By Michael Morrissey (Armidale Express, 22/01/2007)
The New England Nomads are in recruiting mode ahead of the kick-off for the 2007 Tamworth Australian Football League season.

New Englansd finished runner-up in last year’s TAFL and, after losing several key players in the off-season, will need to formulate and original game-plan for 2007.

Nomad president Ben Horne put the call out for interested footballers to come have a kick with the local Aussie Rules side.

“We’re really looking for other local players and anyone that’s thinking of having a go should come out,” he said.

“We don’t have Tom Hunt this year and apparently Weston (Whitby) is gone as well.

“We’re looking at getting the Tablelands Cup up again at the start of March.

“We’re going to try and get the under 16s going this year.

“Training from now on will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, probably starting at 6pm for the next few weeks before going back to 5.30pm.

“We’ve got a new guy, Mark Handley, and he played a game for us last year and he’s starting up a coaching program in Armidale. It looks like he’ll be around for the year.

“With regards to other new players, I don’t think we’ve got too much yet.

“We always get a few players from down south so no doubt we’ll get another couple this year.”

Coach-wise New England has a mix of the old and the new.

“We’ve still got Starry (Adrian Walsh) at the moment and he’s pretty happy to do it,” Horne said.

“And we’ve got Brendan Nolan so he’ll be around and Mark Handley and possibly even Ben Page might give it a go.”

Horne admitted “he was still sore” from the training earlier in the week but noted most players kept their basic skills intact over the break.

“We just had a run around for an hour and a bit of a kick,” he said.

“Everyone’s skills are still pretty good.”

The Nomads are also looking financially secure again thanks to the backing of the Wicklow Hotel.

“It’s great to have them back on board,” Horne said.

“Darren’s (Thomas) pretty happy about it even though he’s a leaguie at heart.

“They’ve got right behind us oved the last year or so.”

The Nomads train every Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm at Bellevue Oval. Any questions can be directed to Adrian Walsh on 6773-2657.

Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express.

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