Football
14 April, 2026
Bombers take down Swifts
Noradjuha Quantong’s senior football side demonstrated they will be one of the teams to beat in 2026 after recording a strong win over the Swifts in round one of the Horsham District Football Netball League on Saturday April 11.
Playing at home, the Bombers kicked 12.15 (87) to the Swifts’ 6.4 (40).
The 2025 grand finalists got off to a flying start in the opening term, booting seven goals to take a 44-8 quarter-time lead.
Noradjuha Quantong continued their momentum into the second while limiting the Swifts' opportunities to lead 66-16 at the main break.
The visitors then managed to reduce the deficit late in the third, making it 77-34 at the final break, before the Bombers eventually won by 47.
Judah Hobbs led the home side with four goals while Leigh Stewart and Dylan Shelley each kicked two.
Along with Stewart and Shelley, Wade Francis, Riley Dunlop and Jayden Besford were among the best on field for the Bombers.
For the Swifts, Will Wickham kicked two goals and Liam Scott, Daniel Clee, Jack Cann and Justin Puruntatameri each kicked one each.
Bombers assistant coach Wade Francis said he was very pleased with how the team started the game.
“We definitely did start well,” Francis said.
“I think our intensity and our contest work early was bang on.
“We won the ball on the inside and we're able to get it quickly to the outside, and then, probably the biggest thing was we took our opportunities in front of goals early in that game.
“When we're playing that exciting brand, we can be pretty hard to stop.”
The assistant coach said the team struggled with their execution in the second half but remained in control of the game.
“We kicked 2.9 in the second half so we sort of went away from taking those opportunities, which probably brought them back into the game a little bit more,” Francis said.
“To their credit, they probably got on top of us earlier in the centre clearances in the third quarter.
“They got themselves a few more inside 50s and a bit more opportunity to score as well.
“But we were able to wrestle back a bit of that momentum and just control the game a little bit more in the second half of the third quarter.”
Asked about the inclusion of young players such as Mason Hair, Micah Erhardt and Harrison Daniell into the opening round side, Francis said he was happy with how the trio looked.
“It was really exciting to have all those young boys coming through,” he said.
“That was Mason’s first senior game; Micah and Harry both played a senior game last year, but I think the way that they set themselves in the game was super impressive.
“They didn't look out of place at all and they played really important roles in our team, so it's quite exciting to have them a part of our squad and I'm sure there's going to be many opportunities for them to play week in, week out.
“It's handy to have that little burst of excitement from the young fellows coming through.”