A 200 point demolition
By Ben Lonergan (Armidale Express, 14/05/2014)
The New England Nomads have announced themselves as clear Tamworth AFL League favourites following their 200 point annihilation of the Tamworth Swans on Saturday.
Playing in front of their home crowd at Bellevue Oval for the first time this season, the Nomads virtually wrapped up in the game in the opening exchanges, as they led 70-6 at quarter time.
They went on to boot a whopping 35 goals throughout the course of the game.
The Nomads kicked another five goals in the second quarter to lead 106-14 at half time.
Another eight goals in the third quarter continued the onslaught, but the worst was yet to come for the Swans.
Any thought the Swans may have had of the Nomads slacking off late in the game certainly didn’t come to fruition.
The Nomads booted 11 more goals in the final quarter to run the score up to embarrassing levels for the Swans.
While their attacking game was almost unbelievable at times, the Nomads’ defence was also outstanding, as they restricted the Swans to a lowly three goals.
Dave Richards has run his goal tally up to 12 in only two games and has been dynamic for the Nomads up front.
He booted eight goals on Saturday and Swans defenders will be having nightmares about him for weeks.
“It was his 21st birthday as well,” Nomads player-coach Zac Economou said of Richards.
“So he had a pretty good day.”
Richards is joined on 12 goals by Isaiah Graham, who backed up his five goals in round one with seven more on Saturday.
Matt Folpp and Adrian Walsh also got in on the action as they kicked four goals apiece, while Tom Granleese, Matthew Foley and Jon Freund all booted two.
Economou said Saturday’s game was by far the most dominant effort he has been a part of.
“I’ve certainly never won a game by 200 points,” he said.
The first year coach was understandably ecstatic with the performance.
“We came out firing in that first quarter,” he said.
“I think that showed how switched on we were.”
The most pleasing aspect for Economou was the killer instinct his side showed.
“We worked hard the whole game,” he said.
“We never let up.
“It would have been pretty easy to stop trying.”
Economou said while Richards and Graham were again outstanding, he found it hard to single out any one player as his best.
“The whole forward line played well, but it was a whole team effort,” he said.
“We used the bigger space at our home ground well and we moved the ball very quickly.
“It was good to get a win in our first home game.”
Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express
Round 2 2014
Nomads def. Swans | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | B | P | G | B | P | ||
Q1 | 11 | 4 | 70 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
HT | 16 | 10 | 106 | 2 | 2 | 14 | |
Q3 | 24 | 12 | 156 | 2 | 6 | 18 | |
FT | 35 | 15 | 225 | 3 | 7 | 25 |
Team:
- C. Ballagh,
- V. Chakalisa,
- D. Davies,
- T. Dickson,
- Z. Economou,
- M. Foley,
- M. Folpp,
- J. Freund,
- J. Frost,
- C. Graham,
- I. Graham,
- T. Granleese,
- T. Hunt,
- S. Macdonald,
- Z. Old,
- D. Richards,
- J. Shirley,
- O. Temoso,
- A. Walsh,
- Z. Wells,
- W. Whitby,
- M. Woodward.
Goalscorers:
- D. Richards (8),
- I. Graham (7),
- A. Walsh (4),
- M. Folpp (4),
- J. Freund (2),
- M. Foley (2),
- T. Granleese (2),
- C. Ballagh,
- S. Macdonald,
- T. Dickson,
- T. Hunt,
- V. Chakalisa,
- W. Whitby.
Award winners:
- D. Richards and I. Graham (Players' Player),
- M. Foley (Coach's),
- J. Frost (President's),
- Z. Wells (Captain's),
- C. Ballagh (Gleeson's).