From the Armidale Express, 22/03/2010.
New England Nomads faced off with a strong North Coffs Harbour Kangaroos outfit in the final of the Tablelands Cup yesterday, going down 64-51 at Bellevue Oval.

The two Australian football sides faced off for the cup after finishing the round robin as the top two teams.

The Nomads had beaten the Kangaroos by four points earlier in the day, but Coffs rested several key players to save them for the final.

The Nomads advanced to the final after convincing wins over Nambucca Heads and Inverell on Saturday.

Nomads coach Brendan Meehan told The Express he was happy with the performance of his players and is now looking forward to the Tamworth AFL season, which kicks off on April 10.

“I’m very happy with the boys, there were five or or six blokes who had never even played the game before this weekend and they went really well so I was pleased with that,” he said.

The preseason tournament was described by both Meehan and Kangaroos coach Darren Funston as an ideal hitout, with Meehan adding it allowed his team some valuable game time and identified areas of improvement.

“Our manning up in defence has to get better… we were a bit loose at times,” he said.

“We also need to work on our fitness as well – the boys did well but they played a lot over the weekend and the fitness side definitely caught up to them.

“But overall it was a great hitout and the side is showing a lot of promise this year.”

Funston was stoked with his side’s win and said they were likely to return to Armidale next year to defend their title.

“I couldn’t be happier, especially with the way we started the final. It took a bit to get going but once we started to play our brand of football we were able to get on top.”

Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express.

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