The key tall, who was subbed out of last week’s clash with the Western Bulldogs as a precautionary measure, believes he is now fit and ready to play out four quarter of football when the Swans host Richmond at ANZ Stadium this Saturday afternoon.
Speaking alongside Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh to announce the club’s three-year renewal with Major Partner Volkswagen, Tippett told reporters he was looking forward to Saturday’s clash with the Tigers and said he felt his fitness was building at the right time of the year.
“I’m pretty close to being fully match fit,” Tippett said.
“It’s been a tough year and has been a little bit inconsistent for my liking.
“But I’ve been training and playing consistently for the last six weeks, so I’m pretty close (to full fitness).
“The body feels great and I’ve been able to do a lot of training over the last few weeks, so I’m definitely building towards finals.”
In addition to booting four goals in the Swans’ 63-point win over the Bulldogs last week, Tippett was also given license to move outside the forward 50 and took on ruck duties on a number of occasions throughout the match.
Tippett, who played both as a forward and in the ruck in his time at Adelaide, said he enjoyed the chance to broaden his on-field repertoire and add more versatility to his game.
“(The ruck) is certainly a role I’ve been looking to develop in my game,” he said.
“To date I’ve just been playing up forward and that’s been going pretty well but I’m always looking to add that versatility to my game.
“I really just love playing, and I’ll play wherever.
“I loved running around in the ruck on the weekend and getting my opportunity in the middle, so hopefully I can be great for the team in both roles.”
While the Swans’ ticket to September action has already been guaranteed, the Tigers’ finals hopes rest on the outcome of Saturday’s clash, making the round 23 fixture a do-or-die encounter for the Richmond side.
Co-captain Jarrad McVeigh said the Swans still had plenty to play for this week despite already securing a double chance.
“We approach (the Richmond game) the same as every week,” McVeigh said.
“We want to play hard contested footy, and it’s going to be a great test for us.
“It’s panned out that (Richmond) have to win for a finals game, so that will really test us and we look forward to that leading into a finals game.
“We think we play a finals brand of footy every week and our boys are ready for this game and we need a strong lead up into the finals, so there will be no question that we’ll be ready.”
With so much at stake for the Tigers this weekend, McVeigh said he expected the match would be played in finals-like conditions, which would benefit his side leading into next week’s finals series.
“We continue to improve every week, and that’s what we’ve tried to set ourselves for,” he said.
“There is no better task than coming up against a team who need to win to get in the finals, so that will be a really good tune-up.
“There’s a lot to play for and there’s a lot to play for, for us as well.
“We’re committed to playing a ruthless brand of footy and we’ll continue to do that.
“Richmond is one step in the next few weeks that we want to get over and we’re looking forward to that.”
Jarrad McVeigh and Kurt Tippett at this afternoon's Volkswagen partnership announcement
