Sydney ruckman Shane Mumford will aim to run Aaron Sandilands ragged in an effort to curb the Fremantle giant’s influence in Saturday’s AFL preliminary final.

Happy to throw his 104kg frame around and unyielding no matter what the situation, Mumford generally cuts an imposing figure and rarely has his colours lowered in a test of strength on the field.

But come opening bounce in Perth, where he will square off against the tallest and heaviest man in the AFL, the 27-year-old admits he’ll have to dig deeper into his bag of tricks.

“In the ruck, by far he (Sandilands) is the toughest to beat (in the league),” Mumford said.

“He can almost stand there in the middle and not even jump, and still beat you sometimes.

“I think he’s got me by about 12cms and 15kgs, so moving him is a pretty tough thing to do.”

Sandilands and Zac Clarke earned plenty of praise for crushing Geelong’s ruckmen in week one of the finals, but Mumford said his partnership with Mike Pyke was “one of the toughest in the league”.

They plan to make Sandilands run as hard and as much as possible.

“I’ll definitely be trying to work him around the ground and make him chase me a fair bit,” Mumford said.

“I think I’ve probably got a little bit better tank than he does. So hopefully between me and Pykey, we can run him into the ground and wear him out by halftime.”

The fact Mumford will look to exploit gut running, seven days after exerting himself more than usual when the Swans were a man down against Carlton, is a timely reminder of his development.

This is the same man who weighed almost 130kgs in his boilermaking days at Bunyip, where he enjoyed a drink and famously put away 20-plus sausages at a party.

The former Geelong ruckman was not overly reflective on the eve of his 100th match, as you’d expect given the reigning premiers are one win away from another grand final.

“It’s probably not really a big milestone, but it’s nice to tick it off and hopefully I can notch up a few more,” Mumford said.

Just where those games will be is the subject of much conjecture, with Mumford yet to sign a new deal for the 2014 season.

“It’s not in my mind at all. That will all be sorted out at the end of the season,” he said of contract discussions.

The Swans had a predictably light session on Tuesday at the SCG, with Ben McGlynn running well to rubber stamp his return from a calf strain.