GWS Giants to unleash speed demon Brent Daniel against West Coast on Sunday

[Ulquiorra]

THE Giants are looking to beat West Coast with speed when they take them on in Perth and they have the perfect weapon for the job in debutant Brent Daniels.

The pocket rocket was taken high in last year’s draft (pick No.27) and would have been playing a lot earlier than Round 16 if it wasn’t for a knee injury picked up during pre-season.

The meniscus tear was a serious setback but after more than a month in the NEAFL the pocket rocket is ready for launch.

Jonathon Patton’s shock knee injury and Jeremy Cameron’s five-week ban has forced GWS coach Leon Cameron to go with a small and fast game plan.

The strategy is more by accident than design but it could be perfect for the Eagles whose lack of pace was exposed by Essendon two weeks ago.

“This will be a bit different for us,” Daniels said. “We usually go a bit tall and have those three key forwards. Most AFL teams have a lot more smaller players in their line ups.

“I’m back to my best and I want to keep improving. It was very frustrating to be out of action for a long time, just two weeks after the draft was a bit of a blow but I’ve learned from it.

“It’ll be a good challenge against the Eagles in Perth and that’s exciting.”

If Daniels is half the success his fellow small forward Zac Langdon has been this year the kid from Geelong Grammar will be an enormous plus for the Giants who are staging a late surge for September.

Langdon has been a revelation playing in an almost identical role to Daniels as a small pressure forward who can kick goals.

“Zac certainly gives me confidence I can do the same thing,” Daniels said.

“Zac has shown that small players can get the job done at the highest level. We’re pretty good mates as well so it will be fun to play alongside him.”

Giants coach Leon Cameron has been busting to unleash the explosive small forward who was drafted along with Langdon as a replacement for Steve Johnson (retired) and Devon Smith (Essendon).

“He’s got great tackle pressure, chase pressure and we like that,” Cameron said.

“He can hit the scoreboard, he’s a very good front and square player and there’s no doubt there’s going to be plenty of excitement on Sunday when he plays. He’s going to be nervous, there’s going to be 50,000 people there.”

The 19-year-old could not have asked for a bigger stage to announce his arrival in the AFL taking on the third placed Eagles in Perth at Perth Stadium.

“The nerves haven’t kicked in,” Daniels said.

“Leon and the coaches have said to back myself in and that I’m good enough to play at this level. If I bring my effort and play my role the other things will happen.”

Harry Perryman is the other inclusion to take on the Eagles with Patton (knee) and Jacob Hopper (calf) the two outs.