For the third year in a row, the TAFL grand final is to be held at Nomads’ Bellevue Oval, after the New Englanders overcame a spirited opposition in the Tamworth Kangaroos. Tim Keys, Rampaging David Richards, Jed Ellis-Cluff, Paddy Tobais, Matt Foley and Wulu Hall were standouts in what was an excellent team effort. Final scores were 17.16.118 to 10.10.70. The boys now have a week’s rest before the Grand Final which will be held on September 19th.

The Nomads started the game with a slightly different forward structure than they have had over the past few months, with champion centre half back Tommy ‘Sticks’ Hunt moving to full-forward and Zac-the Accumulator and Modra in the pockets. Young tyro Clarrie Barker was out after injuring his back the week before, but the Nomads had basically a full list from which to choose.

The Nomads kicked to the grandstand end for the first quarter in what was mild spring weather – though a strongish wind was blowing from the rugby grounds and it seemed like there might be some moisture later in the day.

Both teams came out strongly and scored tit-for-tat goals. The backline were under a lot of pressure at points. Phill Mitchell and Gleeso were strong in the air killing any marking opportunities for the Roos while the Stanley Man and Cookie were cleaning up the loose balls. In one memorable moment Andre Garraud – who has had a radical character change and become a hardboiled backman -threw himself running backward at a high ball to frustrate what looked like a certain goal for the Roos. Up forward Modra was running freely and creating opportunities for all of this around him. Big Sticks took a hanger and kicked truly. By the end of the quarter the Nomads were leading 5.3.33 to 2.1.13.

The second quarter saw the Nomads play their best football for quite some time. In the middle Paddy Tobias was hard at every contest, while Tim ‘Killer-Karl’ Keys (who resembles one of the antiheroes from that great 70’s show ‘World Championship Wrestling’) was winning the ruck contests and then cleaning up any loose ground balls. The Jeddacutta Man, Pad-man and Matt ‘Superboot’ Foley (who took a number of hard knocks) were playing their usual elusive brands of football while in the forward territory Tony Dickson, Modra, and Zac were running riot. At half-time the scores were 11.9.75 to 4.3.27.

It looked like the Nomads would run away with it in the second half as the teams retired to the Bellevue complex.

Alas it was not to be.

The Roos came back out in the second half with a renewed intensity. It should not have surprised anyone since they are a quality side and a home grand final was on the line. The Nomads only kicked one goal in this quarter while the Roos kicked 4. Wulu Hall took a number of telling marks in this quarter playing loose across the half-back zone. The backline were under a lot of pressure and at times players right across the ground panicked and made bad decisions. At three quarter time the difference between the teams was less than 30 points with the Nomads leading 12.13.85 to 8.8.56. And if the Roos had kicked straighter the difference might have been even less.

The first ten minutes of the final quarter was a tense struggle. The Roos continued surging and it looked like the 2015 Grand Final might be heading south of the Moonbis. However, a few moves were made, including coach Economou moving back to centre half back and Big Dre to full forward and this seemed to steady the ship. The Nomads scored four unanswered goals (three from the Superboot) and the game was over.

In the end the speed across the ground of the Nomads won the day, but not before giving the Nomads fans a heart attack. We look forward to the grand final in a fortnight.

Round SF2 2015

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 6th, 2015 at 7:06 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.