Sydney Swans’ ruckman Shane Mumford has been selected to play in this weekend’s clash with the Bulldogs at the SCG on Sunday.
Mumford will return to the side for the first time since round three, following a back injury that kept the Swans big man on the sideline for six weeks.
Swans’ coach John Longmire said Mumford has met all of the club’s training expectations ahead of this week’s match.
“He trained well and the expectation at the moment is that he will play,” Longmire told sydneyswans.com.au.
“He’s naturally fit and is a huge competitor and we know he’ll give it his best crack on the weekend.
“Obviously he’s missed a bit of footy, but he’s the type of bloke who will be able to screw himself up and give us the type of contest that we want."
Swans’ defender Tony Armstrong has also been named to play his second game for the season, after making his Swans debut in round four.
Longmire said Armstrong has been a solid performer for reserves over the last month, and will add some much-needed run out of half back for the Swans.
“(Armstrong) has done everything right so far. He went back to the reserves after he played a few weeks ago and has been playing good consistent footy for us,” he said.
“He comes into the team and hopefully he’s gives us a bit of run and bounce off half-back and also through the wing.
“He is able to use the ball really well and we really like his voice…so we hope that’s what he brings on the weekend.”
Swans' forward Tommy Walsh and defender Nick Malceski have been left out of this week’s side, but Longmire said he was confident both players will make their way back to the seniors in the weeks to come.
“Tommy Walsh has had a taste of senior footy now for a couple of weeks,” he said.
“He did well the first week and was obviously a bit quiet last week, but to be fair on him the ball didn’t get up there too much.
“He’s had a taste of it now and he knows what it’s about, so I’m sure he’ll go back to the reserves and play well again and throw his hat into the ring for the next time we look at the senior team."
Longmire said Malceski will also have the chance to regain his best form in the reserves this week.
“Mal has just had a couple of quiet weeks now so we think if we put him back to the reserves that he’ll get his form and confidence back pretty quickly,” he said.
“We know at his best he’s a really important player for us and we think that this is the best way to do it at this point in time so he can give us that real lift by getting his form back in our reserves.
“We expect him to be back in the team pretty quickly because he’s a quality player at his best.”
The final team for Sunday’s match against the Western Bulldogs can be found below:
Sydney Swans v. Western Bulldogs
SCG
Sunday, June 3, 2012
B A.Johnson, T.Richards, R.Shaw
HB J.McVeigh, H.Grundy, M.Mattner
C L.Jetta, J.Kennedy, N.Smith
HF K.Jack, R.O'Keefe, D.Hannebery
F S.Reid, L.Roberts-Thomson, C.Bird
Foll M.Pyke, J.Bolton, B.McGlynn
I/C T.Armstrong, T.Dennis-Lane, S.Mumford, L.Parker
Emg N.Malceski, T.Walsh, J.White
In: T.Armstrong , S.Mumford
Out: N.Malceski, T.Walsh
Milestone: H.Grundy - 100 games , Lew.Jetta - 50 games
