GREATER Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley has backed the decision to suspend his gun midfielder Tom Green for a week, ruling him out of the clash with Brisbane in Canberra on Saturday.
Green was offered a week's suspension for rough conduct after a heavy tackle on Hawthorn's Josh Ward during the Giants' last-gasp triumph on Sunday.
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While the club was weighing up challenging the decision to have the ball-winner available for a critical match-up with the Lions in his hometown, it ultimately decided against doing so.
"I probably thought it was fair in the end to be quite frank," Kingsley said.
"Having watched it on replay it was probably too aggressive, so we spoke to the group about that sort of tackle. Tom's a big guy so as soon as he drops his weight that can sling some people around. We'll endeavour to not have those tackles in our game.
"The impact was graded as medium and in order for him to get off we'd have to prove that it was low and there's just a bit of a risk attached to doing that, so we felt like it was going to be a difficult case to answer."
The loss of Green, who is fifth in the competition for contested possessions after five weeks, is a severe one but it may be offset by the return of Harry Perryman, who has been out since suffering a hamstring injury in round one.
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Along with that potential inclusion, veteran Callan Ward may be required to play on the ball for longer periods after spending more time at half-forward so far this season.
"He (Perryman) has just got to get through the week of training so maybe it's a like-for-like replacement, we'll see how 'Pez' goes throughout the week. Wardy's definitely an option to go through there, as the week pans out we'll start to discuss that," Kingsley said.
The focus on the Giants may well have been different this week if not for the heroics of Harry Himmelberg in the final minutes at Norwood Oval.
His towering grab and goal to put the Giants in front was followed by a sensational stretch in the goalsquare to deny Jarman Impey a match-winning goal. It was a miraculous moment that underlines his importance to the Giants squad.
It also serves to underline the Giants' desire to retain him as he moves into restricted free agency status at the end of the season.
"It's an enormous priority for us. He's clearly a very important player for us and will be for a long period of time. I'm not aware of the update on that, I presume we're still in discussions with him but I'm fully confident Harry will be a Giant for next year and beyond," Kingsley said.
The immediate priority for Kingsley, however, is winning on his first trip to Canberra as GWS coach.
The Giants have lost their past seven games at their home away from home despite enjoying excellent crowd support at Manuka Oval.
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"We want to turn Canberra into a fortress for us but that's difficult to do if you're not winning games," Kingsley said.
"We want to try and rectify that as soon as possible but there's a way to do it and I feel the blueprint for us was the Hawthorn game and our ability to step in, pressure tackle and keeping it at the level it needs to be every week."
