Phil Davis July 13, 2012
Giants co-captain Phil Davis in action. Photo: Paul Rovere
Israel Folau's not going anywhere. He'll be part of our Triple Tower forward line on Sunday and he'll be here at the Giants next year.
There's no doubt speculation will follow Izzy for the rest of his career because he's starting from scratch after coming across from rugby league.
But he's come such a long way already and I think he's enjoying the challenge and making big steps every week.
Training with him every day I get to see these glimmers of absolute brilliance, which will hopefully start coming on a more consistent basis. He's such a cool, calm person and all the speculation doesn't bother him - it's just water off a very big duck's back.
After returning from injury, Izzy will form a potent forward line with Jon Patton and Jeremy Cameron for the game against Adelaide at Skoda Stadium.
He's been in great form in the NEAFL and will slot in nicely alongside those two young guns.
We've seen what Jeremy and Izzy can do together, and we've seen what Jeremy and Patton can do together, so it'll be great to see all three of them in the same forward line.
It was great to see Cameron get off his charge at the tribunal during the week and if I was a punting man I'd think he'd be a great chance to win the AFL's Rising Star award. Another tip would be Callan Ward for the inaugural Kevin Sheedy Medal as the Giants' best-and-fairest.
It's a fitting honour to name the award after Sheeds, who made great sacrifices in moving to western Sydney to set up our club.
He's a great custodian of the game and our footy club.
Sheeds and Mark Williams have formed a great team and I'd love for Sheeds to stay on as head coach, but if he wants to take on a more managerial role he'd be great at that as well.
We obviously had a massive loss against one of the top sides, Hawthorn, last weekend, but I'm confident it's just a lull in our season.
Essendon also had a big loss to St Kilda, which shows even the top sides have their ups and downs.
But we've had a really good week on the track and our focus is on taking on my old side. Having already played Adelaide once this year, there's not the same focus this time and it feels more like any other game.
I think it's going to be nice weather on Sunday, so there's a chance Chad Cornes will get his top off again.
It was torn off in a wrestle against his old enemy the last time we played so it's a good chance for our female fans to get along to Skoda Stadium and check out his rig.
Phil Davis is captain of the GWS Giants