Lachie Whitfield had already won a club best and fairest award and made an AFL All-Australian team when Adam Kingsley became GWS senior coach.
Kingsley arrived at the Giants in late 2022 thinking he had a reasonable handle on one of the leagues' best half-backs.
But Whitfield, who will return from injury and reach his 250th milestone in Saturday's massive home game against Geelong, had a surprise for his new coach.
"The one thing that probably surprised me, coming here, was just how hard and tough he is as a half-back," Kingsley said this week.
"He probably had the perception, he's probably a little bit more outside, the beautiful skills, the run and carry and all that sort of stuff.
"There are not too many who are as tough as him in the contest, playing that role.
"Sometimes that works against him, but most of the time it's pretty good for us."
Whitfield made his second All-Australian team last year and is among three big inclusions for this game, reflecting its great importance for the two top-eight teams.
Giants key forward Jesse Hogan, who kicked seven goals in the round-10 win over the Cats in Geelong, is also back.
Bailey Smith was a late withdrawal for the third time this season and he will add considerable pace and skill to Geelong's midfield.
Giants tagger Toby Bedford is certain to spend time on either Smith or fellow in-form onballer Max Holmes, and maybe alternate between them.
One of the features of the match between the fourth-placed Cats and eighth-placed Giants will be the two key forwards - Hogan at one end and Geelong star Jeremy Cameron at the other.
Cameron kicked his 700th goal last week and leads the Coleman Medal, which Hogan won last year. Cameron won the Coleman Medal in 2019, when he was still at GWS.
While the Cats spearhead is having a great season, he sprayed 4.5 in last weekend's home win over Richmond.
A quirk of the Giants' Engie Stadium home is that they are definitely more accurate than opponents in their goalkicking at the venue.
"It is a difficult ground - the wind swirls a little bit - open at one end, closed at the other. The fact that we practise here and spend time here probably helps us, I would imagine," Kingsley said.
"It certainly doesn't hurt us.
"We have some pretty good goalkickers, too. That always helps."
Dylan Buckley could go to Cameron - but the Giants key defender is recovering from a rolled ankle and it was unclear earlier this week whether he would be ready for Saturday's clash.
While the Giants are a game and percentage below Geelong on the ladder, they have won their last three matchups - oddly, all at GMHBA Stadium.
This will be the first time since round one of the COVID-affected 2020 season that the Giants will host the Cats.
Cameron kicked three goals for GWS that day as they won by 32 points.
