Saints make Nomads suffer

By Siobhan McCarthy (Armidale Express, 20/08/2012)
The New England Nomads have been sent to the preliminary finals after suffering an 89-69 loss to the Inverell Saints in the major semi-final at Bellevue Oval on Saturday.

The first quarter saw both sides evenly matched.

But the Inverell Saints dictated the direction of play in the second and third quarters and the Nomads were unable to respond.

Despite a late surge by the Nomads, they were not able to narrow the gap.

Nomads’ player-coach Tom Granleese said his side didn’t play the way they needed to and Saturday’s game was a reality check for the Armidale team.

“We let the Saints dictate most of the game and that is when they caused the most damage,” he said.

“We didn’t give the Saints the respect they deserved on Saturday and they were able to seriously capitalise on that.”

The last time the two sides met, the Nomads defeated the Saints, but on Saturday they were unable to execute their game plan to secure a win and a home grand final.

“When we control the game and focus on playing a running-based game we can be damaging, but we couldn’t remain composed to execute our game place consistently,” Granleese said.

Following Saturday’s result the Nomads face off against the Tamworth Kangaroos this weekend

Both teams will now battle it out to secure a place in the grand final to be held in Inverell early next month.

“We need to win against Tamworth and if we want to do that convincingly we need to focus on executing our own game plan,” Granleese said.

“If we don’t stick to our game plan we will get beaten every single time we take the field and Saturday was proof of that.”

Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express

Round SF2 2012

Nomads def. by Saints
 GBP GBP
Q13018 3422
HT4226 7749
Q39660 10868
FT10969 131189

Team:

  • C. Ballagh,
  • R. Connor,
  • H. Cook,
  • A. Cruickshank,
  • S. Cusack,
  • C. Dobos,
  • G. Elson,
  • J. Freund,
  • J. Frost,
  • D. Graan,
  • T. Granleese,
  • L. Holmes,
  • B. Julien,
  • N. Lambie,
  • L. McLeod,
  • D. Richards,
  • K. Rowlings,
  • S. Stubbs,
  • J. Tilto,
  • A. Walsh,
  • W. Whitby,
  • M. Woodward.

Goalscorers:

  • A. Cruickshank (3),
  • B. Julien (2),
  • C. Dobos (2),
  • D. Richards,
  • R. Connor,
  • S. Cusack.

Award winners:

  • W. Whitby (Players' Player),
  • G. Elson (Coach's),
  • H. Cook (President's),
  • J. Freund (Captain's),
  • R. Connor (VC's),
  • D. Richards (Red Rooster).

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