Since being taken by the Gold Coast with the first overall selection in the 2010 AFL Draft, David Swallow has shown all the makings to become one of the elite midfielders in the competition.

But it hasn’t been the smoothest transition for the 20-year-old, forced to move away from his parents in Western Australia as a teenager to pursue a successful AFL career on the Gold Coast.

“I moved away from home early so I didn’t have Mum or Dad around and I missed them a fair bit,” he said.

“Adapting to life with no parents and living out of home is a challenging experience, and until you do it you don’t how you’re going to go.”

While brother Andrew seems to be relishing his new life in Melbourne, captaining the North Melbourne Football Club to their first finals appearance since 2008, Swallow concedes his sibling shares a different personality to his own.

“I was probably a year younger than Andrew when he moved over to Melbourne, but we both individually have different personalities and challenges in life,” Swallow said.

“He’s always been very mature while it’s probably taken me a couple of years to work out who I am.”     

That doesn’t mean the younger brother still doesn’t look towards Andrew for guidance, having followed his career since he was drafted by the Kangaroos in 2005.

“Andrew got picked up when I was 13-years-old and he’s probably been one of my idols growing up,” Swallow said.

“He came out of nowhere in his fourth year and hasn’t really looked back since.

“He’s got a lot of confidence in the way he plays and what he brings to North Melbourne as a player and a person.”

But while the Kangaroos skipper is blossoming down south, GC SUNS senior coach Guy McKenna believes his own Swallow has the ability to overtake his brother’s standing in the game in the next few years.

“Andrew through his career has shown he has the ability to win and his efforts around the hard ball and contested football is second to none,” McKenna said.

“There have been times where he’s had 16 or 18 clearances in a game, but I would think in two or three years when junior (David) gets to Andrew’s age, he’ll be getting the same numbers as well because they’re both very combative footballers.”

McKenna is partially responsible for luring the hard-working midfielder to the tourist strip, after a phone call to Swallow’s father convinced the elder guardian that the on-baller had a bright future with the fledging expansion club.

“My dad actually got a call from Bluey (McKenna), and didn’t want to tell me what Bluey was thinking, but when he finally told me that they wanted to take me twelve months earlier I didn’t really know what to say,” said Swallow.

“Initially I was a bit hesitate because I had just finished school and had a lot of close mates back home, but eventually once I saw the vision the club had I thought any other 17-year-old in my position would take it so I made the move down here a couple of weeks later.”

Three years on, Swallow hasn’t looked back and continually remembers the life lessons preached to him by his parents.

“Mum and Dad always said do what you want to do – if you want to play footy then play footy, if you want to study then study, they have always been supportive of my decisions.”