Tippett (knee), Hannebery (ankle) and Shaw (ankle) have all made progress over the bye week with their respective injuries, but will be assessed individually after the club’s final training session.
Speaking to media on Monday afternoon, coach John Longmire said while all three players were a chance to play against the Hawks, Hannebery was the most doubtful to make the field.
“We’re going to give them until Thursday,” Longmire told reporters.
“We’re going to give them every chance, all three of them, but at this stage Dan Hannebery is probably the least likely out of the three.
“But we’ll give them a chance and will make the decision on Thursday.
“Our medical staff and the coaches will sit down on Thursday and will give them until lunch time Thursday after our training session and will work it out afterwards.”
Longmire said Tippett, who was a late withdrawal from the Swans’ round 16 clash with the West Coast Eagle with knee inflammation, would be an important inclusion for the Swans should he pull up well this week.
“We’d certainly like him back sooner rather than later because we want him in the team to help us win right now,” he said.
“He hasn’t played much and he’s missed a couple of weeks now.
“If he’s ready to go this week and the medical staff thinks he’s ready to go, he’ll play.”
While the coach acknowledged how important the 27-year-old was to the side, he said the club was also confident they could cover Tippett’s absence this week should he not prove his fitness in time for the match.
“We just want to win this week and put in a really competitive performance, but that discussion will happen on Thursday afternoon and we’re hoping that he’s available to play,” Longmire said.
“If he’s not, we’ll make sure someone else does the job for us.”
Saturday night’s match will be one of the Swans’ toughest encounters for the season, with the side set to take on an in-form Hawthorn side that is likely to regain some important players, including premiership defender Josh Gibson.
Longmire said the Hawks were very much the team to beat this season, but acknowledged that every opposition posed a strong challenge at this time of the year.
“They are still very much a benchmark team,” he said.
“When you play Hawthorn you have no doubt that you’re going to get tested and we’ll get tested this week.
“But every opposition every week presents a new challenge.
“We saw some results over the weekend that suggested that as well, so it doesn’t matter who you play or where you play, there is a challenge that presents itself every week.”
The coach highlighted the Hawks’ scoring ability and kicking prowess as major strengths, and suggested that team-defence would be key to the Swans’ success this Saturday night.
“When a team is able to score so well and so effectively from scoring chains generated in their defensive 50 like Hawthorn are, it’s not just about your back six,” he said.
“Often your first line of defence is your forward line and your front six, so we need to make sure that our team defence is up to scratch.
“We need to make sure we do it with method but also with intensity to put pressure on the opposition.
“We know that if we give Hawthorn too much time and space that they are such good kicks and are so smart that they’ll be able to get the ball to the other end of the ground pretty quickly and they are so damaging with ball in hand.”
