Swans fly home with victory
From the Armidale Independent, 14/09/2006
Bellevue Oval hosted the AFL grand final between the New England Nomads and the Tamworth Swans last Saturday, in front of a strong crowd well represented by supporters of both teams. However it was the Swans who ran away with a resounding victory, finishing with a score of 12.10.82 to 8.10.58.
The Swans never looked liked conceding victory as early as the first quarter and were able to respond to all offensive plays attempted by the local side, and defended equally as well, effectively stopping many of the Nomads’ game plays.
For Jack Sartor, publicity officer for the Nomads, it was a simple equation and one that had been foreseen well before the game. “I think that the one thing that we said would get us in trouble was dropping our intensity, which we did in the first ten minutes, in fact we did for the rest of the game!
“We were in it for a while but once they had a few goals up on us, there just wasn’t enough energy to come back.”
Following a forfeit by Hillvue the previous week, the Nomads had perhaps a bit too much time to prepare for the grand final.
“To win the premiership we needed more intensity, and maybe having that week off before the game didn’t help us.”
The Swans held a convincing lead for the entirety of the game and the Nomads just weren’t able to equalize. The locals were presented with very few mistakes by the Swans that they could capitalise on and trailed until the siren signalled an end to the season with a Tamworth victory.
Without wanting to sound clichéd, Sartor believed that his team had already had its best matches prior to the grand final.
“Everyone was a bit drained. Maybe we peaked too soon, maybe a couple of weeks ago.
“I think we are a better team but experience is a bit of an issue for us.”
This experience is something that Sartor believes can be built on and commended several players who had shown marked improvement and added great value to the Nomads squad over the 2006 season.
“We are a close team, all mates, irreplaceable. It was a good season to be involved in and some players, particularly Tom Hunt, Glen Northway, Weston Whitby and Mark Curran have really put in the effort and really come up.”
The excitement and the carnival atmosphere of the day may have also taken its toll on the Nomad squad and taken their minds off the job at hand.
“We spent a lot of time organising the day, which was great, and maybe we got a bit distracted and didn’t think about the game.
“But it was a good experience and a good time had by all.”
Sartor would like to thank all the supporters and players who made the effort to support the Nomads in 2006 and congratulates the Tamworth Swans, and all the other teams who participated in this year’s AFL season.
Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Independent.
