Sydney Swans debutant Lewis Johnston says his move to defence in the reserves this year has been the catalyst for his elevation into the senior side for Saturday’s match against North Melbourne.

Coach John Longmire made the call to shift Johnston into defence, and it is a decision the 20-year-old says has improved his game significantly.

“It’s made me a better player and helped get my consistency to the point it needs to be to play senior footy,” Johnston explained. 

“One of the areas I needed to improve on was my competitiveness, and going down back really helped with that, as you don’t ever want to get beaten by your opponent.

“I think it also helped the attacking side of my game, because you learn what is hard to defend against,” he said.

Longmire has mentioned Johnston’s name for the past month as a player pushing for selection in the senior team.

Since the start of 2011, four of his reserves' team mates have received their call-up, and Johnston said he was excited when Longmire’s offer of a ‘cup of tea’ turned out to be an invitation to make his AFL debut.

“I was at the basketball centre and he rang me up and said come in for a cup of tea. I said I might grab a coffee instead.

“I went into his office, he just shut the door, shook my hand…and we had a nice little chat after that.

Johnston came to the Swans via the 2008 National Draft, where he was selected by the Swans with pick 12.

After a foot injury ended his debut 2009 season before it had begun, Johnston finally pulled on the red and white in 2010, and showed promise as a forward with the Swans reserves.

Though he has been at the Club for more than two years now, injury has restricted him to only around 20 matches.

Importantly, a couple of those matches were in this year’s NAB Cup where he gained valuable exposure to senior level football.

“During those NAB Cup matches I really learned more about what I needed to do to make the step to senior football, and part of that was knowing I needed to have more strength around the contest.”

Johnston is not certain which end of the ground coach John Longmire has in mind for him this weekend against the Kangaroos, but isn’t concerned. After spending a couple of years waiting in the wings, he is just excited to be out there.