The New England Nomads have beaten the Tamworth Swans 14.12.96 to 7.7.40. In what was often an unnecessarily spiteful clash, the Nomads kept their focus on winning the hard ball and ultimately won easily by 47 points. The final scores were 14.12.96 to 7.7.49.

The game was played in warm conditions in Tamworth. However, the oval had seen some rain in the previous few days and the centre of the ground was muddy and the ground was heavy underfoot. The ground officials thus decided to move the centre square towards the river so that the initial ruck contest would not be in the mud. This made for a rather lopsided centre bounce. The Nomads went into the game again with many of their star players still away with the holidays. But it also saw the welcome return of old Nomads John Mahy who last pulled on the Green Guernsey in 2006 as well as the newly wed world traveller, Rowdy Ballagh.

In the first quarter the nomads scored some early goals thanks in no small part to strong marking from Weston Whitby in the goal square. Weston was suffering some hamstring strain and was restricted in his movement. Chux was relishing his role in the middle and obtaining a lot of kicks. The back line, which was still without Coach Economou, held up well. Tom Granleese continued his excellent form from the previous few weeks and with his fellow hackmen repelled the Swans’ forward forays. Tom Hunt was also dominating across the ground with his strong marking. At the end of the first quarter the score was 6.5.41 to 2.2.14.

The second quarter saw the beginning of some rather rough play on the part of the Swans which was to mar the match. Kicking to the swimming pool end, the Nomads fell into the trap of not using the open spaces. However, David Richards was moving well in the forward line and creating a lot of opportunities for the other forwards. The team also conceded a few goals kicking to the corridor in the back line which, on a small ground, was always going to be a dangerous strategy. At half-time the score was 9.6.60 to 4.5.29.

The third quarter is usually the decisive one. In the third the Nomads held their ground and kicked two goals to the Swans’ two. Frosty was everywhere in the backline, at his best getting the hard ball and breaking lines to propel the Sherrin forward at pace.

The final quarter was full of rather ugly scrimmages and some gratuitous late tackles on the part of the Swans. More time was spent scuffling than playing football. Perhaps the less said, the better. In this final quarter Velani Chakalisa continued his best-on-ground performance. Chux has always been more of an outside player, but in this game he showed his ability to play hard and inside. His improvement over the past year, to become one of the best ball-getters in the league, has been remarkable. The Nomads scored three goals for the quarter and restricted the Swans to one and ran out easy winners.

Standout players for the Nomads were Chux, Gleeso, Matty Woodward, Tom Hunt, Weston Whitby, Frosty and Modra. It was a strong performance by the senior players in team that was weakened by the holidays.

Next week the team plays Inverell and will need to get back to playing their running football if they are to win.

Round 7 2014

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