Tamworth bragging rights will go on the line when the Tamworth Swans and Tamworth Kangaroos match-up at No.1 Oval on Saturday.
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Both sides are searching for their first win after tough starts to the AFL North West season.
The Kangaroos drew reigning champions New England first up before being thumped last round by Gunnedah.
The Swans didn’t fare any better copping a 115-point lashing at the hands of the Inverell Saints.
“Obviously they’ve had a pretty similar start to us.
“Hopefully we can get our first win,” Kangaroos coach Ben Mitchell said.
He’s confident they can but said they won’t be taking the Swans lightly.
“We know the derby they always put up a good fight,” he said.
The problems for the Kangaroos have been up front.
“Our forward structure has been falling apart against the better teams,” Mitchell said.
Last week against the Bulldogs they only had one shot on goal in the second quarter, and didn’t kick a goal in the first half. Gunnedah are granted a pretty handy side.
“When Gunnedah scored we could get it out of the backline but we missed a few targets forward of the centre,” he said.
Mitchell didn’t actually see a lot of the game after picking up an injury in the first couple of seconds and having to go to hospital.
He is out for Saturday but they do have Daniel Johnson and Brad Rees back, which he hopes will help their forward line function better.
The Swans have also been hit by injuries and will be without ruckmen Andrew Finlay and Richie Hunt.
“They are two blokes we didn’t want to lose. They’re our two tallest,” Swans coach Paul Kelly said.
“It makes it hard. We’re not one of the taller sides.”
Kelly was still working out his plan of attack on Friday, but said there were positives they could take away from the Saints, despite the final margin.
“We did some of the things that we’ve been doing at training,” he said, admitting some surprise at the final margin.
He expects the Kangaroos to be strong through the middle.
“We’ll put our strongest players there and hopefully we can win it through the middle,” Kelly said.
In the other games the Saints host the New England Nomads while the Bulldogs travel out to Narrabri.
