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Sport Nation
Why David Swallow deserves a round of applause from Freo fans on Saturday
Mark Duffield • September 3rd, 2025 7:20 pm
Nathan Fyfe will not be the only feel-good story of Saturday night’s elimination final between Fremantle and the Gold Coast at Optus Stadium.
The other emotional moment was confirmed following the declaration from Suns coach Damian Hardwick yesterday that his retiring veteran David Swallow will play in the club’s first final, which is also his first AFL final.
Just consider that for a minute.
Swallow is a WA boy – a product of East Fremantle, an underage star, a priority high-end draft selection for Gold Coast as they were established, and he has played his entire career without playing a final.
Fyfe is a great story – no question, and from the Dockers' point of view, he is our story. But the final he plays on Saturday will be his 12th. He has already played in an AFL Grand Final back in 2013. He has played in two Preliminary Finals in 2013 and 2015.
There will be high emotion among the near 60,000 fans who will pack the stadium on Saturday night because it will be the last time Fyfe plays in front of them. Depending on the result, it may be the last time he plays an AFL game.
It will be his 248th AFL match. It will be Swallow’s 248th AFL game too.
His one-time Suns teammate Jaeger O’Meara, who will play his 200th game against the Suns on Saturday, will be playing just his second AFL final.
His one-time Suns teammate Jaeger O’Meara, who will play his 200th game against the Suns on Saturday, will be playing just his second AFL final.
These are remarkable football stories. When O’Meara and Swallow left Perth to join the Suns, they were viewed as the cream of the crop. They were joining the best player in the land – Gary Ablett Jr. – at the AFL’s newest club.
The pair played in Round 10 of the 2014 season together – in a victory over the Western Bulldogs by 45 points, which took the club to a 7-2 win-loss record, surely on the way to a first finals series. That was 11 years ago.
The team that day included Tom Lynch, later a premiership superstar at Richmond, Dion Prestia, later a premiership superstar at Richmond, Steven May, later a premiership superstar at Melbourne and Charlie Dixon, later a powerhouse finals forward at Port Adelaide.
Then Ablett, still at the height of his awesome powers, hurt his shoulder. He played hurt, then didn’t play. The Suns, after the 7-2 start, had a 3-10 finish for a 10-12 season and no finals.
Then they started leaving. O'Meara suffered a career-threatening knee injury and missed two seasons of footy, leaving to join Hawthorn.
Lynch, May, Prestia and Dixon all left. Ablett went back to Geelong.
Brilliant youngster Harley Bennell got hurt, then left for Fremantle.
The entire top end of the Gold Coast Suns playing list cleared out in frustration– with one exception – David Swallow, who stayed and is still there now.
Fyfe will earn a standing ovation on Saturday night – win, lose or draw. He is not the juggernaut he was when he won his two Brownlows, but he stayed to be a one-club player, and he has conquered all manner of physical injuries and Demons just to make it back to the subs bench.
But if you are at the footy on Saturday night, spare a thought and a round of applause for Swallow. He is a WA boy, and he has shown the most incredible loyalty to this cause, which until now has borne no fruit.
Think of the climate he leaves behind now. Charlie Curnow telling Carlton he wants to go, Jack Silvagni, Tom De Koning, Sam Draper, Oscar Allen and Jordan Ridley. Going, going gone.
Swallow is footy’s ultimate stayer. No AFL player in this era has earned a spot in a finals team more than David Swallow.
