YOUNG Swan Matt O'Dwyer had many friends and family members witness his senior debut against Carlton at Telstra Dome last Sunday.

One of his closest supporters even travelled from Sydney to watch.

Housemate Barry Hall, though serving a club suspension, made the trip to see the 20-year-old's first game and O'Dwyer was thrilled to have him there.

"For Barry to come down and watch was great," he said.

"We get along really well so it was great to have him there."

It was a nervous build-up for the Calder Cannons graduate, who received word of his selection on the Tuesday before the game.

"(Coaching co-ordinator) John Longmire pulled me out of the warm-up and told me to come over and speak to Roosy (Paul Roos)," O'Dwyer recalled.

"Then Roosy said 'Congratulations, we’re going to elevate you to the senior list and you're going to play your first game'. I just had the biggest smile on my face.

"I was nervous for the rest of the training session."

O'Dwyer's anxiety didn't end there

"I was nervous before every session that week," he said.

"I kept thinking that if I didn’t train well on Thursday that Roosy would come up and say 'We’re going to take you out of the team', so it wasn’t until I got through training on Thursday that I really believed I was playing."

The night before the match, O'Dwyer – accustomed to having a roommate when travelling with the Swans reserves, found himself on his own in a Melbourne hotel room to contemplate the occasion.

"I didn’t get much sleep the night before," he said.

"I kept waking up in the middle of the night. I often dream about game scenarios the night before big matches but his time I didn’t, which was strange."

By match time, O'Dwyer's nerves had passed and were replaced by excitement.

"It was amazing," he said. "I was so excited.

"I really wanted to run out there with a big smile but I had to hold it in. It was awesome."

The Swans' two-point victory over the Blues provided the perfect ending to his debut game, though O'Dwyer admits matching up on Heath Scotland and Kade Simpson for the first time seemed surreal.

"One week you’re watching them on TV and the next you’re running alongside them," he said. "It’s strange but you just have to try and treat it like a normal game."

This week he’ll run out in front of a home crowd as the Swans do battle with the Crows at the SCG.

Ask him how he’s feeling and you'll receive a familiar reply.

"I’ll probably be pretty nervous because there should be a big home crowd," he said.

Here's hoping that in his own surrounds, in Hall’s house in Sydney, O'Dwyer will get a bit more sleep this time.