The Tamworth Kangaroos have come a long way in a short amount of time.
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The 2021 version of the Kangaroos is a far cry from the 2020 outfit that struggled for numbers and claimed just two wins from 10 rounds of footy.
Thanks to an injection of youth, within three rounds the Kangaroos have equalled their 2020 tally and the turnaround isn't lost on co-coach Ben Mitchell.
"When me and Nath [co-coach Nathan Vaisey] took on the role, we said our first goal was to get 22 players to a game and today we had 22," Mitchell said.
"Last year, I don't think we had over 18 so to put 22 out there, which was the first time [this season], was the first credit to the boys."
Both of the Kangaroos' wins have come against last year's grand finalists.
The latest came in an absorbing encounter with cross-town rivals, the Tamworth Swans, at No. 1 Oval on Sunday.
No more than two kicks separated the sides at any one time as the Roos took the lead at the first two breaks.
The Swans rallied in the third quarter to take a seven-point lead into the final break but a five-goal final term from the Kangaroos sealed the win.
It takes them a step closer to securing the Billy Holder Cup for 2021.
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Mitchell said the win was "a bit of reward for the hard work we've put in over the pre-season".
He also noted how much an effect the juniors coming into the side have had this year.
"The young fellas again - we just feed off their energy," Mitchell said when asked who stood out.
"And the back six, for me, we really stuck together.
"We were probably out-manned - they probably had a better forward line than we had a defence - but we really just did the one percenters and we were able to take a win as a back six, I think."
Mitchell was named his side's best ahead of goal-scorers Shane Lindsay (3), Bill Tydd (3) and Jack Dadd (4).
The Swans had their own top performers with Michael Parker being named the Swans' best.
Jake Cosgrove had a debut to remember with two goals to his name. He also named the Swans' player's player.
The Kangaroos, Swans, as well as the Inverell Saints, all have two wins on the board after three rounds.
The Saints beat Narrabri-Moree 22.24 (156) to 6.1 (37) on Saturday while the New England Nomads were too strong for the Gunnedah Bulldogs as they scored a comfortable 24.20 (164) to 2.6 (18) win.
Every team in the competition now has at least one win each.
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