GWS coach Adam Kingsley insists it wasn't a deliberate tactic to get under the skin of West Coast star Harley Reid during the Giants' 59-point win in Perth on Friday night.
The Giants kicked six of the first seven goals of the match to set up the easy 16.15 (111) to 8.4 (52) triumph, boosting their season record to 10-6 ahead of next week's crunch clash with Geelong.
The biggest talking point of Friday's encounter was the heated tit-for-tat between GWS midfielder Tom Green and Reid.
The pair went at it throughout the night, but it was their third-quarter exchanges that really stood out.
Reid was floored and left gasping for breath after copping an off-the-ball elbow to the midriff near a ruck contest.
Play was momentarily stopped for Reid to be assisted by the club's on-field doctor.
As soon as Reid was given the all-clear, Green ran in to lay an angry bump on the star Eagle, sparking heated words and a pointed finger from Reid.
The elbowing incident earned Green a $3750 fine from the MRO with an early guilty plea.
Green also copped plenty of niggling hits from Reid in what became a fascinating side plot to what was an otherwise dull game.
Reid, who was fined $3750 for his rough conduct charge on Xavier O'Halloran, finished with 24 disposals and seven clearances, while Green was influential with 35 touches and nine clearances.
"We didn't talk about getting under his skin," Kingsley said when asked about his team's tactics to curb Reid's influence.
"We identified his clearance threat to us during the week, and I think he had four clearance in the first quarter, so it was a really strong start from him.
"We considered tagging him to just nullify his influence on the game, but we decided against that.
"All in all, I thought we did pretty well on him."
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter didn't have any issues with the Reid-Green battle.
"It's awesome. That's what footy is about, as long as it doesn't cross a line," McQualter said.
"I love the competitiveness of the game, and I hope all of our players do.
"He (Reid) was up for the fight tonight. Potentially lost his attention a couple of times, which we'll keep working with him.
"But he's an ultimate competitor. If we could get every player to compete like Harley and want to go about their business like that, we would be happy."
GWS defender Jack Buckley is in doubt to face the Cats after injuring his ankle in the third quarter.
Kingsley is hopeful star forward Jesse Hogan (foot, illness) will be fit to return.
"He did a 4km session (on Friday) back at headquarters in Sydney and had no pain, feeling fine, recovered from the bout of gastro that he had," Kingsley said of the Coleman Medal contender.
"There was no pain in his foot that's been troubling him for a little while.
"He had a screw put in there, six years ago perhaps, and so at times it becomes irritated and it's something that he's managed.
"He managed it last year, he's managing it this year, and sometimes it just tips over the edge where we've just got to give him a spell."
