The Nomads bounced back strongly against the Roos after their loss to Gunnedah the week before. Although a number of players were out due to the university holidays, the senior players—including Tom Hunt, Paddy Tobias, Wulu Hall, David Richards, Luke Raymond and Phill Mitchell, along with some of the younger players such as Clarrie Barker, Mitch Harriot and Cameron Graham—stood tall. Despite a second quarter fade-out, the Nomads were too strong in the second half and ran out easy winners, kicking 19.11.125 to the Roos’ 10.6.66. David “Rampaging” Richards once again dominated the forward line kicking 6 goals.

This was a danger game for the Nomads with a number of key players missing, including James Treweeke, Jesse Petrascu, Tim Keys, Jez Ratcliffe, Harry Wakefield and Alex Shem all with either holidays or university commitments. Indeed the team was missing the whole of its legendary med-field. In addition newcomer to the team Lochie Bettington who was starting to play some excellent football was jetting his way to Britain to start a new career as a London barrista at the moment the game began (luckily he was not there for the medieval barbarity that happened on Saturday night). After the loss the week before, the team needed to get itself back in the winner’s circle.

The team was bolstered by some new and old recruits. Omphile Temoso made a welcome return the green jerseys as did Pat Hunt (as everyone knows two Hunts are better than none). I think Pat has played 3 games over his 11 year career with the Noeys. Also Brayden Bloomfield from the Juniors made his debut and joined his fellow junior Morgan Dunn who made his debut against Moree. Michael ‘Turbo’ Turner was another debutante in this game. Shane Snowden also was available this week which strengthened the backline considerably.

The Nomads started very strongly in the first quarter with Tom Hunt in the ruck and Rambo Raymond and Clarrie in the midfield combining strongly to create plenty of opportunities for the forwards. Paddy Tobias was also killing it on the half back line and through the middle. Liam Cudmore on the half forward flank was leading strongly while Modra and Cameron were causing havoc all over the ground. The Nomads had four goals on the board before the Roos had scored. The forwards probably not take sufficient advantage of the opportunities that they had. At the end of the first quarter scores were 4.4.28 to 1.1.7

Perhaps the Nomads took the fact that they were well ahead for granted or perhaps there was something in the water but the team lacked the same drive in the second quarter. The Roos closed the gap in this quarter and by the end of the term were only 10 point ahead. It might have been even worse had it not been for strong work in the back-line by Phill Mitchell and Snowy. Pat Hunt was also doing an excellent in in the last line of defence.

Harsh words were spoken by the coach at half time and they obviously had some effect since in the third quarter the Nomads were on fire. Modra was everywhere. Clarrie was strong in the centre holding the corridor and directing play and Cameron-the-Bullet was running the ball forward with his blinding speed (indeed one well-placed pundit claimed he had never seen anyone have as many bounces as Cameron did during this game). Paddy and Rambo were at the bottom of every pack and bustling through traffic. Up forward Ethan Karpany was also causing trouble for the Roos. The third quarter also saw young Mitch Harriot effect some excellent spoils on the half back line. Mitch’s opponent didn;t get a kick all day and he killed anything that was in the air. On two occasions in the this quarter he flew back with the flight of the ball in front of a pack and got his hand to a ball in the air, deflecting to from the oncoming Roos’ forward. It looks like we have a natural backmen developing here.

The Nomads kicked 8 for the quarter – including goals from debutantes Bloomfield and Turner – and the lead blew out to 54 by the time the penultimate siren blew.

The final quarter saw the Nomads continue on their merry way with the Nomads’ small men causing havoc for the Roos. In the end the Nomads’ running game was too much for the opposition. It was a very pleasing outcome given the quality of the players that were missing. The Nomads now have two weekends off in a row and will need to be vigilant to ensure that fitness and skills don’t drop off.

Oh and thanks once again to Lisa ‘Rambo’ Raymond who did a fine job running water for the boys.

Players Player C. Graham
Coach – C. Barker
President – W. Hall
MPA – D. Richards
Captain – P. Tobias

Round 9 2017

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