GWS will "have a plan" to try and tame the impact of Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli, who, in the eyes of Giants coach Adam Kingsley, is "well on his way to becoming the Bulldogs' best-ever player".
Bontempelli was a handful for the Giants in Round 8, recording 19 possessions (15 contested) and ten clearances in the first half alone. The Giants moved star midfielder Tom Green to the Bulldogs skipper in the second half but ran out of time to overcome Luke Beveridge's side in the latter half.
The Giants are plotting to nullify Bontempelli's presence on the ball from the offset of Saturday's clash in Ballarat, with Kingsley confirming his midfield will place some attention toward the four-time Charles Sutton Medal winner.
They will need to do so without Green on this occasion, however, with the bullish Giants onballer still sidelined with a hamstring injury.
"We'll have a plan for him. Last time he dominated the first half particularly, he had maybe 20 touches, ten clearances and kicked a goal in Canberra," Kingsley said on Thursday morning.
"After half-time, we had Tom Green go to him. We don't have the luxury of having Tom Green in the side at the moment, so we'll have to use a different method, but we'll definitely have a plan for him.
"Someone else is going to have to pick up the load. He's always difficult. It doesn't matter who plays on him.
"He's a star of the game and well on his way to becoming the Bulldogs' best-ever player, that says enough about him as a player.
"So we're gonna have our hands full irrespective of who it is. But again, we'll have our best shot and see where it takes us."
Bontempelli won't be the only Dogs midfielder needing to be tamed, with the likes of Tom Liberatore, Jack Macrae, Adam Treloar and Bailey Smith each bringing their own strengths to the table.
Kingsley noted his midfield group will need to "carefully" execute their plan to get an upper hand in the centre of the field.
"'Libba's a gun, there's no doubt about that. We'll have equal planning into each of their mids, not just Bontempelli," Kingsley said.
"Each of them in their own right are exceptional players and can destroy us given the opportunity.
"We'll plan carefully and then try and deliver upon the plan as best as we can."
The midfield battle will be rivalled by the clash between in-form Giants defender Sam Taylor and his defence's tussle with Western Bulldogs key forwards Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, who have proven to be a handful for opposing backmen in recent weeks.
Since returning from a hamstring injury in Round 14, Taylor has been the form defender of the competition, working in tandem with breakout defender Jack Buckley to concede not more than 72 points in a single game since his return.
Saturday's matchup will require both Taylor and Buckley to be at their best to negate the Bulldogs' own twin towers in attack, with Kingsley well aware of the threat both Naughton and Ugle-Hagan pose.
"They've still got to play to their highest levels to get these two done," the GWS coach said of his defensive unit.
"We've seen Aaron Naughton for a long period of time now as one of the star forwards of the competition and Jamar Ugle-Hagan's developing beautifully and certainly had big bags of goals under his belt.
"So they're both very dangerous, we understand that. Both Sam and Jack are gonna have to play their best to nullify their impact and that will be a big part of the way towards getting the result that we desire."
Taylor missed a total of seven matches due to his early-season setback, meaning he won't be able to play in more than 16 matches during the home and away season.
The limited game time is perhaps the only knock on Taylor's chances of securing a second successive All-Australian blazer, however, Kingsley is of the belief 15 games could be enough to be considered for selection.
"It's nothing something I've really considered, but off the top of my head I would consider 15 or 16 games a considerable body of work and enough to warrant selection or non-selection," Kingsley said.
GWS will travel to Mars Stadium this weekend to face the Western Bulldogs on Saturday as they eye a club-record seven straight wins.
