The Sydney Swans have made three changes for Saturday night’s round eight match against Fremantle, with Shane Mumford, Mitch Morton and Tommy Walsh all returning.

Making way for the incoming trio are Jed Lamb, who will return to the reserves after playing two weeks as the Swans substitute, as well as Jesse White and Tony Armstrong  who are both omitted.

Mumford comes back to the side after being a late withdrawal from last week’s loss to Hawthorn with groin soreness, while Morton and Walsh will both be looking for their first senior start for the season.

Despite being labelled as a ’50-50’ proposition this week, Swans coach John Longmire said Mumford has made a rapid improvement and should be fit to return against the Dockers.

“There was a bit of a question mark on him earlier in the week on Monday and Tuesday, but he ran on Tuesday and ran really well, and then trained today and did all he needed to do and pulled up really well,” Longmire told SwansTV.

“If he obviously pulls up fine on Friday, then he plays.”

Longmire said he hoped Morton and Walsh would make an impact in their re-calls to the senior side.

“Mitch has obviously played quite a bit of senior footy and is a capable senior player and hopefully he is able to play in our forward half and put some pressure on up there and hit the scoreboard,” he said.

“Tommy Walsh has had a couple of goes at senior level but he’s certainly been playing really well in our reserves, so he deserves his chance.”

The coach added that Walsh, who has spent time at both ends of the field for the Swans reserves this season, could be utilised in defence this week.

“It depends on what Fremantle’s forward structure looks like,” Longmire said.

“They’ve been playing a bit differently and have had a few injuries in their forward half and have been playing with some different types up forward.

“(Tommy) gives us some flexibility to be able to do what we want to do in a few different positions.”

Looking ahead to Saturday night, Longmire said the Swans would need to withstand Fremantle’s impressive defensive pressure.

“They are really quick and they run really hard,” he said.

“They play two-way, strong footy and if you give them the opportunity they put some pressure on around the ball and are fantastic in close defensively.

“They can put the heat on you and can make it difficult for you to score and are able to rebound and hit you the other way.”

After last weekend’s disappointing loss to Hawthorn, Longmire said he would be looking for an improved performance at the SCG on Saturday night.

“Obviously our defensive transitions, but also our offensive transitions, need to be a bit better,” he said.

“Those are parts of the game where we need to be better, and we need to be better at the centre bounces, so there are plenty of improvement areas out of last week, so we hope to get a few of those things right this week.”

Sydney Swans v. Fremantle
SCG
Saturday, May 18, 2013

B N.Malceski, T.Richards, N.Smith
HB M.Mattner, H.Grundy, D.Rampe
C L.Jetta, R.O'Keefe, D.Hannebery
HF J.McVeigh, S.Reid, J.Bolton
F T.Walsh, A.Goodes, B.McGlynn
Foll M.Pyke, J.Kennedy, K.Jack
I/C M.Morton, S.Mumford, C.Bird, L.Parker
Emg T.Armstrong, A.Everitt, J.White

In: M.Morton, S.Mumford, T.Walsh
Out: J.White, T.Armstrong, J.Lamb