Ruckman Kurt Tippett joins Isaac Heeney and Gary Rohan in the returning brigade with the latter two set for their first AFL games of the season.

They will be joined by hard-working defender Lewis Melican, a sixth debutant of the season already as John Longmire's side desperately attempts to kick-start its campaign against their fiercest rivals.

But McVeigh is out after being slated as a potential starter earlier this week by Longmire. He trained on Thursday determined to prove he had overcome a pre-season calf tear, but didn't make it through the session.

"He trained today, got through about half of training and was a little bit tight in his hamstring," Longmire said.

"We think he is OK, he hasn't done anything, but we have decided not to play him this week to take a conservative approach.

"Hopefully he pulls up OK and he will be fine to train next week."

Tippett missed last week's loss to West Coast with the ankle injury suffered against Collingwood a week earlier. Heeney missed the first month of the season with glandular fever, while Rohan battled several injuries during the off-season, including a back problem.

"They have had a couple of weeks of really strong training now, including a really strong hit-out on the weekend, and they pulled up well," Longmire said.

"They have just been getting better every session so they have done enough work now to warrant selection. We think that both of those players have the ability to be able to have an impact this week."

Youngster Robbie Fox has been forced out with a knee injury, while Aliir Aliir, Oliver Florent and Nic Newman have all been omitted.

Melican joins Florent, Fox, Newman, Will Hayward and Jordan Dawson as debutants for the club this year.

Sydney are aiming to become the first team in the top-eight era to qualify for the finals after losing their opening four games of the season, and Melican faces a stiff introduction to AFL football against a red-hot Giants chasing a fourth straight win.

Yet GWS haven't won at the SCG in four attempts, and the return of Tippett, Heeney and Rohan will provide a significant boost to the club's scoring power, which has been lacking all season.

The Swans will need to kick plenty of goals to counteract the Giants' high-powered attack, which includes tall trio Jeremy Cameron, Jonathon Patton and Rory Lobb, alongside the returning Steve Johnson and in-form pair Toby Greene and Devon Smith.

"They've been really good; they're an impressive side as we already know, everyone knows," Swans defender Callum Mills said.

"They're definitely a good forward line, but I think you can't look past us or Adelaide. It depends who's on their game on the day."

Mills said the returning players had provided a significant morale boost for the struggling Swans.

"It's just really good to have them training," Mills said. "It's not good to have anyone in rehab, it's healthy for our list for everyone to be back training.

"It's good for people to try keep their spots and it's good for the competitiveness around the group.

"There's no point dwelling on what's happened behind us, all we can do is move forward and we're looking forward to this week.

"You obviously have to change things when you lose a couple of games. Our main focus and our main core of the way we play stays the same and it's just doing it consistently over four quarters.

"We'll just get back to what we do best usually, and hopefully that will look after itself."