GWS coach Adam Kingsley says star defender Sam Taylor will play in Saturday’s Elimination Final against St Kilda if he gets through the club’s final training session on Thursday.
Taylor missed GWS’ last home and away game with a hamstring injury, but Kingsley says he’s ready to play the star stopper should he train well.
The big question for Kingsley and the Giants is to decide whether they’re happy or not with the risk involved given he previously missed Round 7 to Round 13 with a hamstring injury earlier this season.
“He'll train tomorrow and if he gets through training and we're happy with the risk that will be attached to him playing, then he'll play,” Kinglsey said on SEN Sportsday.
“I'm definitely a big part of the conversation around that (whether he’ll play). The doctor will feed me the facts around the injury, the healing and the risk attached.
“The player Sam will say he's great because he's already said it.
“Then I'll sort of weigh up everything and we'll discuss it as a match committee group, a group of coaches and make the call.
“The risk is that we bring him back and he's not quite right and he hurts it again and if we just so happen to win, then we won't have him again.
“But then, the flip side is again, you don't play him and we don't win the game and you're constantly thinking about, ‘What if we had played him? Would we have been able to win the game?’.”
While Kingsley understands giving players an extra week off is the typical conservative play with hamstrings, he says the club is happy to tick Taylor off if he shows he’s right to go.
“Well, that's right, an extra week will help,” Kingsley said.
“But if he's good to go then he'll play.
“That's pretty much the decision that we'll make.”
Kingsley was also reminded of Melbourne defender Steven May playing through the 2021 Grand Final with a hamstring injury, something that made him think that he could take a similar risk with his full-back.
With Taylor running near his full capacity in his last training session, that might not be a problem anyway.
“He's running at about 95 per cent based on his last training session, but he'll train fully tomorrow and I expect he'll be fine,” Kingsley said.
“I did read about that Steven May hamstring injury in the Grand Final and I must say it got me a little bit thinking more towards, ‘Yeah, I'm prepared to take the risk’.
“But we'll assess that once training is finished.”
GWS take on St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday afternoon with the bounce set for 3:20 pm (AEST).
The winner of that Elimination Final will face the loser of Saturday night’s Qualifying Final between Brisbane and Port Adelaide in week two.