By Matt McLennan (Armidale Express, 1/08/2008)
An amazing 120 point haul from Weston Whitby got the New England Nomads well and truly over the line in their game against the Muswellbrook Cats in Tamworth.

Whitby kicked 19 goals and 6 behinds on Saturday, a league record, in the match.

The Nomads enjoyed a convincing win against the Cats, 31-18-204 to 5-4-34.

The first quarter started of well for the Nomads, with six goals at the end of the quarter to Muswellbrook’s two.

In the second quarter they continued their lead with seven goals to one.

They finished with a stellar final quarter, scoring 70 points in quick succession.

Despite the decisive win, Meehan says the Nomads struggled to keep the momentum up because of a dip in overall fitness and the fact that there were a number of players filling in for regular plays, both issues which can be attributed to the four-week university holidays.

Taking the break into consideration, Meehan said ‘the teamwork and shepherding were really good’.

“We find the university holidays really hard usually but now we are back at nearly full strength,” Meehan said.

A number of Nomads scored three goals each – Adrian Walsh, Sam Trotman and Rich Malone, along with Whitby.

Meehan nominated Whitby, Anthony Reid ‘who got ball out of the centre a lot for us’, Glen Northway and young gun Sam Trotman as the strongest players of the match.

The Nomads’ consistent performance throughout the season has left them one game clear of Gunnedah in third place.

They will be playing Gunnedah next week as an away game.

The probable result is anyone’s guess, as the Nomads have faced Gunnedah before, losing one game and winning the other.

Meehan says the team has no specific game plan leading into the match against Gunnedah.

“We’ll try to keep working on our team work, but if we play like we did on Saturday we’ll have a good chance.”

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