GREATER Western Sydney will be cautious and hold back Brent Daniels and Jack Buckley from taking on St Kilda on Sunday but the club has received some much-needed encouragement in regard to Jesse Hogan's fitness.

The reigning Coleman medallist has played just three times in the last eight weeks as he battles a lingering foot problem but a meeting with a surgeon this week has led to a positive outcome.

Hogan has been told he can't do any further damage by playing on it this season with continued rest and rehabilitation potentially reducing the pain to a level whereby featuring in September remains on the cards.

"He's getting better day by day actually, it's pretty encouraging. The foot is not giving him anywhere near as much pain as it was three weeks ago," Giants coach Adam Kingsley said on Friday.

"Clearly there's a way to go, he's got to get through training before we can think about bringing him in for finals."

Along with the possibility of a Hogan recall, Jake Stringer and Josh Kelly will both be back for the Giants' first final as part of five potentially massive inclusions along with Daniels and Buckley.

The latter duo were both named to face the Saints on Thursday night, but Daniels will instead play in the VFL against Richmond on Saturday afternoon.

Having featured just six times this season, the Giants aren't confident enough just yet in throwing him straight back into the AFL team, but he will be fit enough for a full game at the lower level.

"We're just not 100 per cent certain on his fitness. We'll see him get through a VFL game and then make an assessment for the first final, hopefully," Kingsley said.

"He's rapt to get back out there and play, he's a bit nervous actually but that's natural. Hopefully he gets through with flying colours."

Buckley's withdrawal from the side to face the Saints is a surprise after he pushed his case at training last week and was strongly considered to take on Gold Coast.

But he couldn't quite shake off discomfort in his calf at GWS' main session at Engie Stadium on Friday.

"He looks less likely now, he's just not quite right. So we probably won't make that change this week, we were pretty confident early in the week but it would appear that he didn't quite get through training as well as what we'd like," Kingsley said.

Buckley's minor setback means Leek Aleer will receive a reprieve and take on the team that many are tipping him to join next season.

"We haven't spoken about his future. That's a decision he'll make at the end of the season. We're keen for him to stay," Kingsley said.

"We just want to see him play to his strengths. When he launches at the ball he jumps over everyone to mark or spoil and that's what we want to see from him. We've seen glimpses but we want a little bit more."

After turning 50 this week, Kingsley admitted to feeling his age as he plots to quell the influence of Saints star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera in the first game since re-signing at Moorabbin and becoming the first $2 million player in the AFL.

"I coached his dad, Terry Milera," Kingsley said.

"He's an outstanding player. He's had a significant impact on how well the Saints have gone the past month. We need to keep him quiet, we can't allow him to run around and do what he does because that will take them a long way to winning this game. We'll have plans in place for him. We know he's going to have an impact on the game we just need to restrict that."

If other results go their way, a top-four place is still possible for the Giants if they get the job done over the Saints and Harry Himmelberg's 200-game milestone will provide them with further inspiration.

The gun defender's versatility over his 10-year journey has been hailed internally this week with his match-winning performance against Hawthorn in Gather Round in 2023 - where he took a massive mark for the match-winning goal and then saved the game with a big defensive grab just a minute later - a feature of his milestone highlight reel.

"He's been really important for us. He can mark it, win it on the ground he's a beautiful kick. He's so versatile, he's such an important person on field for us but even more important off the field for us so we'll celebrate that and hopefully do him proud," Kingsley said.