In the last home and away game of the 2014 year, the Nomads have returned to form with a fine 25 point win over the Tamworth Roos at the Bellevue. Best for the Nomads were Tommy Hunt, Wulu Hall and Zac The-Kid Wells.

It turned out to be a good day all round for the Nomads with David ‘Modra’ Richards winning the league’s goal kicking award and also coming runner-up in the League’s best and fairest. Congratulations to Rampaging Dave.

The Nomads came into this game missing a number of key players, including Mr Everywhere Matt Foley, Dr. Flexo Freund and Tommy ‘Gleeso’ Granleese. It was another wet Saturday home game in Armidale. Although the season has been particularly dry, and the farmers in the team like Cookie and Rowdy have been out feeding cotton seed, come home-game time and it invariably rains. This day was also bitterly cold.

The Roos started well kicking the first two goals of the game and took advantage of the Nomads’ sluggishness. The Nomads eventually started to wake up and by the end of the first quarter were only seven points behind the Roos – the scores being 3.4.22 to 2.3.15. There were some excellent performances during this time. Tommy Hunt was carving up at centre half back marking everything that was in the air and roving like, well a rover. Wulu Hall was also starting to fire on the half back flank providing plenty of run – his second efforts were most impressive. Unfortunately during this quarter the man who seems to be guilty of the crime of having one-p-too-many, Matty Folpp, took a hard blow to his ribs and basically was out for the rest of the game.

The second quarter saw the Nomads really kick on. Five goals were kicked and the Nomads started to play some good hard football. Weston Whitby was in the thick of it, kicking goals and providing hard contests in the forward line. Zac Economou was leading well and marking strongly and if he had remembered to pack his goal kicking boots would have had three for the quarter. Chux was also making his mark around the ground with his elusive movement and silky skills. At half-time the scores were 7.7.49 to 5.5.35.

The third quarter saw the Nomads really pull away with some fine contested football. The hardness at the context was excellent and this was particularly true of the work of Zac Wells who had really taken to his role as on-baller. His straight line running int he middle set the tone for the other players. Tom Hunt continued his great form in the backline and Wulu was having his best game ever for the Nomads. At the final change the scores were 11.11.77 to 7.5.47.

The final quarter saw the Nomads take the foot off the pedal to some extent. The Roos kicked 5 goals in this quarter to the Nomads 4. The Roos do have a number of excellent footballers and if you slacken off will be punished. Nonetheless the result was never in doubt.

Overall it was a very good effort on the part of the Greenboys. It felt rather like a final with a very strong challenge from a team playing clever football. Despite the Roos’ efforts, the Nomads rose to their challenge with excellent hard football. Skipper Weston Whitby was once again excellent up forward and despite carrying a number of injuries managed to kick 5 goals. Tom Hunt put in a best on ground performance and Wulu Hall realised the potential he has shown over the past few years with a brilliant game on the wing and half back flank. The Wells-Kid was his own enigmatic self, running through packs (and remembering to bounce the ball) and even having the cheek to take a one-handed mark (perhaps he thought he was high-fiving someone).

Now the finals begin and we look forward to the big game against the Saints at home on Saturday.

Go the Green.

Round 15 2014

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2014 at 10:16 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.