David Swallow and his older brother, Andrew, are a chance to resume hostilities in the midfield this Sunday after the North Melbourne skipper emerged unscathed in his return to football through the VFL. 

Andrew was sublime turning out for North Ballarat in his first game back since rupturing the Achilles tendon in his left leg in round 18 last season.

He collected plenty of the footy and starred with an all-round performance in his three quarters played, amassing 23 touches and registering more than 70 minutes of valuable match conditioning in North Ballarat’s match against Geelong’s reserves team at Simonds Stadium last weekend. 

It would be a massive boost for the Kangaroos should they regain the services of their captain, and Kangaroos development manager Ben Dyer believes Andrew is a real chance to reclaim his spot inside the centre square.

"'Spitter' ticked all the boxes we wanted to tick today," Dyer told AFL.com.au.

"He played the number of minutes we were looking to get into him, and he had a run around and had no problems, and he got enough of the ball.

"I think he'd be able to handle it (at AFL level next week), if that's the decision that's made.

"He'll obviously sit down with (coach) Brad (Scott), and the medical and conditioning staff. He's the kind of bloke who needs to know everything's been ticked off. I'd say there will be a fair bit of consulting this week before a decision is made.

"He got a fair bit under his belt today, but the AFL intensity is a big step up. But then again we're talking about a bloke who's played a lot of AFL footy."

Andrew Swallow was restricted to just 10 possessions last time the teams met when Gold Coast triumphed by 15 points at a rain-soaked Metricon Stadium last season.  He was a dominant figure, though, in the teams’ only clash to date at Etihad Stadium, when he racked up a game-high 31 touches as the Kangaroos came from a point down at half-time to beat the SUNS – minus Gary Ablett – by 34 points in round 5, 2012.