want to look at all the negatives going on. What I want to comment on is the positive output our players produced tonight under enormous amounts of stress.

"The injuries we had, that makes me really proud of our boys."

The Giants were left with one fit man on the bench after a hamstring injury brought Sam Reid's night to a premature end, compounding the late withdrawal of Matt de Boer with a hamstring issue of his own.

Cameron fears Shaw may have injured his posterior cruciate ligament which could spell the end of his season.

"Shaw, it probably doesn’t look great. The good thing about it is I don’t think it’s the ACL which is good, but it probably looks like a PCL," Cameron said.

"How long that may be, it might be four or six weeks. Hopefully we get a little bit of luck on Monday and it’s only one or two. He’s been fantastic this year so we’ll find out more on Monday or Tuesday."

The Giants’ ninth consecutive victory in Canberra has all but sewn up a third straight finals appearance for the expansion club. It is a far cry from where they found themselves 10 weeks ago - sitting 11th on the table with their season hanging by a thread.

It is a vastly different story for Adelaide. They can almost book their end of season trip, with the finals looking increasingly unlikely for a side unable to replicate the dizzying heights of last season’s grand final appearance.

GWS stripped everything back to lay the foundations for a surge into premiership contention in a move that coincided with coach Leon Cameron’s shift to the sideline to watch games.

The injury-plagued club is without Jon Patton, Tom Scully and Dawson Simpson for the remainder of the year in a crisis that might have left Cameron preparing to wear his football boots on the bench just in case he had to throw himself into the action.

But the welcome returns of Dylan Shiel, Tim Taranto, and Ryan Griffen allayed those fears and showed the staggering depth the Giants go armed with on the run to September.

Still, Cameron has his fingers crossed the returns of key names like Brett Deledio and Toby Greene come sooner rather than later, while now contending with some fresh headaches.

It was Adelaide's first visit to the capital since 2002 and Brodie Smith's inspirational return from an anterior cruciate ligament tear put them in the ascendancy early.

The Giants lacked spark as they failed to clear their defensive 50 for any significant period of time. Adelaide were so well set-up, GWS didn't even look like getting through.

It quickly became apparent that if the Giants were going to get the job done, they would not be able to rely on their attacking flair. The few players that wore long sleeves to beat the Canberra cold were going to have to roll them up, and the entire group was going to have to dig in.

Jeremy Cameron and Harry Himmelberg clicked into gear. Shiel, Kelly and the midfield corps, who looked a little below their best in the opening half, began to get their hands on the football.

The Giants booted three goals into the construction zone engulfing one end of Manuka Oval in the blink of an eye.

Then down went Reid. Down went Kelly. Down went Shaw. But the Giants? Youngsters Lachie Whitfield, Jacob Hopper and Aidan Bonar saw them rise above the ordinary.

GWS 4.3 6.9 11.14 15.16 (106)
ADELAIDE 4.4 7.7 10.9 13.14 (92)

GOALS: GWS: Himmelberg 2, Lobb, Coniglio 2, Whitfield, Griffin, Cameron 2, Shiel, Kelly, Bonar 2, Hopper 2. Adelaide: Jenkins 3, Lynch 2, Murphy 2, Betts, Gibbs 2, Mackay, Douglas.

BEST: GWS: Whitfield, Himmelberg, Shiel, Taranto, Hopper. Adelaide: Smith, Lynch, Gibbs, Laird, Crouch.

INJURIES: GWS: De Boer (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Keeffe, Reid (hamstring), Kelly (concussion), Shaw (knee).

UMPIRES: McInerney, Chamberlain, Stephens.

CROWD: 13,249 at UNSW Canberra Oval

VOTES
Lachie Whitefield (GWS) 9
Harry Himmelberg (GWS) 8
Dylan Shiel (GWS) 8
Brodie Smith (Adelaide) 8
Tom Lynch (Adelaide) 7