GWS coach Adam Kingsley is confident the club will retain free agent Harrison Himmelberg beyond 2023, admitting the versatile forward's signature is "an enormous priority".

Himmelberg is one of just seven restricted free agents in 2023 and is in no rush to finalise his future as he looks to place a priority on his on-field impact in the orange and charcoal.

While cross-town rivals Sydney have been flagged as an interested suitor for the Wagga Wagga product, the Giants will have Himmelberg as a top retention target this year after locking away gun onballer Tom Green and second-year midfielder Finn Callaghan to new deals in recent months.

As the season drags on, so will discussions surrounding Himmelberg's decision, however Kingsley remains "fully confident" the GWS forward will be with the Giants from 2024.

"It's an enormous priority for us," Kingsley said. "He's clearly a really important player for us and will be for a long period of time.

"I'm not aware of the update with that. I presume we're still in discussions with him. But I'm fully confident that Harry will be a Giant from next year and beyond.

"We're just concentrating on playing good football at the moment, trying to win games and build our season."

Able to play in attack, through defence and even as an option further up the field, Himmelberg's versatility is a major attraction, allowing Kingsley to shuffle his spine when needed.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 12: Harry Himmelberg of the Giants in action during the 2022 AFL Round 13 match between the North Melbourne Kangaroos and the GWS Giants at Marvel Stadium on June 12, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Himmelberg's flexibility was on show in Sunday's thrilling win over Hawthorn, with the 195cm Giant flying for a contested mark and converting the match-winning goal late into the game before preventing a Hawks major on the goalline just moments later.

While Himmelberg's inaccuracies in front of goal throughout the match may have initially hindered his side's chances for the win, Kingsley said his star forward was able to right his wrongs with his last-minute heroics.

"A super impressive effort. To be able to win the game and save the game within a matter of a minute and a half. Not too many players could ever say that," the Giants coach said.ย 

"Obviously he's a really important piece for us. He's been contributing without really kicking the big bags of goals.

"He had a lot of shots on the weekend. He probably didn't finish his work, but he finished the most important one when it mattered and then was able to sort of understand the structure and be able to just execute it straight up.

"His versatility is really important. He can go back, he can play wing, he can play forward for us. We've been playing him forward but we've got that piece that we can shuffle if we need to."

The Gather Round win over Hawthorn gave Giants fans their first glimpse of an exciting attacking tandem for the future, with No.1 draft pick Aaron Cadman making his debut and pairing comfortably with Himmelberg and Jesse Hogan.

The weekend's performance only adds to the internal competitiveness Kingsley had hoped would spark among his attacking pack, with fringe forward Jake Riccardi knocking on the door for a return.

"I thought they were really strong on the weekend," Kingsley said of the cohesion among his Round 5 forwards.

"Really competitive in all the aerial contests and managed to kick some goals between (them). (Their) inaccuracy obviously needs a bit of work, but that worked well as a trio.

"Jake Riccardi is the other guy in that sort of foursome if you want to call who I think has had some reasonable fall throughout the year. Probably wasn't quite at his best last week, so we've made the change.

"But I think as a foursome they're going to be really strong for us long term and that competitiveness really drives the standards and their improvements. That's probably the exciting factor that goes unnoticed, is (that) together they'll drive one another to become better and that's going to help us not only in the short term, but certainly long term as well."

The Giants will host their first game at Manuka Oval for the season on Saturday afternoon, playing Brisbane as they look to claim their third win of the year.