Swans ruckman Shane Mumford has revealed he spent his enforced break from the game working on his tackling technique to try to avoid further sanctions.

Mumford will return to the side this Saturday after serving a two-week suspension from the Match Review Panel following a sling-tackle on Carlton’s David Ellard in round 13.

Mumford now says he has learned that he can’t bring players to the ground when he tackles them.

“I think it’s reasonably clear now that if you take someone to ground in a tackle you are risking suspension,” Mumford said before the Swans’ final training session ahead of Saturday night’s trip to the Gold Coast.

“I’ve been working on it for the last couple of weeks now to basically just try and pin blokes’ arms so they can’t get rid of the ball, while still standing up.’’

He says his new technique may not be as effective in stopping opposition players from getting rid of the ball, but it’s better to risk the opposition clearing the ball from an up-right tackle than further suspension from bringing a player to ground.  

“You’re going to risk them getting the ball out a few times, but I’d rather them get the clear ball than miss another couple of weeks due to suspension.”

Swans coach John Longmire said he had spoken to Mumford about improving his tackling technique, but still wanted him to be aggressive at the contest.

“We want him to lay effective tackles, but he knows the game is telling him that he needs to change his style,” Longmire said.

“One of the reasons we recruited Shane is because he is such a competitor. He’s super at the contested ball, and he is another midfielder for us.

“That’s the way he has been able to play really effective footy, by being able to tackle.”

Mumford is itching to get back on to the park after missing five of the last six games due to injury and suspension, and says he is primed for a strong finish to the season, starting this weekend against the Suns.

“Sitting on the sidelines and watching has been pretty tough, so I’ve got myself built up for a big game this week,” he said.

“We’ve definitely got to get back on the winner’s list coming off three losses. Ideally, to be setting ourselves up for the finals, we’ve got to come in really hard and have a crack this week.”

Mumford said he had been impressed by the ruck and clearance work of the young Gold Coast team in their first AFL season, and was anticipating a tough outing against Suns ruckman Zac Smith.

“They’re (ranked) number two in the clearances, which comes from Zac Smith,” Mumford said.

“He’s a really big, fairly strong athletic guy. For a young bloke he’s really impressive, so it’s going to be a big test for me this week.”