"We kicked the first goal in the first 10 seconds and then we switched off and they kicked three goals on us," Swans coach Paul Kelly reflected.

"[But] Like last week (Kangaroos game) we kept plugging away and stuck to our game plan."

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They returned fire with five unanswered goals to take a 24 point lead into quarter time, and from there were never really troubled as they posted their ninth win of the season.

"The longer the game went on, the better we got," Kelly said.

It was though a much closer contest than their earlier two meetings, both of which the Swans won by more than 100 points.

"They were really good, Gunnedah, they've improved a fair bit," he said.

"The score probably didn't indicate how the game was played."

Dylan Beasley and Josh Jones led the scoring for the Swans with three goals apiece in what Kelly thought was a pretty good performance from his side, especially given they were "a bit short of players" and a bit disrupted in the forward line.

One of the most pleasing things from his perspective was the way they kept their structure in the second half, as had been his main message to them at the break.

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Up by 41 points it would have been easy to fall into the trap of taking shots from anywhere.

Asked about their best, Sam Spokes was one of the first Kelly mentioned.

"He played really really well, he was really good in the backline," he said.

Todd Jones also played well, he said, as did Justin Leehy in the ruck, while Jack Richards and Adam Cruikshank turned in a typical strong performance.

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Lachlan Bennetts-Inkster was also "really good".

It wasn't all good news for the Swans with Ben Burger likely gone for the season after doing the ligaments in his ankle.

"He's a very good defender, so we'll miss him," Kelly said.

Mark Ewington kicked three for the Bulldogs, whose best were Luke Johanson, Ryan Smith, Adam Curgenven, Desmond Tuckerman, Ryan King and Jarrod Ferguson.

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