The Giants can put themselves within a win of securing their first AFL Central West finals appearance if they can take down a Panthers team showing plenty of fighting spirit late into the season.

The men in orange get a boost thanks to a handful of players returning for the trip to Parkes.

Giants coach Mark Kennedy said it was great to be pushed to the limit by the Panthers in the previous meeting, and believes a similar quality game will be a benefit to his team’s benefit.

“It would be good if we could get these guys consistently on the paddock, and across the competition. It was the same when we want across to Dubbo. They were a good, hard, competitive side,” he said.

“We’ll head over there on the weekend giving it our best shot. We’d hate to lose a couple of the road because that would jeopardise our position in the top four.

“Our game plan’s been working well for us and we’ll have a couple of players back which will bolster our side a bit.”

Panthers rallied in the final quarter of the last match against the Giants but the Bathurst men stood strong to leave with a 13 point win.

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Giants went down to the Dubbo Demons last round but are determined to not let that hurt their momentum during a tough run of away games to end the regular season.

“Our team is one full of tough, hard footballers. You get knocked down three times, you get up five, so we’re happy to take on any other team that’s put on the paddock,” Kennedy said.

“We’ve got Dave Manning, Frank Bright, Jules Larsen and Nathan Belbin all back. There’s four handy senior players coming into the team so hopefully we can come away with the lollies.”

Victory will all but assure the third-placed Giants of finals, barring a disastrous collapse.

They hold a three game buffer over both Bathurst Bushrangers Outlaws and Demons going into this weekend.