The New England Nomads won convincingly against the Moree Suns at the Bellevue Oval. Tom Hunt, Luke Raymond and Paddy Tobias dominated across the midfield while up forward Harry Wakefield kicked 9, Jesse Petrascu 5, and Ethan Karpany and David “Birthday Boy” Richards kicked 4 apiece. The Nomads had winners all across the park. Although the Nomads won by nearly 200 points, the game was more closely fought than this might suggest and if the Suns had kicked truly in the first quarter they would have been in the hunt. Final scores were 34.25.229 to 5.9.39.

Once again it was a beautiful day for football with not even a hint of a breeze and a pleasant 24 degrees. A number of players were out (including Cammie and Clarrie) and the game saw the return of Nomads original Tom Walsh as well as the return of Steve Ironman Wilson.

The Nomads won the toss and kicked to the Uralla end but the Suns put the first score on the board with a point. Tom Hunt had taken on ruck duties and was working well with Jesse Petrascu, Jeremy Ratcliffe and Rambo Raymond. Rambo was everywhere as was big Tom who controlled marking contests across the midfield. It took a while for the forwards to take advantage of the opportunities they were being given but soon enough Harry Wakefield and Karps scored and by the end of the quarter the Nomads had five goals and were leading by 23 points. However, the scores would have been much closer if the Suns had kicked truly. They scored 1.6 for the quarter and many of these were from gettable set shots.

In the second quarter the team started to work together and the ball was moved forward quickly. The forwards were rampant in this quarter. Jesse Petrascu had the goal umpire in complete awe and reverence with his long range goal-kicking as he snaffled a couple from outside the 50. Modra was at his usual elusive best while Harry just went on his merry way kicking goals. Up back Tom Walsh, Snowy Snowden, Paddy Tobias and Alex Shem were rock solid whenever the ball did get past the dominating midfield. The Nomads kicked 11 goals for the quarter. Wulu Hall was brilliant in this quarter on the wing, winning a number of two-on-ones and sending the ball back into the forward line. At half time the scores were 11.5.71 to 1.7.13.

The third quarter saw the Nomads press their advantage. Karps took some strong leading marks as the boys hit him up in the sweet spot. Alex Shem kicked his first goal for the Nomads (hopefully the first of many). Jez and Rambo were killing it in the middle taking advantage of big Tom Hunt’s ruck work (Jez had one shot undermined by a Jilbi mistake on the line which according to the TWP (Treweeke/Wakefield Plan) is worthy of a fine but the jury is out on that one still). The Nomads were much more direct in this quarter and avoided the dead pocket and as a result kicked 10 goals for the quarter. At the final change the scores were 26.18.174 to 1.8.14.

The final score saw the Nomads shift the team around and so Liam Cudmore and Steve Wilson moved forward while Keysie and Modra moved to the backline. The team continued on its merry way and finished the game in style. However, it must be said some for he goal kicking in this final term left a bit to be desired with some easy set shots. But there was a lot of excellent football and amongst other things Sam Bioletti scored an excellent running goal from the half forward flank as did the Snowman. In one memorable moment Harry wrestled the ball out of a Moree player’s hands and kicked a goal in what could only be described as a very cheeky steal.

The game was played in good spirit. Moree have a number of very talented young players and if they can keep them will become very competitive in the next few years. The Nomads had winners all over the ground but senior plays like Paddy Tobias and Tom Hunt led the way. We look forward to seeing how the team develops over the next few weeks as the new players begin to know each other’s games.

Round 5 2017

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