Swift's Scott Carey proud of the Baggies | HDFNL grand final special

The Baggies will contest Horsham District Football Netball League’s senior grand final on Saturday for the first time since their last senior premiership in 2003.

Carey was an under-14s player that year, but can distinctly remember the feeling of elation at the club.

It was the first premiership Swifts had won since joining the district league in 2000, and their first senior premiership of any kind since 1994.

Earlier this year the Baggies celebrated their club’s 100-year anniversary.

Carey said the team set itself to make the grand final in its centenary year, but the road to the big game has been fraught with danger for Swifts in recent years.

The team bowed out in consecutive preliminary finals in 2011 and 2012, and were eliminated in last year’s first semi-final.

Carey said the effort the team had shown this year to finally get over the hump was exemplary.

“I think the main thing we’ve learned from the finals defeats is the two-way football you need to play – both attacking and defensive,” he said.

“When we first got in we were reliant on our attack a bit too much, but now we’ve been able to get some two-way running happening, which has set us up to win tough finals.”

Carey, who is in his fourth season as captain, said he was honoured to lead the team into a grand final in its centenary season.

Only one senior player – Nick Pickering – remains from the Baggies’ last premiership, but Carey said he had plenty of experienced campaigners to help lead the club.

“I’m definitely a better leader now than I was when I started as captain – to be 21 years old and captaining the club when the majority of the players are older than you makes it a bit hard to find your role,” he said.

“Now the players understand my strengths and weaknesses better and we’ve put in place a leadership group that has helped a lot.”

Vice-captain Jake Goodes, former Dellar Family medallist Ricky Whitehead, Jakob Davis, Ash Cowen, Isaac Rathgeber and Damon Folkes are part of the leadership group.

Carey said it was not just the leaders, but the emergence of young players like Zach Salmi and Josh Newton that had helped Swifts to reach the grand final.

He said the prospect of skippering a Swifts premiership side was unbelievable.

“It would be a dream come true,” he said.

“This has been my home club since I was a child and I’ve spent most of my days at North Park.

“I knew most of the blokes on the last premiership team, and what it meant to the club to win its first premiership in the district league – it was a pretty big thing.

“We’ve set our goals for this season along the way and ticked them all off – now there’s only one goal left.”

The Carey name is synonymous with Swifts.

Scott’s father Robert is a long-serving president of the club and has previously coached and captained the team.

He said he was proud of what his son had accomplished.

“My wife is also very involved in the football and netball side of things, so it’s something that we’re pretty passionate about,” he said.

“Hopefully Scott gets to hold the cup as captain, because that is something I never got to do.”

Mr Carey said the side rated itself a good chance against Laharum on Saturday.

The Baggies produced an outstanding display of fast-paced attacking football to beat Kalkee in Saturday’s preliminary final to earn their grand final berth.

Mr Carey said if the team showed the same desire and commitment, there was no reason it could not overcome the unbeaten Mountain Men.

“In previous matches they were five goals up in the first quarter and we spent the rest of the time playing catch-up, so a strong start is important,” he said.

“Up to this point most things have fallen into place in terms of our results and luck with injuries, so hopefully one more thing falls into place for us.”