Tippett has nominated the Swans as his preferred destination in the Gillette AFL Trade period, after he walked out on former club Adelaide.
Swans CEO Andrew Ireland told AFL.com.au's Gillette Trade Radio, the Tippett deal was starting to head in the right direction after a meeting between Swans recruitment manager Kinnear Beatson and Crows counterpart David Noble.
"The view was that it was a positive meeting," Ireland said.
"And we might well now be on the road to completing something.
"We've still got a bit of work to do, but they thought it was a positive meeting."
Despite reports to the contrary, Ireland also categorically denied father-son pick Tom Mitchell may be used in the trade with the Crows to land Tippett.
"Tom's name has never been raised by us and will never be raised by us," Ireland said.
"He's a father-son who we think will be important in our midfield in the future and he would never be part of the trade."
There has been increasing speculation that one of the Swans' 2012 premiership players might be on the trade table, but Ireland moved some way to rejecting that theory.
"I can't guarantee it. [But] I don't think it'll happen and we're hopeful it won't happen," he said.
Ireland also confirmed the club was "unlikely" to be a participant in any other potential trades, if the Tippett deal went through.
Veteran midfielder Jude Bolton's future has been another point of contention.
But Ireland said the club would leave it in Bolton's hands and trust him to make the decision on calling time on his illustrious career.
"What we've said is there is a spot on our list. He's also got some other opportunities put forward to him," Ireland said.
"On one hand his instinct is he'd love to play, but on the other hand he's thinking, 'I've reached 300, I've played in a Grand Final."
"What we've said to him is, 'You're so highly regarded here, take the next couple of weeks to decide what you want to do'… but he's got to think of those of those other opportunities from a life sense as well."
Ben Guthrie is a reporter for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter- @AFL_BenGuthrie
