SWANPOOL Football Club will be hoping for a better result than last weekend when it lines up against Glenrowan on Saturday.
There's plenty of room for improvement - last week the Swans failed to post a score.
Ovens and King league ladder-leaders Bright dismantled the Swans 38.18 (246) to 0.0 (0).
The warning signs of a big blow-out came early, when the Mountain Men booted 12 goals in the first quarter.
They piled on another seven majors in the second term, before adding 13 and six goals in the final two stanzas.
Swanpool, one of four clubs to cross to the Ovens and King league from the disbanded Benalla and District competition at the end of last season, has won just one game this year.
Its nine losses have come at an average margin of 96 points.
But Swans president Alan Haslam said the club was "still enthusiastic".
"Bright is a very tidy outfit," Haslam said. "If they're not premiership contenders then I don't know who is.
"We had half a dozen (players) from the senior team out on the weekend, including probably the two best in our team."
Haslam said the result had hurt players and supporters, but senior coach Darren 'Doc' Wellwood was "looking for positives" before the players even came off the ground.
"We went into the O&K (league) knowing we'd have to step up a few pegs," Haslam said. "The competition is a lot tougher."
Swanpool's only victory this season came in round nine, when the club defeated North Wangaratta by 10 points.
But the Swans fell just eight points short of Goorambat in round five and lost to King Valley by 14 points in round two.
Haslam said the Swans could have had three or four wins if they had played to their full potential.
"It's frustrating sometimes but it was also frustrating playing the same team every four weeks (in the five-team Benalla and District league)," he said.
Haslam was full of praise for the Ovens and King clubs and executive for welcoming the new clubs.
"You have to applaud the O&K, really," he said.
"They've accepted all four of the clubs that applied and improved their league at the same time."
The other Benalla and District clubs have also faced uphill battles in their debut season in their new home leagues.
Goorambat and Tatong have each won two games in the Ovens and King league - but their average losing margins are 128 points and 96 points respectively.
Bonnie Doon, the final Benalla and District league premier, has fared a little better, winning four of its 10 Ovens and King matches.
Longwood has won just one match in its first season in the Kyabram District league and has suffered some heavy defeats. On Saturday, the Redlegs managed just one behind in their 170-point loss to Violet Town.
But Haslam said Swanpool took some heart from the fortunes of the Benalla All Blacks, who won just three games in their first three seasons in the Ovens and King league, after joining from the defunct Central Goulburn league in 2005.
This season, the All Blacks have won eight of their 10 outings.
