Giants sweat as “significant” injury sends star to surgeon

GWS coach Adam Kingsley has revealed that Sam Taylor will seek specialist advice regarding this hamstring injury.

The two-time All-Australian defender sustained a high-grade hamstring strain while playing for Western Australia against Victoria in State of Origin on Saturday night.

The Giants are already preparing to play without Taylor in the first few rounds of the 2026 season but there is a possibility that he is sidelined for longer.

Kingsley says Taylor will see a surgeon today to determine whether or not he’ll have to go under the knife which would be a major setback.

“Sam has had scans and he is going to seek an opinion today,” Kingsley said on SEN’s Whateley.

“It’s a hamstring injury and it looks reasonably significant. He’ll speak to a surgeon today to see whether he does need surgery on it.

“Hopefully we can avoid that but we’re looking at a reasonable stint on the sidelines.”

Given the injury was sustained while playing Origin, Kingsley could be forgiven for wanting the concept scrapped.

Kingsley feels it still has a place in the game but would like to see it played at a different time of year.

“It does a little bit (colour his view of Origin). Not from an Origin perspective,” he replied.

“To me it’s more about the timing of the game. Are we a much better chance of protecting our players if that game sits in the middle of the year if we have a unified bye.

“I think our players are a lot more conditioned in that time of the year. It was a long game, it was an intense game, there was a lot of run in it. It was fantastic to watch.

“I just wonder whether or not the timing is in the middle of the year as opposed to February which is probably the highest risk month in the year for all, sorts of injuries.”

It has been a tough pre-season patch for the Giants in terms of serious injuries.

Star midfielder Tom Green sustained an ACL injury during an intra-club match last week which is a massive blow for the club.

Kingsley is hoping off-season recruit Clayton Oliver can fill the void as the Giants attempt to channel Kingsley’s Port Adelaide premiership team of 2004.

“Clayton Oliver is as probably good as there is in terms of like for like,” said Kingsley of a potential Green replacement.

“We’re fortunate that we’ve managed to recruit him because I think he’ll help shoulder a bit more of the load now that Tom’s not there.

“But the reality is we’re not going to replace Tom and his quality. He’s won a best and fairest, he’s clearly one of our best players.

“Everyone needs to chip away. We feel like we’ve got some nice options to go through the midfield and they’ll all contribute in their own way which is all we ask for.

“There’s plenty of teams that have suffered this. Back in 2004 (at Port) we lost Matty Primus and Josh Francou to knee injuries in the early part of the season and managed to overcome that. So we’re drawing upon that at the moment.”

Green will undergo surgery next week before helping his teammates in a different capacity.

“He’s really positive, he’s a positive person,” the Giants coach said further.

“He’s obviously really disappointed. He’ll go in for surgery probably next week.

“That process will be really frustrating for him because he’s a competitive person, he wants to contribute to his team, and he’ll be laid up a little bit.

“It will be a challenging time for him but we need to support him, as we will. Once he’s up again and moving and mobile he’ll be contributing to our performances but just not on the field.”