The New England Nomads defeated the Tamworth Swans on Saturday by 81 points in a rather lacklustre performance. Coach Zac Economou was the standout forward kicking 7 goals with strong marking and good delivery from the midfield. The final score was 18.17.125 to 6.6.42.

The game began in sunny conditions and there were a larger number of people in the crowd, many of whom were in town for the Ball. The Swans were a little short of a full squad when they arrived, having only 17 players so it was agreed to play 16 aside. This meant there would be lots of space out on the wide wings of the Bellevue for the Nomads’ runners. However, in the first quarter the Nomads seemed a little off their game. There wasn’t any real attack upon the ball and the delivery into the forward line was poor. Much of the time it involved a hack forward without any real direction in the vain hope that it might land in the arms of a Nomad. Unfortunately, it seemed that much of the time the kicks went to one of the two loose men that the Swans had in their backline.Nonetheless there were a number of bright aspects for the Nomads in this first quarter. Matt ‘Media Star’ Foley – who had been away the week before – was back to his best form. Zac “Old Spice” Old was doing well out on the wing and the Wild Man from Borneo (the Man with the Fro), Matty Woodward was continuing his good form from the week before. Chux seemed to be everywhere and was making creative use of the ball. At the end of the first quarter, the scores were 4.1.25 to 1.1.7.

The second quarter was worse than the first and it seemed that the Nomads were really missing Frosty, Modra and Dr Flexo Fruen (all of whom were being rested due to injury concerns), especially their hardness at the ball. The delivery into the crowded forward line in this quarter was atrocious. (It actually takes a certain perverse creative skill to crowd the forward line at the Bellevue when you are playing in a 16-a-side game but the Nomads managed to do so with great ease in the second quarter). Better players in this quarter were Wellsy and Gleeso. At the end of this quarter the scores were 7.6.48 to 4.1.25.

When the game resumed after the break the difference between the two teams was only 23 points. The Swans had their tails up. Could this be an upset? However, this was not to be the case. Whatever Zac-the-Coach said at halftime seemed to work and the Nomad boys came out playing the kind of football that we have become accustomed to this year, with lots of running and adept teamwork. Here finally were the 2014 Nomads who had briefly gone missing during the first half. Weston was on fire in the midfield and Gleeso was holding things together up back. At the final change, the scores were 14.13.97 to 4.3.27.

In the final quarter the Nomads consolidated their lead with four goals, all from the boot of Zac Econonou. The Nomads did not take the foot off the pedal. Matt Foley was brilliant right until the end with his clever work around contests and long clearing kicks. Rambo and Cammy Graham did a lot of good work out on the flanks and up back Gleeo and Dan-the-Man Davies were repelling any forward thrusts made by the Swans.

In the end it was a good effort, but the tendency to lapse in these games with those much lower on the ladder needs to be overcome. The boys certainly could not play like that against the Roos and the Saints and hope to win.

Next week the Nomads’ opponents will be the Inverell Saints. It will be a big game up in Gem-city.

On a lighter note, after the game the boys had a great evening at their annual ball.

A little post-match relaxation at the Nomads’ Ball

Round 12 2014

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2014 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Match report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.