After three rounds of footy, Tamworth’s two AFL sides will hit their home track for the first time in 2018 on Saturday.
The Kangaroos and the Swans will face off in a local derby in the fourth round of the AFL North West competition.
The Swans head into the match on the back of two 100-point losses.
While not being the prettiest of scorelines, coach Paul Kelly said it’s a far cry from last year’s horror run.
“I reckon it’s heaps better than where we were at last year. We had a lot of injuries early on last year,” Kelly said.
“I’ve been impressed in our first two games. Ill discipline cost us a few goals at Armidale but there’s been heaps of improvement.
“We have a few players that haven’t played before but are athletic. We can shift people around during the game if we need where last year we were stuck to what we had.”
The Swans will go into Saturday’s clash close to full strength with just one player out injured.
Kangaroos coach Tony Bishop was expecting the Swans to throw everything they had at his side.
“Normally there’s a fair bit of feeling in the game early,” Bishop said.
“We’ll be hoping to start well and put some early scoreboard pressure on if we can but we certainly won’t underestimate our opposition.”
The Kangaroos scored their first win of the season last week against Narrabri.
Bishop said the Kangaroos would now have to readjust to playing on the “smaller ground” at No. 1 Oval.
“It’s always been a difficult thing to coach,” Bishop said of switching between different-sized grounds.
“From my perspective, it’s a different way of playing.
“At No. 1 Oval you tend to not switch the ball as much – there’s not a lot of space out there.
“You tend to go long and direct – and quickly as it’s a lot easier to get numbers back.”
The local derby kicks off at 2pm with a top of 23 degrees expected for the day.
