Speaking on SEN 1116 on Thursday, Black said it was "shattering" to lose Swallow for close to 12 months.
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"He's probably one of the hardest people at it. I was reading somewhere that he laid 100 more tackles than anyone else in the last five years so obviously the guys in the midfield will have to step it up.
"He's got real spirit, he's a great on-field leader and he leads by example," he said.
According to Black there is no shortage of other leaders who can step up at North to fill the void.
"They do that quite regularly at training sessions and on match days. I think they'll handle it quite well," he said.
Black joked that stand-in skipper Drew Petrie was "walking around his chest puffed out" but was pleased that his forward line colleague had got the nod.
"He's really good. Obviously I work very closely with him in the forward line," he said.
The Kangaroos will try to win every game for the rest of the year to try and keep their miniscule finals hopes alive.
"Towards the beginning of the season we matched it with most teams so we just have to go out there with the same intensity, give it everything we can and if we win every game from here that would be fantastic.
"We have got nothing to lose, so we'll try play the best footy we can," he said.
