The New England Nomads made amends for their mid-season loss to the Tamwortth Kangaroos on Saturday with a convincing win at Tamworth Number One Oval. After leading by 7 goals at half-time, the Nomads lost some momentum in the second part of the game, but still won by 35 points.

It was a wonderful day for football in Tamworth. Acting Captain Johnathon Frost won the toss and elected to kick into the wind, towards the swimming pool end. The Nomads started strongly and shocked the Roos with their energy and pace. The midfield were in excellent form right from the start, with ruckman Tim Snelling dominating the centre bounces and feeding the rotating on-ball crew of David Graan, Rambo Raymond, The Haitch, Riley Connor and Jon ‘Katman’ Freund with plenty of quality ball. The speed of the roving squad was proving too much for the Roos. Up forward “Jabez’ Boatfield was marking everything that came his way and Jed Ellis-Cluff was causing headaches for the Roos’ backmen. Boaty was in fine form, marking strongly around the 50 metre arc. By the end of the first quarter the Nomads were up 6 goals to 2.

The second quarter saw the Nomads use the wind to their advantage. The D-Mod, David Richards, was back to his best crumbing form and snapped two quick goals on the run. The Roos could not contain the marking and running skills of Boaty and Jed in the forward line, while in the midfield Davey Graan was running amok. By the end of the quarter the Monads were 40 points ahead.

It looked at this point like the Nomads might score a runaway victory. However, someone must have put something nefarious in the drink bottles at half time, for it seems that only the malign influence of the Dark Arts could explain the complete turnaround in the respective form of the two teams. After the break the Nomads seemed disinterested, failing to chase when the Roos were in possession and being beaten continually in the air. Poor choices were also being made when disposing of the football, with the ball regularly being kicked to one-on-three contests. The Roos kicked 3 goals to the Nomads’ measly 3 points. But if it were not for the strong defensive work of Charlie Bender, the G-Train Grunter Elson, Zac Wells , Benjo Julien and Tom Granleese then the scores might have been much closer than the twenty five points that separated the teams at three quarter time.

In the final quarter the Nomads reasserted themselves, casting off their mid-match lethargy and kicked 4 goals. Again the backline were particularly impressive.

Although it was pleasing to win, the second half was a concern with the flighty Nomads going off the boil once it didn’t seem the Roos could catch the Nomads’ score. There is no place for complacency with the finals here in a fortnight.

For the Nomads Jed Ellis-Cluff kicked 5, Modra, 3, Starry 2, and Hoani Morrell, Davey Graan, Weston Whitby, Boaty, Rambo and Riley Connor all kicked one apiece.

The Nomads now have a fornight’s break before the Second Semi Final which will be held at the Bellevue on August 17th.

Go the Green!

Round 16 2013

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 at 9:25 pm and is filed under Match report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.