AFL: GWS Giants midfielder Jacob Hopper to return against Brisbane Lions after knee-related absence

Gun midfielder Jacob Hopper will return to Greater Western Sydney’s senior side for the first time since round 1 on Saturday after knee complications.

The star Giant underwent separate knee surgeries after his career-best 2021 season, including the second after he played through pain in the season-opening loss to Sydney.

Hopper rubber-stamped his AFL call-up with 32 disposals in his second VFL game back at the weekend and will head to Canberra with his teammates for a rematch with Brisbane.

GWS will make a minimum of two changes, with Hopper and Connor Idun (health and safety protocols) returning and Phil Davis (hamstring) and Adam Kennedy (concussion) ruled out.

But interim coach Mark McVeigh, who slammed his team’s performance against Port Adelaide last week as “disappointing” and “lacklustre”, warned there could be more beyond those.

Hopper is expected to play up to 85 per cent game time and his inclusion means McVeigh will have to “shuffle the decks” in a midfield already boasting the likes of Josh Kelly, Tom Green and Stephen Coniglio.

“We wanted to give him another week just to give himself the best opportunity to come in and have a real impact at AFL level,” McVeigh said.

“We can’t forget that he missed 15 weeks, which is a long time.

“He played a game in the VFL in heavy rain conditions, so we didn’t get to see him fully open up on that day –but at the weekend, he was fantastic.”

Davis, who is out of contract as he prepares to turn 32 in August, will meet with a surgeon in the next week as he comes to terms with a second major hamstring injury this season.

McVeigh said post-match on Saturday night he would not speculate about the former co-captain’s future, but Harry Perryman (ribs) could be back as soon as next week.

Instead, he is focused on sparking a response from his players as they try to avenge their 14-point loss to Brisbane in late May after they led by five goals at one point.

Braydon Preuss, Jake Riccardi, Jake Stein and Xavier O’Halloran could all be in contention after strong VFL displays, while McVeigh hinted the Giants may have a left-field plan to quell Lachie Neale.

“Lachie Neale really dominated (last time). He had 39 possessions and a couple of goals and we can’t allow a player of his ilk to really dominate the game like that,” he said.

“We know he’s going to get plenty of footy but can we take a little bit off him in that regard?

“Their forwards are a little bit more dangerous than, perhaps, when we played them. They didn’t have (Joe) Daniher, so he’s in the side (but) we know we need to match them on the inside.

“Our contested possession has been down and they’re really good in that area. We can’t allow ourselves to go down minus-15, minus-18, minus-20, which we have done the last few weeks.”