Swans coach John Longmire told sydneyswans.com.au that he expects both players to have a significant impact on the Swans’ performance.

“Last week we saw a number of players across the competition that have missed different pieces of their pre-season come back and have an impact (on the game), and we think Ryan is in the same boat and he is confident that he will be able to get through the game and contribute to us,” Longmire said.

“We know he is an absolute professional in regards to keeping himself in good condition and he’s a quality, hardened senior player.

“We’re also really pleased to get (Shaw) back in the team. He is such an important player for us in the back 50 and can go in the midfield as well and give us some more run and bite in that part of the ground.

“His voice and leadership skills are sensational, so we’re looking forward to getting him back in the team and him playing a big role for us.”

Tough midfielder Luke Parker has also been selected to play, despite suffering a hairline fracture to his jaw in the Swans’ round one clash with GWS a fortnight ago.

Harry Cunningham and Andrejs Everitt were the unlucky players to make way for Shaw and O’Keefe from the winning round one side.

Longmire said he was impressed by the young duo, and said they were only omitted to make way for their more seasoned senior team mates.

“The reasons were essentially that we’ve got Ryan O’Keefe and Rhyce Shaw coming back in the line-up,” he said.

“That’s the position we want to be in at this time of the year, that we want there to be some pressure on for spots.

“We’ve been pleased with Harry with how he’s gone over the pre-season, he’s a mile ahead of where he thought he’d be and he’s got some good senior experience under his belt.

“Andrejs Everitt we know can play a role for us if we need him in the seniors, he’s had a few shots at goal over the last couple of weeks and probably hasn’t put the score on the board just yet, but has had those opportunities."

Despite the Swans’ ruck combination being a talking point this week, Longmire said the club has opted to leave the ruck line-up unchanged this weekend.

“We had a lot of discussion about that and I think in the end we thought Mumford’s able to play a long time in the ruck, and that’s generally the position he plays best, and hopefully he plays on Sandilands for a fair bit of the game,” he said.

He said Lewis Roberts-Thomson’s ability to play up forward as well as cover ruck duties played a role in the ruck decision.

“We need that other forward option in Lewis Roberts-Thomson, and he certainly can provide that. He kicked a few goals last year against Fremantle and he’s kicked a couple during the pre-season as a forward, so he gives us that opportunity to do that.

“Whether we need him in the ruck, he can go in there and compete really well.

“The challenge is no matter who you play against Sandilands, it can be difficult to get the ruck hit outs anyway and you need to make sure that you’ve got some options that can cover that.”

Longmire said the team’s main focuses for Saturday’s clash will be to match the Dockers contested ball count and to limit their scoring opportunities.

“It’s about our 22 against their 22 and we’ve got to make sure that we’re strong in the contests as we want to be at the SCG, and strong in the 50/50 situation,” he said.

“Last week they were plus-18 in their contested ball, so Fremantle really proved themselves against last year’s premiers and we need to make sure that we at least match that in that area.

“We can’t allow them to score. They scored reasonably easily last week when they were able to get the ball inside their forward 50, so we need to make sure we restrict the opportunities that they get.”

General Admission tickets are sold out for this weekend’s match. Great reserved seats are still available. The Sydney Swans advise pre-purchasing tickets to avoid disappointment. To buy online or using your internet enabled Smart Phone - click here. 

Sydney Swans members are encouraged to arrive early to secure their seats in the General Admission or Red Zone area. Members are also reminded that all access gates during redevelopment are along Driver Avenue.

The team selected to face Fremantle can be found below:

Sydney Swans v Fremantle
SCG
Saturday April 7, 2012

B: M.Mattner, H.Grundy, N.Smith
HB: A.Johnson, T.Richards, N.Malceski
C: D.Hannebery, K.Jack, R.Shaw
HF: J.McVeigh, S.Reid, A.Goodes
F: C.Bird, L.Roberts-Thomson, B.McGlynn
Foll: S.Mumford, J.Bolton, J.Kennedy
I/C: L.Jetta, R.O'Keefe, L.Parker, G.Rohan    
Emg: A.Everitt, M.Seaby, J.White

 

In: R.Shaw , R.O'Keefe
Out: A.Everitt, H.Cunningham

Milestone: L.Roberts-Thomson - 150 games