Brett Deldio is rusty, and fellow veteran Ryan Griffen's knee is "all over the shop," but their red-hot Greater Western Sydney teammate Lachie Whitfield has solved one problem for their club.
Winger Whitfield maintained his electric start to the year across halfback with a game-high 29 touches in the 11-point pre-season loss to Sydney on Friday.
In the same game, Deledio tallied only one kick among eight disposals in his first run of the year.
Griffen, is in doubt for round one with yet another ankle issue, after suffering two last season, when he played just three senior games.
With GWS down two half back flankers after Nathan Wilson was traded and Zac Williams injured, Whitfield has made an irresistible case to fill one of those vacancies.
"He's defending really well," GWS coach Leon Cameron said.
"There's no doubt Lachie will play there a fair bit, but we're also mindful that he does give us a lot on the wing as well."
Former Richmond hero Deledio, who played just seven senior games last year, has been carefully managed through the pre-season.
"No doubt he's probably a little rusty early," Cameron said.
"We know he's come back from some issues last year, he'll get better and better as the weeks go on."
Cameron said he was still weighing up whether to play the versatile Deledio as a wing, forward or back.
Griffen shone in a practice match against Sydney two weeks ago, but has missed both of the Giants Community Series fixtures.
"His ankle is all over the shop at the moment," Cameron said,
'We thought he was going to play last week in Canberra, and it hasn't got any better.
"It's highly unlikely, unless he turns the corner dramatically, he's going to be ready for round one, but we're probably going to know a little bit more in four or five days."
Cameron hoped hard-running wingman Tom Scully would recover from knee soreness in time for round one. Along with Deledio, three other Giants had their first hitout of the year on Friday.
Forward Toby Green, back Aidan Corr and Rory Lobb, who is looking to replace the retired Shane Mumford as the Giants' No.1 ruckman.
The Giants were cautious about Lobb's groin injury and have adopted a simliar approach to the groin soreness afflicting inside midfileder Jacob Hopper.
"We didn't want to push him this early in the season," Cameron said.
"We really want Jacob to get through 18 games this year, which he hasn't in his first two years, because of that bad run of injuries."
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