Former West Coast Eagles player Matt Spangher will make his debut for the Swans this Saturday night against the Gold Coast Suns.

Spangher was picked up by the Swans in the fourth round of last year’s national draft (pick 73), as the coaching staff looked to bolster the defensive stocks.

But coach John Longmire said today that Spangher, 24, was likely to play his first game as a Swan in the forward line after impressing in the reserves.

“We’ve been playing Matty Spangher forward the last couple of weeks though we got him to the club as a defender,’’ Longmire said.

“We went into the draft and trading period with question marks on Craig Bolton and LRT, who’d had an operation. Our defensive stocks were quite thin last year, so we recruited Matt Spangher, as he was only young, athletic and competitive.’’

Spangher played 26 games with West  Coast after being recruited in the 2005 draft at pick 34.

He’s originally from Melbourne, and is another product of Xavier College - the same school that Dan Hannebery, Alex Johnson, Josh Kennedy and Ted Richards went to, meaning there will be five Xavier boys in the Swans team this Saturday night.

Longmire said he hoped Spangher would be able to give Sam Reid support in the forward line.

“One of the things he’s capable of doing is giving Sam Reid a bit of a hand at centre half forward. We’ve been conscious that we’ve got a 19 year old kid (Reid) playing centre half forward every week.’’

Longmire said Spangher could also go into defence at some stage, which would free Johnson to go forward, where he played much of his footy as a junior.

“Reidy will get a helping hand across half forward either way,’’ Longmire said.

“It is a big job he carries week in, week out.’’

Longmire also wants to add forward Trent Dennis-Lane to the senior side this week, but there is a question mark over his fitness. “Trent is in the mix as well, but he has had a sore foot and only did a bit of training on Tuesday so we’ll have to see how he goes.’’

Ruckman Shane Mumford will come back into the side after serving a two week suspension, and Longmire hopes Kieren Jack, Nick Smith and Nick Malceski will all make their comebacks from injury.

Longmire said Mark Seaby was likely to miss selection as the club opts for one ruckman this week.

“We want to give Mummy the best possible chance of getting back into touch, and that is to play him as much on ball as we can, rather than playing him forward.’’

The team to play Gold Coast Suns will be announced on www.sydneyswans.com.au at 5pm today.