Nomads lose their second game of the year

An undermanned and lacklustre Nomads team lost their second game of the year when they played the Inverell Saints at Varley Oval on Saturday. The Nomads were outplayed by a Saints team that came to win and were hard at the ball right from the first bounce. There were some bright spots though in what was a dark day for the boys in green, with the backline playing above and beyond the call of duty. The Black Bear hunter Alex Shem was best on ground followed closely by Clarrie Barker who held strong at full back. Mitch Darton, Wulu Hall and Paddy Tobias battled valiantly across the half back line and Modra played a lone hand up forward and across the midfield. However, with the finals just around the corner, the team will need to improve rather rapidly. Final scores were 14.16.100 to 5.7.37.

The Nomads started the game with just 17 due to some late arrivals and last minute withdrawals. Missing from the team were Tom Hunt, Tim Keys, Luke Raymond, Steve Wilson, Cameron Graham, Shannon Macdonald and last but not least, Velani Chakalisa. With quality players like that, the boys who were there were really going to need to work hard. However, the Saints, as seems to be their way, got out of the blocks early and controlled the game, running the ball through the corridor and then forward time and time again. Paddy Tobias and Clarrie continually hit packs vigorously and secured plenty of ‘hard-ball-gets’ but when they came out with the Sherrin found themselves with no-one to deliver to. There was very little movement up forward or across the midfield. The Nomads were lucky that the Saints kicking was as poor as it was because they could easily had 8 or 9 goals for the quarter. The one goal for the Nomads for the quarter was scored by tyro Ethan Bray who roved the back of the pack as it came off the back of the pack for what was an excellent piece of forward play. At the end of the first quarter scores were 4.8.32 to 1.0.6.

Things did not improve much in the second quarter though the Nomads managed to have the ball in their forward line and did manage to score 6 points – there were some very gettable misses in this quarter (time for some goal kicking practice I would say). Alex Shem really came to the fore this quarter and demonstrated why he is the number one live game hunter in the league, with his fearless attack on the ball: as if an Inverell Saint would bother him after staring down the rarely sighted German Black Bear! Again there was far too little movement across the ground. The backline players cleared the ball only to have it back in their half almost immediately. Overall the team did staunch the flow and the Saints only kicked one goal for the quarter. At half time scores were 5.11.41 to 1.6.12

It was not impossible for the Nomads to come back from the half-time deficit if there was the will to win, but, like a field of overripe barley after a heavy December downpour, the team seemed to have dropped their collective heads. The halftime warm-up was listless and it showed in the results. The Saints kicked 5 for the quarter and put the result beyond doubt. Harry Wakefield and Tex kicked goals this quarter to add some respectability but it was on the whole a poor effort. Wulu Hall and Mitch Darton ran the ball out of the backline with brilliant runs but to no avail typically since the Saints’ defence was able to send in back almost in nano-seconds. At the final break the scores were 10.15.75 to 3.6.24.

The final quarter saw more of the same. Clarrie Barker had a tussle at fullback with their high-flying youngster but his strength in the air and his superior ground skills left in the ascendency. Jez Ratcliffe, Jesse Petrascu and the Biggest Dog of them all, James Treweeke, battled manfully in the midfield but it was very difficult with no interchange bench and having to run all day on the ball. Best for the Nomads were Clarrie, Shemmy, Modra, Paddy Tobias, Mitch Darton and Wulu Hall.

To be sure, excuses could be made for the performance in terms of the lack of numbers on the day and the quality fo the players who were missing, but with the poor turnouts at training over the past month this was a loss that is neither surprising nor undeserved. The Nomads have two more big games over the next few weeks and need to regroup and get behind the coaches. It is time now to demonstrate some real intent and ticker.

Round 16 2017

Saints def. Nomads
 GBP GBP
Q14832 106
HT51141 1612
Q3101575 3624
FT1416100 5737

Team:

  • C. Barker,
  • L. Cudmore,
  • M. Darton,
  • W. Gardner,
  • W. Hall,
  • M. Harriot,
  • E. Karpany,
  • N. Locke,
  • J. Petrascu,
  • J. Ratcliffe,
  • L. Raymond,
  • W. Reynolds,
  • D. Richards,
  • A. Shem,
  • P. Tobias,
  • J. Treweeke,
  • H. Wakefield,
  • M. Walker,
  • A. Walsh.

Goalscorers:

  • M. Walker (2),
  • C. Barker,
  • D. Richards,
  • H. Wakefield.

Award winners:

  • A. Shem (Players' Player),
  • C. Barker (Coach's),
  • D. Richards (President's),
  • P. Tobias (Captain's),
  • M. Darton (Meehan's Plumbing Services').

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