Nomads nullify barkless Bulldogs
By Ben Lonergan (Armidale Express, 01/07/2015)
Spectators at Bellevue Oval on Saturday were treated to a ruthless performance by three-time reigning Tamworth AFL champions the New England Nomads.
The scoreboard read an almost unbelievable 237-7 in the Nomads’ favour when the hooter sounded, a fair reflection of an utterly dominant effort from the premiers.
“It was a bit of a whitewash,” Nomads’ player-coach Zac Economou said.
“They were down a few players but you have got to play well to win a game of footy by 230 points.”
The Nomads scored more than 50 points in every quarter, a statistic that Economou was ecstatic with.
“The most pleasing thing is that we played well for four quarters,” he said.
Astonishingly the Nomads led 105-nil at half time, with Gunnedah scoring their only points, a solitary goal and behind, in the third quarter.
Weston Whitby was again on fire for the Nomads, booting nine goals, while Economou continued his rich vein of form with eight of his own.
“We had good ball use,” Economou said. “Paddy Tobias and Jed Ellis-Clough delivered the ball forward so well, which gave us plenty of opportunities to kick goals.”
While it was easily the biggest margin of victory Economou had been part of in his Aussie Rules career, he still wasn’t sure whether it was his side’s best performance of the season.
“It’s very hard to judge with them down on players,” he said.
“It makes it a lot easier for us when they are fatigued and we had fresh legs throughout.
“I think they turned up with 16 or 17 players.
“But in saying that it’s 15 on 15 out there on the field, it’s not like we had more players out there than they did.”
Whitby was the standout according to Economou with the veteran adding a real spark to the Nomads’ attack in his first two games back after a prolonged stint out.
“Defenders just hate to match up with him,” he said.
Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express
Round 10 2015
| Nomads def. Bulldogs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | P | G | B | P | ||
| Q1 | 8 | 4 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| HT | 16 | 9 | 105 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Q3 | 24 | 15 | 159 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| FT | 37 | 15 | 237 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
Team:
- C. Barker,
- D. Bioletti,
- V. Chakalisa,
- H. Cook,
- A. Cruickshank,
- M. Darton,
- T. Dickson,
- Z. Economou,
- J. Ellis-Cluff,
- A. Garraud,
- T. Granleese,
- W. Hall,
- T. Hunt,
- T. Lashlie,
- L. Raymond,
- D. Richards,
- O. Temoso,
- P. Tobias,
- A. Walsh,
- Z. Wells,
- W. Whitby,
- M. Woodward.
Goalscorers:
- W. Whitby (9),
- Z. Economou (8),
- A. Cruickshank (4),
- D. Richards (4),
- H. Cook (2),
- J. Ellis-Cluff (2),
- P. Tobias (2),
- T. Hunt (2),
- A. Walsh,
- C. Barker,
- M. Darton,
- T. Dickson.
Award winners:
- L. Raymond (Players' Player),
- P. Tobias (Coach's),
- D. Richards (President's),
- W. Hall (Captain's),
- J. Ellis-Cluff (Meehan's Plumbing Services').
