Sydney Swans defender Aliir Aliir believes his most important role, as a multicultural ambassador for the AFL, is to inspire a new wave of kids to take up the game.

Born in a Kenyan refugee camp to Sudanese parents, Aliir's family moved to Brisbane when he was a boy to escape the civil war, which is where he learned to play football and discovered his love of the game.

The 21-year-old played state 18's footy for Queensland before a move to Perth saw him then play for WA, and his ability attracted the interest of the Swans who drafted him in 2013.

Aliir's debut for the Swans against the Brisbane Lions last week created a media buzz around the League, and he said that he plans to use the interest in his story to promote the game, and help multicultural kids find their pathway to the AFL.

"I just want to get as many multicultural kids out there playing as I can," he said.

"Every now and then I get little kids messaging me on social media asking me what junior clubs they can join and little things like that.

"There's other times where I travel out to Blacktown and talk to the African community out there because I know there's a lot of kids who want to get into footy but they don't know how.

"My job is to chat with them, help them connect with clubs and get them involved.

"Most of these kids are starting a bit later and miss out on programs like Auskick. 

"Here in Sydney there's a lot of multicultural kids and it would be great to get them involved and I'll do my part to make that happen.

"It would be great especially to see more Sudanese playing the game."

The athletic defender settled well in his first senior game and drew praise from coach John Longmire and his teammates for the way he handled the occasion.

Aliir said he job was made a lot easier by the fact that he was surrounded by some of the Swans' most experienced backmen.

"Having the boys like 'Ramps' (Dane Rampe), 'Reg' (Heath Grundy) and 'Macca' (Jarrad McVeigh) really helping me out in terms of my positioning was just surreal," he said.

"I thought I did my job and played my role, which is just what I had been doing in the reserves this year before I got the call-up."

Aliir credits his first full pre-season playing on some of the Swans' biggest names as the reason behind his improvement and consistency in 2016.

"Having 'Buddy' (Lance Franklin), 'Tippo' (Kurt Tippett) and 'Reidy' (Sam Reid) there, they're all different players and they're the best forwards in the game," he said.

"As much as they want to work on their own game, they were still trying to help me and fast-track my game."