It’s one of the highlights of the Utah camp so far, but Andrew Swallow’s unbelievable screamer has been shrouded in controversy.

When the Kangaroos’ captain launched himself onto the back of Ryan Bastinac during a contested marking drill at New Park’s Fieldhouse in Park City, there was a mixture of elation, disappointment and shock.

- Elation: Because Swallow has never been that high before
- Disappointment: Because there are some claiming he didn’t hold the mark long enough
- Shock: Because the drill wasn’t designed for the players to take hangers on each other

(More photos below)

Swallow though has challenged those who have doubted his achievement and denies he acted outside of the rules.

“I was just being professional…getting extra out of altitude training by getting even higher,” Swallow explained to kangaroos.com.au.

“I missed the start of the drill and got there late and just thought I’d come straight in…it looked like they were just doing marking training so Basty started in front of me and they kicked it on his head. I jumped at it and took a hanger on him…apparently you weren’t supposed to do that.”

While assistant coach Shane Watson looked on in disbelief, some of Swallow’s teammates quickly stepped in to advise the skipper he was out of line.

“They were like ‘what are you doing?’ and I said, ‘taking a mark, what are you doing?’…It’s just one of those things. The ball’s there, you’ve got to mark it,” Swallow added.

Making things more confusing was the fact that debate raged as to whether he’d actually held the mark.

“I reckon I had enough of it on the way down. I dropped it maybe at the last split-second but an umpire would have paid it for sure. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about that.”

There was also a not so pleased Ryan Bastinac to deal with.

“He walked off holding his head and he wasn’t too happy but I got around him and he’s okay now. He was a sore boy for a while…I got him in the back of the shoulder and head.”

While Swallow acknowledges there are some ill feelings, he claims the incident may throw a spanner in the works for the coaches as they continue to plan for next season.

“I do think it’s planted some seeds in their minds about putting me forward next year…maybe isolating me deep and putting Drew (Petrie) in the middle."

Swallow also had a veiled swipe at North Melbourne multimedia producer Tom Van de Vusse who captured the moment on camera saying, “He’s much better at taking photos than hiking that’s for sure”.

He was speaking of Tom’s early exit from the first hike and has now challenged him to reclaim some respect during Wednesday’s running session.

“I’ve told Tom that if he finishes a 1.6k run in an acceptable time, I’ll buy him a Champ Bailey Denver Broncos guernsey.”

Van de Vusse accepted the challenge but is still haggling with Swallow about the time he must complete the run in.