David Swallow (born 19 November 1992) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Swallow won the

Gold Coast Suns Club Champion The Gold Coast Suns Club Champion is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Gold Coast Football Club throughout the Australian Football League (AFL) season. The voting system, as ...

award in 2014, becoming the second player to win the award after Gary Ablett Jr. won the award in the club's first three seasons, and served as Gold Coast co-captain from 2019 to 2021. He received a nomination for the 2011 AFL Rising Star award in round 14 of the 2011 season.

Early life

Swallow was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia to a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

mother and an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

father. His older brother,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, is a former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

and a dual

Syd Barker Medal The Syd Barker Medal is awarded to the North Melbourne Football Club player who has been judged the best and fairest of the footy season. The award has been given out continuously since 1937. Before then it was known as the Syd Barker Memorial Tr ...

list. He attended Shelley Primary School and Rossmoyne Senior High School, and played his junior football at Rossmoyne Junior Football Club. Swallow was named on the half-back line of the 2009 Under-18 All Australian team as a 16-year-old, and was awarded the

Larke Medal The AFL National Championships is an annual Australian national underage representative Australian rules football tournament. Since taking over as national governing body in 1995, the AFL has gradually restructured the competition into a primar ...

as the Under-18 competition's best player. In 2010, despite not yet being drafted by an AFL team, Swallow was permitted to play in 's

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) team prior to the club's inaugural season in 2011. This meant that if Gold Coast wanted to draft Swallow, the club had to select him with one of the first three picks in the 2010 AFL draft. However, it was widely assumed that Swallow would be taken with the first pick in the draft, which was confirmed on 19 November.

AFL career

Swallow was part of the inaugural Gold Coast Suns team which played against in round 2 of the

2011 AFL season The 2011 AFL season was the 115th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sev ...

. He was also part of the club's first victory against in round 5. After a 21-possession, two-goal performance against the in round 14, Swallow was nominated for the 2011 AFL Rising Star award. In 2014, Swallow won the

award, becoming the second player after Gary Ablett Jr. to win the award. In November 2018, Swallow signed a five-year contract extension with the Suns, tying him to the club until the end of 2024. In February 2019, Swallow was named as Gold Coast co-captain, alongside

Jarrod Witts Jarrod Witts (born 13 September 1992) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Collingwood Football Club from 2012 to 2016. Witt ...

. Swallow was suspended for one match for striking 's Justin Westhoff following Gold Coast's loss to the Power in round 1 of the 2020 season. In February 2022, Swallow stepped down from the Suns' co-captaincy, with Touk Miller named in his place. Having thus far played exclusively for Gold Coast during its unsuccessful first fifteen years in the competition, Swallow has as of the end of the 2024 season not played a finals match in his 240 match career – more matches than any retired or other active player who has played no career finals. Additionally, Swallow is the first and, as of 2024, only player to play premiership matches at 22 different VFL/AFL venues, owing largely to the number of low-crowd Gold Coast away matches which opposing teams schedule for their home-away-from-home country venues.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of 2024'' , - ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , , , 24 , 21 , , 11 , , 14 , , 208 , , 205 , , 413 , , 62 , , 84 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 9.9 , , 9.8 , , 19.7 , , 3.0 , , 4.0 , , 2 , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , , , 24 , 12 , , 8 , , 2 , , 130 , , 96 , , 226 , , 31 , , 43 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 10.8 , , 8.0 , , 18.8 , , 2.6 , , 3.6 , , 1 , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , , , 24 , 18 , , 3 , , 2 , , 195 , , 152 , , 347 , , 47 , , 61 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 10.8 , , 8.4 , , 19.3 , , 2.6 , , 3.4 , , 1 , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , , , 24 , 22 , , 15 , , 20 , , 287 , , 226 , , 513 , , 67 , , 118 , , 0.7 , , 0.9 , , 13.0 , , 10.2 , , 23.3 , , 3.0 , , 5.4 , , 5 , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , , , 24 , 6 , , 2 , , 2 , , 70 , , 46 , , 116 , , 16 , , 35 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 11.7 , , 7.7 , , 19.3 , , 2.7 , , 5.8 , , 0 , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , , , 24 , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , 0 , - ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , , , 24 , 18 , , 11 , , 8 , , 213 , , 177 , , 390 , , 49 , , 91 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 11.8 , , 9.8 , , 21.7 , , 2.7 , , 5.1 , , 0 , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , , 24 , 20 , , 11 , , 11 , , 243 , , 198 , , 441 , , 73 , , 91 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 12.2 , , 9.9 , , 22.1 , , 3.7 , , 4.6 , , 2 , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , , 24 , 22 , , 13 , , 7 , , 282 , , 227 , , 509 , , 87 , , 84 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 12.8 , , 10.3 , , 23.1 , , 4.0 , , 3.8 , , 7 , - ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , , , 24 , 15 , , 4 , , 10 , , 154 , , 116 , , 270 , , 54 , , 59 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 10.3 , , 7.7 , , 18.0 , , 3.6 , , 3.9 , , 2 , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , , , 24 , 21 , , 6 , , 7 , , 258 , , 202 , , 460 , , 106 , , 99 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 12.3 , , 9.6 , , 21.9 , , 5.0 , , 4.7 , , 0 , - ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , , , 24 , 22 , , 8 , , 7 , , 273 , , 170 , , 443 , , 95 , , 77 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 12.4 , , 7.7 , , 20.1 , , 4.3 , , 3.5 , , 5 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 24 , 23 , , 14 , , 11 , , 222 , , 160 , , 382 , , 78 , , 101 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 9.7 , , 7.0 , , 16.6 , , 3.4 , , 4.4 , , 0 , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 24 , 20 , , 9 , , 2 , , 107 , , 95 , , 202 , , 50 , , 34 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 5.4 , , 4.8 , , 10.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.7 , , , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 240 !! 109 !! 96 !! 2642 !! 2070 !! 4712 !! 815 !! 977 !! 0.5 !! 0.4 !! 11.0 !! 8.6 !! 19.6 !! 3.4 !! 4.1 !! 25 Notes

Honours and achievements

Individual * Gold Coast co-captain: 2019–2021 *

: 2014 * 22under22 team: 2014 *

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

nominee:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swallow, David 1992 births Living people East Fremantle Football Club players Australian people of Dutch descent Australian people of English descent Gold Coast Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Gold Coast Suns Club Champion winners