Greater Western Sydney's hopes of winning its first AFL premiership have been dealt a massive blow, with Stephen Coniglio ruling himself out of the season decider against Richmond.
Coniglio, who has missed nine matches since July with a knee injury, was looking to prove his fitness at the Giants' main training session today but the club's vice-captain made the decision to make himself unavailable for Saturday's clash at the MCG.
"This is a selfless decision by Stephen and typical of the man he is," Giants general manager of football Wayne Campbell said in a statement.
"He left it all on the training track today and ultimately he decided he doesn't think he is capable of playing out the whole game, and therefore didn't want to let his teammates down.
"His decision has the full support of everyone and we know he'll continue to support the team to the best of his ability as he has over the past 10 weeks."
Lachie Whitfield and co-captain Phil Davis are expected to be named in the Giants' line-up on Thursday despite fitness concerns ahead of the club's first grand final in only their eighth season in the AFL.
Toby Greene will return from the suspension, which ruled him out of the thrilling preliminary final win over Collingwood.
Coniglio will join co-captain Callan Ward and veteran Brett Deledio in being among the Giants' players unavailable for the grand final.
The 25-year-old was always expected to be an outside chance, given he had not played since round 17 coincidentally against the Tigers at the MCG.
He was helped from the field that day after damaging his meniscus and had been a chance to return for the preliminary final before being ruled out.
The Tigers have also been hit by injury, with midfielder Jack Graham unavailable after sustaining a dislocated shoulder during their preliminary final triumph over Geelong last Friday.
Graham was considered a long shot to be passed fit for the grand final and was officially ruled out on Tuesday.
"He's a terrific, combative player and what he did last week was simply outstanding … to be able to stay out on the field when he was obviously distressed," Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said.
"We probably made a decision that was quite traumatic for both of us in a way, but the reality is that we need to think about the 22 as a whole."
The Tigers were already without premiership defender Alex Rance and Jack Higgins, who were both ruled out earlier in the season.
