By James Polson (Armidale Express, 03/08/2009)
The New England Nomads had a convincing win over the Muswellbrook Cats on Saturday that keeps them with the slimmest of chances for contention in the Tamworth Australian Football League (TAFL) finals.

A win by the Inverell Saints over the Tamworth Swans means the Nomads now need Inverell to lose all their remaining games for the Nomads to feature in the finals series.

The Nomads took the game 108 to 53 kicking 15 goals and 18 behinds to the Cats eight goals and five behinds.

It was a hard-fought battle, with the Nomads only leading by two at the main break after being caught off guard by a Cats side that put in what Nomads coach Brendon Meehan described as their best performance of the year.

Star players for the Nomads were Caleb Dobos who kicked four majors and Matthew Maxwell who kicked three.

Adrian Walsh and Jonathon Frost also bagged doubles while goals also went to Sam Trotman, Jay Wright, Kenneth Clayton and Ben Page.

Best on ground for the Nomads was Maxwell followed closely by Frost who started in the backline but played all over the ground, and Jared Reid who had a great game on the wing.

Stuart McAdam and Jeff Bower were the main goalscorers for the Cats with McAdam bagging four and Bower a double.

“McAdam is very hard to keep under wraps he has good hands and a good kick on him, he was definitely one of their best,” Meehan said.

The coach said despite his side’s slim finals hopes he is looking forward to next season with a lot of young players in his side steadily improving.

Meehan added that his side could still do with a good full forward, as their kicking in front of goal can be a bit wayward at times.

He said the key to victory for his team was better effort in the second half after his side were lucky to go into halftime with the lead, adding that the Cats really took it to the Nomads in the first half and battled well all game.

In the round’s other matches the Gunnedah Bulldogs were defeated by the Tamworth Kangaroos 100-81 and the Saints beat the Swans 109-68.

Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express

Round 12 2009

Nomads def. Cats
	G	B	P		G	B	P
Q1	5	4	34		2	1	13
HT	5	9	39		6	1	37
Q3	11	10	76		8	2	50
FT	15	18	108		8	5	53

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