Giants lose Hogan to calf injury ahead of Crows clash

GWS will face Adelaide without Jesse Hogan after the star forward picked up a calf injury.

Jake Stringer will spearhead the stacked Giants attack in Hogan's absence, with Xavier O'Halloran coming into the line-up for Saturday's clash at Adelaide Oval.

Hogan was nursing calf tightness after the Giants' 28-point win over St Kilda and was spotted completing light work on an exercise bike outside of main training.

Still, Giants coach Adam Kingsley had been confident the soreness would not stop the key forward and named Hogan in his initial squad.

Hogan, who has kicked 15 goals this season, will be tested ahead of the Giants' round-seven fixture against the Western Bulldogs.

He missed the first two games of the season with a broken thumb and joins Brent Daniels (abdominal) and Stephen Coniglio (glute) on the sidelines.

Daniels and Coniglio are also a test against the Western Bulldogs.

GWS will at least boast Stringer, who is beginning to discover his form at his new club.

The former Essendon star kicked his first two goals in Giants colours to match Hogan's haul against the Saints.

He could prove a handful for Crows fullback Nick Murray, who has missed the past two games after jarring a knee at training.

Young forward Max Gruzewski also joins the Giants' side as an emergency.

"Maybe because we've got Jake in our front half, he commands some respect," Kingsley said.

"Maybe that's why Toby's (Greene) able to get off the chain, or Jesse's (Hogan) then able to get off the chain a bit and kick some goals and finish their work.

"For the second week in a row, we had a really strong spread of goalkickers. I think we had nine goalkickers again.

"That's how we want to be. We're not relying on one, two or three players."

Murray returns to the Crows alongside Sam Berry, with Lachlan Sholl omitted and former GWS midfielder James Peatling out with a one-match ban for a dangerous tackle.

But the Giants will at least have an on-field reunion with former winger Isaac Cumming.

Kingsley insists there won't be any extra attention paid to Cumming, with tagger Toby Bedford set to make a beeline to Crows captain Jordan Dawson or Izak Rankine.

"We've tagged Dawson in the past and we've had reasonable effect in doing that. He's a really important player," Kingsley said.

"Rankine has been a really strong clearance player for them and obviously, as we know, he can play forward as well and certainly lived it up last time.

"If they're both midfield, then we'll choose one - typically we like to keep Toby through the midfield."

Midfielder-forward O'Halloran returns to Kingsley's side after being dropped against St Kilda in favour of Toby McMullin.