The Sydney Swans have made three changes for Saturday afternoon’s round 13 match against Port Adelaide, with Kurt Tippett set to make his debut for the club while Tony Armstrong and Jed Lamb are also named in the side.
Making way for the incoming trio are Shane Mumford, who will miss this weekend’s match with a facial injury suffered in the Swans’ round 11 clash with Adelaide, as well as Andrejs Everitt (achilles soreness) and Brandon Jack (omitted).
After 12 weeks on the sidelines serving an AFL imposed ban, Swans coach John Longmire said the team was looking forward to having Tippett on the field this weekend.
“It’s good to get him into the team for the first time because he’s just been training and obviously not being able to go out and compete on the weekend, which is what he ultimately wants to do,” Longmire told SwansTV.
“He comes into the team this week and we’re just expecting him to play a role for us up forward and we don’t expect for him to set the world on fire and come out and absolutely dominate a game.
“It’s just like what we expect every player to do and that’s play a role for the Swans and to make sure that he helps us be really competitive against a really strong Port Adelaide team.
“He’s really looking forward to it and is just looking forward to getting out on the ground and doing what he does, which is playing footy.”
Jed Lamb will play his fourth senior game for the season this Saturday, while defender Tony Armstrong will play his first senior game since round seven.
Longmire said he expected both Lamb and Armstrong to come in and play a strong role for the Swans against Port Adelaide.
“Obviously Tony can play in defence for us and also midfield and Jed can play forward and midfield, so those players will get a look at those particular areas of the ground depending on what happens through the course of the game,” the coach said.
“We’ve seen Jed get a small taste of senior footy and he’s been playing really well in our reserves and Tony we know got some games at the start of the year and can play senior footy as well, so we’re looking forward to those blokes coming in and contributing for us.”
Following an impressive win over GWS last round and a strong start to the season, Longmire said he was expecting a tough battle against the Power this weekend.
“No doubt we’ve looked at what they do when they’re at their best and they were at their best last week against GWS,” he said.
“They play a really strong running game and they use the ball really well and they’re good at scoring.
“They’re also good at tackling. So they’ve got a really good well-rounded game and they’ve got some terrific kids in their team.
“At their best they are a really competitive team and any team that can win the first five games in a row has got some real talent so we need to make sure we bring our best game.”
Sydney Swans v. Port Adelaide
AAMI Stadium
Saturday, June 22, 2013
1.10pm (CST)
B T.Armstrong, T.Richards, D.Rampe
HB N.Smith, H.Grundy, N.Malceski
C D.Hannebery, J.Kennedy, J.McVeigh
HF L.Parker, K.Tippett, C.Bird
F J.Bolton, A.Goodes, B.McGlynn
Foll M.Pyke, R.O’Keefe, K.Jack
I/C J.Lamb, T.Mitchell, M.Morton, J.White
Emg B.Jack, T.Membrey, X.Richards
In: K. Tippett, T.Armstron, J.Lamb
Out: S.Mumford (cheekbone), A.Everitt (Achilles), B. Jack (omitted)
