The Swans, who eventually triumphed 82-52, dominated their opponents, and according to coach Matt Lee, it was only their own errors that prevented an even more sizeable victory. 

“I thought we could’ve beaten them by more,” Lee said. 

“It was just our lapses in concentration that let us down a bit. 

“They had a fairly tall ruckman who was quite dominant, so once we managed to nullify him it made it a bit easier. 

“I think we could have beaten them by more if we had a contained four-quarter effort.” 

Ensuring that the Swans can maintain their intensity will be the primary focus for Lee over the next couple of weeks. 

“I thought the team went pretty well, we played a bit patchy but when we had our intensity there we played really well,” he said. 

“We played five minutes of really good footy then drop the ball a little bit, then they’d come back at us. 

“So it’s probably something to work on going forward, just being able to sustain that high intensity throughout the game.” 

Some early season rust is not uncommon, particularly considering that there are eight new faces in the team, so to come away with a five goal victory is a strong effort from a team which is still gelling. 

“Once we start to play a bit more together as a team, we’ll have that sort of capacity [to be more consistent],” Lee said. 

The match began well for the Swans, who quickly compiled a three goal lead on their opponents by the end of the first quarter. 

However, a small lapse allowed ANU to claw back some ground, in the second quarter, and it was only thanks to a final flurry of goals that the Swans maintained their lead going into the half time break. 

From there, the Swans managed to remain relatively steadfast, and slowly built up their total over the second half until they finished the game 30 points ahead. 

This sets the stage for next week’s game, against the Yass Roos. 

The Roos are the reigning premiers of the fourth grade competition, and have started this season in strong form with wins over the ADFA Rams. 

However, it remains to be seen who the favourite is for next week’s clash, as both sides are undergoing similar redevelopments and are yet to firmly establish themselves as leaders of the competition. 

The  Goulburn Swans will play the Yass Roos in Yass, at Joe O’Connor Park from 2:00pm on Saturday April 28.