Shane Mumford returned to the Swans line-up against the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday night and said he surprised himself with how well he was able to run out the game.

Mumford had missed five of the Swans’ previous six games due to injury and suspension, and marked his return with 15 possessions, 33 hit-outs, seven marks and five tackles as the lead ruckman.

“I actually got through the game probably better than I expected to,” Mumford told sydneyswans.com.au after Saturday night’s game.

“After my second game in seven weeks I thought my fitness might not have been there, but I seemed to run the game out fine.”

After two weeks on the sidelines following a sling-tackle on Carlton’s David Ellard, Mumford said he hoped the new tackling technique he displayed against the Suns would allow him to steer clear of the Match Review Panel in future.

“There were a couple of times where I was sort of halfway through a tackle and I actually let the bloke go,” Mumford said. “The umpire even said to me ‘you did well to release him there’.”

“It was something that I definitely had to work on and I hope I’ve fixed it now, and hopefully there will be no more repeats of the suspension.”

Mumford had an enthralling battle with the Suns 206 centimetre ruckman Zac Smith, who he described as a ‘superstar of the future’, and said he was pleased the team was able to get a win after a run of three straight losses leading into the game.

“We had to get back on the winner’s list and start building ourselves back up towards finals at the end of the year,” he said.

Swans coach John Longmire said it was important that Mumford and midfielder Kieren Jack - who also returned to the team after missing a week with an ankle injury - put together a consistent stretch of football heading towards the backend of the season.

“If you look at Shane Mumford at his best, he’s a really critical player for us,” Longmire said.

“Mummy and Kieren hadn’t played a lot of footy over the previous two months and I thought they both came in and did well.

“Hopefully they can continue to build on their form and we’re confident that the longer the season goes and the more footy they play, the better they’ll be.”

Mumford will play a vital role in this Sunday’s crunch game against Fremantle, with his battle against Dockers’ ruckman Jonathon Griffin one of many key duels around the ground.

“We’ve got to come out fired up against Freo (this week). They’re a great side, so if we don’t come with that intensity, we’ll get ourselves hurt,” Mumford said.

For full match information on this Sunday’s game against Fremantle, please click here.