GREENE HITS RED LIGHT

GWS Giants ace Toby Greene faces an injury-enforced stint on the sidelines.

THE GWS Giants Ferrari is well and truly back on the finals road, and it barely needed to get out of second gear against a disappointing Gold Coast Suns outfit in Sunday’s clash of the AFL’s expansion teams. But just what finals road the Giants will travel — another tilt at a flag or battling to make up the numbers — will largely depend on the extent of a hamstring injury suffered by star Toby Greene in the first quarter of a 26-point win at Metricon Stadium. The loss of their star, and arguably most important player, didn’t put the brakes on the Giants against an insipid Suns outfit, as GWS moved level on points with its top-eight rivals. The Giants led throughout, and were rarely threatened in a game where the main point of interest was the injury to one of GWS’s main cogs. Greene had come into the clash in supreme form after booting five against the reigning premier Richmond. Stuart Dew gave youngster Connor Budarick a mighty task by putting him on the Giants superstar, and while the Suns rookie gave a good account of himself at times, Greene started the clash strongly. He missed a chance to kick the first goal of the day, but a minute later set up Tim Taranto, and while he had two behinds in the first quarter, he amassed six disposals. But as he and Budarick raced after a ball on the wing, Greene pulled up with a hamstring injury. While he quickly ran to the bench, the Giants ruled him out of the game at quarter time. With both sides in the finals race, on a perfect day for footy at Metricon — the AFL bosses would have probably had wry smiles on their faces about the league’s often-maligned expansion into the two growth markets. But Dew’s young team showed there is still a lot of work to be done. It only kicked two goals in three quarters, and too many of its key players, such as Lachie Weller, David Swallow, Hugh Greenwood, Sam Day, Touk Miller and exciting youngsters Izak Rankine and Ben King, were quiet. The Suns have now only won one game since young star Matt Rowell dislocated his shoulder. Zac Williams showed just how important he is for GWS as he returned from a hamstring injury. Providing the Giants with plenty of run from halfback, Williams finished with 26 disposals and six marks. He also gained 436m with his elite speed, in an impressive return. The Giants have many star players, Williams showed he is one of their prime movers.