GREATER Western Sydney looks set to bring in a player who is uncapped in this finals series.

Meanwhile, it’s still unclear whether Patrick Dangerfield will start forward or in the midfield against Adelaide — and the implications will be huge.

It’s the Preliminary Final edition of Late Mail.

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Round 18

LATE CHANGE ON THE CARDS FOR GIANTS

DEVON Smith looks set to come in as a late change for GWS, ahead of its preliminary final clash against Richmond at the MCG.

Smith - the travelling emergency - hasn’t played since the club’s Round 23 loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium.

But his pace and running capacity may work in his favour in receiving a recall, with the Giants vigilant of Richmond’s mosquito fleet.

One of GWS’ talls looks poised to lose his spot, with SEN reporter Sam McClure saying Harrison Himmelberg was the most vulnerable.

“I just wonder if it’s possible that Adam Tomlinson is the player sent to play on Alex Rance to play a defensive forward role ... that would mean that Himmelberg would be the one to go,” McClure said.

Melbourne champion Garry Lyon said he wouldn’t be surprised if Himmelberg was dropped because of his less than satisfying performance as a negating forward on West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern last weekend.

“He did an okay job, but he didn’t nail it,” Lyon said on SEN.

“Tomlinson is a great athlete and maybe he demands the footy a little more.”

Smith is uncontracted beyond 2017 and has been linked to a number of Victorian clubs, including Geelong and Carlton.

THE SPOTLIGHT

ALL eyes will be on Brett Deledio, who will play his 250th match against his former club Richmond at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

While Deledio was a loyal servant at Punt Road — spending 12 seasons with the Tigers before heading north to join the Giants last year — he’d be folly to expect anything less than a hostile reception from the parochial Tiger crowd.

More than 90,000 fans are expected to flock to the MCG. And most will be wearing yellow and black.

The stage is set for Deledio to either shatter Tiger hearts, or be on the end of heartbreak himself, with the winner of the match progressing through to the Grand Final.

Earlier in the week, Deledio said he had “no regrets” leaving Richmond.

“There’s no regrets whatsoever, it was a fresh start for me which is exactly what I wanted, and I’m loving my time up here,” he said.

“I’ve dealt with all that in October when I moved, so it’s all water under the bridge.”

THE NEW GIG

IT’S not quite brand new, but how much time Patrick Dangerfield spends forward against Adelaide will have a major impact on Friday night’s preliminary final.

To put it simply, based on his record this season, Dangerfield could be the best forward in the AFL if he played there full-time.

Champion Data numbers reveal that Dangerfield equals West Coast’s Josh Kennedy for goals per 100 minutes as a set forward, with 3.2. Kennedy has a larger sample size, of course.

But that puts Dangerfield ahead of talls Joe Daniher (2.8 goals per 100 minutes), Lance Franklin (2.7) and more comparable players in Toby Greene (2.5) and Dustin Martin (2.4).

It’s a level of impact that Cats coach Chris Scott simply cannot ignore. But can that level be sustained?

That depends on the midfield supply. Against Sydney, Joel Selwood was the Cats’ worst performer (per the Official AFL Player Ratings) and Dangerfield couldn’t clear it to himself. Mitch Duncan, Sam Menegola and Scott Selwood lifted instead.

If Dangerfield starts forward and the Crows midfield is getting on top of things, then the experiment may have to end.

If not though, it has the potential to pay enormous dividends.

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