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A pair of genuine small forwards are looking to help GWS improve their problem area of not forcing enough turnovers, as the club strives for a maiden AFL flag.
Dynamic small forwards Brent Daniels and Zac Langdon plan to build on a promising partnership once the AFL returns and help GWS address one of their longstanding issues.
Daniels and Langdon, at 1.70m and 1.77m respectively, are the pesky smalls among an imposing trio of talls comprising 1.96m tall duo Jeremy Cameron and Jeremy Finlayson plus Harry Himmelberg (1.94m).
GWS have been regularly criticised in recent years for a lack of forward pressure and not forcing enough turnovers.
Coach Leon Cameron made addressing that deficiency a focal point in the pre-season, during which GWS won both games before they beat Geelong in the only round played before coronavirus pandemic shut down the competition.
"The small players play an important role putting that pressure down forward," Daniels told AAP.
"It's been really important for us, it's probably something the Giants lacked before.
"It was something we looked at over the pre-season ... turning the ball over in our forward half a bit more."
Langdon and Daniels loom as pivotal figures in applying that policy as they compensate for a lack of height and bulk with speed and chase pressure.
"I've grown up and adapted to tackling bigger people so that's probably not a big issue for me," said Daniels, one of the competition's shortest players.
"I've also got good speed so that helps closing and getting people when they are not really ready for us, so they can't use their strength against you."
Despite quickly becoming fan favourites with their skill and tenacity, the pair played just 10 games together over their first two seasons.
A pre-season knee injury delayed Daniels's debut in 2018 while mature-age recruit Langdon played just three game last year due to knee and ankle issues.
"I got drafted with Brent, so I was really looking forward to playing some games with him," Langdon told AAP.
"The start of my first year he got injured so we got to play a couple of games throughout that year and then last year I was pretty much injured the whole year.
"At the start of this season I was looking forward to playing some games together and building that chemistry, but it wasn't meant to be."
Langdon recovered from injury just before the 2019 finals but couldn't force his way into a successful line-up and was named an emergency for the grand final loss to Richmond.
"I kept knocking on the door as well and asking 'Am I a sniff?' but they were winning every week. It's bloody hard to change the team when they are doing that," he admitted.
