Nomads take the points in thriller
By James Polson (Armidale Express, 04/05/2009)
Jared Reid and Hamish Robertson, two of the Nomads stand-outs against the Swans.
Things are looking up for the New England Nomads after the Armidale side had a nail-biting win over the Tamworth Swans at Bellevue on Saturday.
Behind for most of the match the Nomads booted four majors in the last quarter to emerge victorious by five points.
The final score was 14-10-94 to 13-11-89.
The Nomads, who went into the first round match with a relatively inexperienced lineup, started slowly.
The Swans took a 25-point lead into quarter time.
The Nomads reduced the deficit to 10 points heading into the main break before starting the final quarter just three points adrift.
Tamworth were a man down after Dean Hoy was yellow-carded for 15 minutes, and when he returned the Nomads just held on for a close win.
Weston Whitby and Sam Trotman were the pick of the Nomads’ kickers, nailing five and four goals respectively.
Nomads’ coach Brendan Meehan agreed they were among the standouts.
“Those two and some of the new fellas like Adam Wright,” he said.
“Nick Schultz at fullback was absolutely brilliant and another new guy, Jared Reid, was real good.
“He showed some good promise.”
The Nomads are at home again this week, facing a Muswellbrook side coming off the back of a heavy loss to Gunnedah.
Meehan said the remainder of the club’s university players will be back for that match.
“There’s still a couple to come back,” he said.
“It’s been really good with numbers, we had 25 or 26 to pick from on Saturday and there’ll be a few more next week.
“Last year I had to scrape to find 20 players for the first game – the difference is unbelievable.”
Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express
