Armstrong wore the green vest in the Swans’ round one victory over GWS, before missing out on selection in round two against Gold Coast.
Following a strong performance for the Swans reserves last week, coach John Longmire said the defender deserved his chance against the Kangaroos at Hobart’s Blundstone Arena this weekend.
“Tony’s had a pretty good pre-season for us and he was a little bit unlucky going out of the team,” Longmire told SwansTV.
“He was good again in our reserves and had a good hit out against the Gold Coast reserves and he deserves his opportunity and hopefully he takes it with both hands this week.”
The Swans defence has suffered a few early setbacks this year, with Alex Johnson suffering a year-ending knee injury in the NAB Cup and Shaw now also missing through injury.
Despite being two senior defenders down, Longmire said he and the playing group had belief in their defensive depth.
“We’re confident with our players to come into the team and play any given role,” he said.
“Tony has got some experience at AFL level and has played some senior footy in that position, plus we’ve also got Dane Rampe, for instance, who is another player who could get his opportunity at some point as well.
“We think we’ve got a few players who could come into that part of the ground and do a good job for us.”
Looking ahead to Saturday afternoon’s contest, Longmire said the Swans are prepared for a determined North Melbourne side, who will be hungry to secure a win after two narrow losses against Collingwood and Geelong.
The coach said he expected the Roos would hit the ground running at Blundstone Arena this weekend.
“They can play a really aggressive style of footy and a really efficient style of footy,” he said.
“They were able to score heavily particularly, in the first half last week inside their forward 50, and they use the ball extremely well.
“They are really well balanced and have got a good blend of youth and experience and when they start to play the sort of footy they want to play they are very damaging.”
Longmire said the Swans would also need to focus their attention on North Melbourne’s small forward Lindsay Thomas, who is leading the Coleman Medal race after two rounds.
“We’ll have to wait and see who is likely to shut him down, but we’ve got a number of small players who can play those particular roles in our defence,” Longmire said.
“We’ve got Marty Mattner and Nick Smith and those types who can play down there, but he is a real handful and is a very good player.
“He’s a pressure player who can also hit the scoreboard pretty heavily as we’ve seen, and is a very talented player, and we’ll certainly have to be aware of what his strengths are.”
North Melbourne v Sydney Swans
Saturday April 13, 2013
1.45pm
Blundstone Arena, Hobart
B M.Mattner, H.Grundy, N.Smith
HB J.McVeigh, T.Richards, N.Malceski
C A.Everitt, K.Jack, L.Jetta
HF R.O'Keefe, S.Reid, B.McGlynn
F M.Pyke, A.Goodes, D.Hannebery
Foll S.Mumford, J.Kennedy, J.Bolton
I/C T.Armstrong, C.Bird, L.Parker, L.Roberts-Thomson
Emg M.Morton, D.Rampe, J.White
In: T.Armstrong
Out: R.Shaw (abdominal strain)
