There was a gulf between the Swans' best and their worst as they went down to the Tamworth Kangaroos.

Kelly thought the first quarter showed both sides of his team after the Swans blazed away early to kick the first few goals.

"I think we then relaxed the last 10 minutes of the first quarter and went into our old way of three or four blokes chasing the footy and leaving our man," Kelly said.

"That's our problem. We need blokes to hang back a bit so once we win the footy, we've got guys to give it out to or if the ball spills out, which it did quite often, we have somebody there."

While there was disappointment across the faces of the Swans, there was jubilation throughout the Kangaroos camp as they clinched the Billy Holder Cup for the first time since 2017.

"Hopefully that [Kangaroos celebrations] burns into a few blokes and lifts them up a notch," Kelly said.

He added: "You gotta learn from your losses and hopefully there's a bit of a burning desire to be better now."

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Kelly was confident there was improvement to come from the Swans while the return of more cattle would help as well.

The coach said the likes of Dylan Beasley, Kaleb Crowhurst and Latrell Allan would return to the team in the coming weeks.

That in itself would create another problem, albeit a good one, for Kelly.

"It's the toughest thing you have to do - leave someone out of the team, especially if they're regular trainers," he said. "It's a great thing to have but it's a big headache."