Player unavailability forces New England to concede to Inverell
By Michael Morrissey (Armidale Express, 06/07/2007)
The New England Nomads have been forced to forfeit tomorrow’s game against the Tamworth Australian Football League leaders Inverell with an estimated 19 players unavailable.

The combination of university holidays, injuries and other commitments has hammered the Nomads leaving them with no choice but to concede.

It was a difficult choice for the proud club but one which Nomads player Ben Page said was the only option.

“We’ve just got to bite bullet the week,” he said.

With only 11 players definitely available the Nomads didn’t want to risk travelling to Inverell without enough talent on deck.

“It basically means we can’t field a side. In an 18-a-side game it’s just not doable,” Page said.

“We’re not terribly pleased about it. I think the last time the Nomads forfeited was many years ago.

“We were looking forward to the practice and having another crack at them and to see how they are progressing because they’re definitely the team to beat this year.

“It’s a shame because we usually have excellent numbers, better than many of our competitors.”

New England didn’t want to bring in ‘ring-ins’ who would run the risk of injury in a one-off game against the imposing Saints.

“We don’t want blokes filling in and getting hurt because Inverell are a physically demanding side,” Page said.

Page commented that the draw has worked against the Nomads who always struggle during the university holidays.

“They haven’t done us any favours with regard to the scheduling,” he said.

“I’m not putting the blame on them.

“It’s just unfortunate the way the draw panned out. It hasn’t been kind to us in regard to school holidays.”

New England expects to have enough players back to take on the Tamworth Kangaroos next week.

“We’ll just regroup and hopefully have more available for next week against the Roos in Tamworth,” Page said.

“We’re confident that we’ll have a full side numbers-wise.”

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