diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c
index 560d07ab36..043a185b96 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c
@@ -215,6 +215,20 @@ static bool vhost_svq_add_split(VhostShadowVirtqueue *svq,
     return true;
 }
 
+static void vhost_svq_kick(VhostShadowVirtqueue *svq)
+{
+    /*
+     * We need to expose the available array entries before checking the used
+     * flags
+     */
+    smp_mb();
+    if (svq->vring.used->flags & VRING_USED_F_NO_NOTIFY) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    event_notifier_set(&svq->hdev_kick);
+}
+
 /**
  * Add an element to a SVQ.
  *
@@ -235,20 +249,6 @@ static bool vhost_svq_add(VhostShadowVirtqueue *svq, VirtQueueElement *elem)
     return true;
 }
 
-static void vhost_svq_kick(VhostShadowVirtqueue *svq)
-{
-    /*
-     * We need to expose the available array entries before checking the used
-     * flags
-     */
-    smp_mb();
-    if (svq->vring.used->flags & VRING_USED_F_NO_NOTIFY) {
-        return;
-    }
-
-    event_notifier_set(&svq->hdev_kick);
-}
-
 /**
  * Forward available buffers.
  *