Football
8 May, 2026
Swifts eye first win
The Stawell Swifts senior football side will look to put their close losses behind them this week as they take on Edenhope Apsley in round five of the Horsham District Football Netball League.
Following their round two bye, the Baggies took second-half leads in both their losses to Harrow Balmoral and Natimuk United, but were unable to get over the line.
Swifts’ coach Nigel Sibson admits slow starts have hampered his team so far this season, but he is excited by the progression shown through three games.
“After round one against Noradjuha Quantong, we identified that our slow start was very costly and we thought we arrested that issue against Harrow Balmoral,” he said.
“The game against Natimuk was a little different in the sense that we started slow again, but we had an equal amount of scoring shots in the first quarter.
“There’s probably a little bit of frustration to not quite get over the line, but from a coaching aspect, we’re seeing the improvements in our game every week.”
The Baggies coach said that the improvement is evident across all areas of the park, identifying Brett Hargreaves’ return as a crucial factor for the side.
“In relation to our midfield group, our ruckman Brett Hargreaves missed round one and having him back in round three and four, he's certainly shown that he's still a really good quality ruck in this competition,” Sibson said.
“With him coming back into our side, our midfield started to really improve their structure and shape around stoppage.
“Our forwards showed real signs of improvement against Harrow Balmoral in relation to spacing around the ground, and I thought our back six was really composed against Natimuk.”
The Saints also enter the clash without a win, but will be encouraged by scoring bursts in the middle quarters in their loss to ladder leaders Noradjuha Quantong in round four.
While Sibson views the Saturday matchup as a good opportunity to win, he and his side will not underestimate the Saints.
“Edenhope have been competitive at stages during the year, so the message to our group is we can’t afford to be complacent with the high standard of the competition,” he said.
“We’ve spoken about being consistent across the four quarters, so the message will be similar, and if we can do that, we put ourselves in a position to win.”