The New England Nomads have won their fourth game for the year after defeating a highly competitive team from Narribri. In a game in which the final scores did not reflect the closeness of the tussle, Zac Economou kicked seven goals straight while Modra Richards chimed in with three. Jed Ellis-Cluff was excellent in the midfield and was rightfully awarded the players’ player award. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the game from the Nomads’ point of view was the Green Boys’s use of handball to shift out of hot contested packs. This can only be a sign of good things to come.

The game began with a few changes of personnel for the Nomads. Al Mitchelson was playing his first game with the Nomads and Hoani ‘Rotate’ Morrell was back in the green and black (great to see him back). Unusually, the wind was coming from the east (presumably part of the rain pattern that had fallen during the week), rather than the usual westerlies that on most Saturdays make the Albies’ flank a graveyard for goal-kicking.

It was clear from the outset that Narribri had come to play good hard football. Their tackling was excellent and placed the Nomads’ disposal under a great deal of pressure. In the middle, Zac Wells and Jedda were gaining a lot of possession with Wellsy playing his usual rambunctious style of no-holds barred football. Up forward Zac-the-Coach was making the most of his opportunities, slotting some goals from fine angles. Clarrie Barker was also having an effect through the middle and from the half back flank. At centre half forward Hayden Clarke was presenting well and taking some remarkable grabs (at times it seems the ball was out of his grasp and then his tentacle like fingers wrapped around the Sherrin). The Nomads kicked three goals in this first quarter and led by 15 points at the first change.

In the second quarter the Nomads kicked to the grandstand end and really put their collective feet down. In this quarter Wulu Hall was unstoppable through the centre of the ground and Zac ‘Old Spice’ Old was fearless in his attack on the football. Rambo and Shannon Macdonald had great quarter respectively on the wings. Up forward Zac Economou was marking strongly. The defence, lead by Phill ‘Ironbark’ Mitchell, Snowy Snowden and Hugo Cook, were doing brilliantly and had kept the Eagles to one solitary major. Phill was having an epic battle with their tall and talented full forward and Hugo took a couple of hangers. At half time the scores were 8.6.54 to 1.4.10.

In the third quarter the Nomads were once again kicking uphill. The Nomads suffered a few injuries in this period with Wulu, Spence and Hayden Clarke all having no further part in the game. It was unfortunate since all were playing great football. At the last change the scores were 10.8.68 to 2.5.17.

The final quarter saw some excellent football played by the Nomads – and they made good use of the flanks and wide open spaces of the Bellevue. Jed was running amuk through the middle while Modra was enjoying himself up forward. Zac Old continued his excellent form. The Nomads kicked five gaols for the quarter and started playing some good team football. (There was one interesting incident with Jed and The Haitchman and long into the evening debate continued about who really was the Muppet in the case under question – but perhaps a wise person would not allow themselves to get involved in that thorny philosophical conundrum.)

At the final siren the scores were 15.11.101 to 5.6-36. The celebrations continued at the Wicklow where Andre the-Galloping-Gall won his first pool game against Modra (although perhaps in slightly dubious circumstances) and the whole team circled around him and sang the pool song and sprayed beers to honour the historical event.

It was another excellent effort on the part of the Nomads who have been improving each week. Supporters can look forward to watching the team over the next few weeks as the team becomes more aware of each other’s way of playing.

Round 6 2015

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2015 at 11:59 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.