Midfielder David Swallow showed he’s more than capable of making an impact on both ends of the ground on Saturday night, keeping dangerous small-forward Hayden Ballantyne from having any influence in the Gold Coast SUNS 45-point loss to Fremantle at Metricon Stadium.

The star on-baller had endured a tough to the 2013 season, finding it difficult to impact the game despite being second only skipper Gary Ablett in the club’s leading contested possession-getters.

But Swallow came of age against the Dockers on the weekend, finishing with 20-disposals across half-back and playing a pivotal shut-down role on Ballantyne – who had entered into the match with a 1.4 scoring average after doing some damage on the scoreboard throughout the opening premiership rounds against AFL rivals from across the competition.

Despite the disappointing result, senior coach Guy McKenna found comfort in Swallow’s stand-out defensive performance –  praising his “super” workout around the backline in his post-match media conference.

“If you took those two boys out of defence (Swallow & Prestia), Fremantle would have kicked a few more goals, so I thought David’s performance was super,” McKenna said.

With injured backmen Joel Wilkinson and Matthew Warnock missing in action, McKenna said Swallow’s proven defensive skills had added another dimension to the under-seige back-six, but conceded the former AFL No. 1 draft pick would still spend more time around the midfield.

“We’ve lost a few defenders recently and we put him back there because he was a half-back (in the U18’s),” said McKenna.

“It’s only since he’s come to us in the 18s that he’s understood what the midfield was all about, but he’ll clearly go back into the midfield.”

With power-forward Sam Day having taken his game to another level since his recent shift down back, Swallow is hoping the short stint in the SUNS defensive unit will help the fast-moving midfielder regain the form he showed in 2011 where he took the AFL by storm and earned an AFL Rising Star nomination.

“I really enjoy the challenge of going down back as you get the opportunity to play on someone but can also run off and impact the ball as the game opens up,” said Swallow.

“It also allows me to get some touches and gain some confidence in a different area around the ground, something I was having abit of trouble with during the early rounds.

“Hopefully I can build on Saturday night’s performance against Melbourne this week and continue playing my role for the team – whether it’s in the defence, midfield or up forward.”