Greater Western Sydney’s potent combination of bold run, crafty ‘keepings-off’ and heavy scoring, poses a formidable challenge for Richmond in Saturday’s clash between the two teams at Canberra’s StarTrack Oval.

The Giants, currently second on the league ladder with a 12-5 win-loss ratio after 17 games, are the No. 1 scoring side in the competition (a total of 1852 points for) and they have the best percentage (136.3).

They also are ranked No. 1 for kick-to-handball ratio and No. 3 for uncontested marks.

“We’re going to have to have really good structures against them . . . Our structures need to be spot on,” Richmond assistant coach Ross Smith told Tigers great Matthew Richardson on this week’s edition of Roar Vision’s ‘Opposition Analysis’.

“We’ve got to be able to slow them down where we can . . . deny their ability to get those uncontested marks. 

“They’ve got plenty of run in their side, so we’ve brought some run into our side this week as well to hopefully compete with a few of their blokes.”

Although veteran star rebounding defender Heath Shaw has played a significant role in the success of GWS this season, Richmond is unlikely to start the match with a tight tag on him.

The 30-year-old provides the Giants with abundant run, and he’s ranked No. 3 among players competition-wide in the key category of metres gained.

“He’s a class, experienced player and adds a lot of quality to their backline,” Smith said.

“We haven’t really tagged that much this year, certainly from a tagging forward’s perspective, either.  But we have done it in the past with ‘Shawy’ . . .

“I guess we’ll just see.  If he’s really cutting us to pieces, we might go down that road.”

Richmond also will resist (initially, at least) applying the clamps to the Giants’ group of top-notch midfielders, led by Callan Ward, Dylan Shiel, Tom Scully and Stephen Coniglio.

“At stoppages, we’re going to be close by anyway, so that’s going to be really important,” Smith said.

“They’ve got some good players in the midfield . . . we have as well. 

“We’ve got one, in particular (Dustin Martin), that’s probably playing as well as anyone, who they’ll need to stop as well. 

“If we can get our midfielders to compete with these blokes, it’s just about who can get the more ball on the outside.  I think on the inside, we’ll compete really well.”