GIANTS defender Zac Williams will make his playing return in the NEAFL on Saturday at Spotless Stadium.

The 23-year-old has spent the last six-and-a-half months recovering from a torn Achilles and despite the possibility of not playing at all in 2018, Williams will pull on the orange and charcoal for the first time since the 2017 Preliminary Final.

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“It’s a huge weekend for Zac, he’s been knocking on the door the last few weeks asking to play,” GIANTS NEAFL coach Adam Schneider said.

“After what he went through, which is a serious injury, there was a chance he wasn’t going to play this year. It’s a credit to him the way he’s attacked his rehab and got his body ready to go.

“I can’t wait to see him run around out there because he’s flying on the track at the moment.”

Williams has been working closely with Schneider during his time out of the game, taking up a game-day role as backline coach for the NEAFL GIANTS.

Despite being known for his dash off half-back, Schneider said Williams will see time in the midfield.

“I think I’ll start him on the bench… he’s got to earn his spot in the team,” Schneider said with a laugh.

“He’ll run through the middle and through the back, it’s about him just playing footy this weekend, getting the footy, getting tackled here and there.”

Williams’ return comes at the right time for the NEAFL GIANTS who must win their Derby clash with the Swans on Saturday if they are to make finals.

Schneider said his side has started to find its rhythm after a rollercoaster season, recording back-to-back wins over Sydney University and Gold Coast over the last fortnight.

“It’s going to be a huge game, last week the boys were fantastic, they went up to the Gold Coast and had a really good win up there,” Schneider said.

“We’ve got a real continuity going with the Academy players who have been playing for us, we’ve clearly had a lot of up and down with the AFL and injuries but there’s not a lot we can do about that.

“We just need to play like we did last week.”

The GIANTS and Swans have a rich NEAFL history with the GIANTS claiming the 2016 NEAFL Premiership with a thrilling one-point-win over the Swans.

While Schneider is focused on the game he is aware of the rivalry between the two sides, especially the one in the coaches’ box.

“Playing the Derby, you always want to win that,” he said.

“Firstly, I want to beat their coach (Swans 2005 Premiership teammate Tadhg Kennelly) because I know him, and he wants to beat me so there’s a rivalry going between us two.

“It’s always a tough contested game, we’ll just be focusing on the process and hopefully we can get the win.”