Senior assistant coach Stewart Dew is expecting big man Kurt Tippett to play a key role in the ruck against Fremantle at Domain Stadium on Saturday night.

Tippett has shared the ruck duties with Mike Pyke over the first three rounds of the season and will this weekend come up against the tallest man in the AFL when he faces off against Aaron Sandilands.

Dew said he could not be more pleased with the way the 27-year-old has started his third season with the Swans.

“We have played him in the ruck for fifty per cent of the time so he is not going to be kicking four or five goals like he has in the past,” Dew said.

“We would like him to do both but it is a bit hard when you are playing a lot of time in the ruck as well.”

“He has given us some really good ascendency in the ruck and to be fair he wasn’t able to do a lot of rucking last year because he had some trouble with his knee.”

“He is in good shape and we are looking to use him more in the ruck because he is a fantastic ruckman so obviously we are going to need it when we come up against a couple of giants in Fremantle.”

The midfield battle with the Dockers looks set to be a mouth watering affair with the likes of Fyfe, Mundy, Barlow and Neale coming up against Kennedy, Jack, Hannebery, McVeigh and Parker.

Dew said he was hopeful that his side would bring the right mentality to the contest from the very first bounce.

“We know that when we are tackling well that the side is generally in the right head space so we focus on that going into games,” Dew said.

“We are looking forward to the challenge and they are hard to match up on as they have ball winners all over the ground.”

“We certainly have a few headaches this week but hopefully we create some of our own.”