This week the Nomads managed a 165 point turn-a-round from their last outing with the Inverell Saints. Banjaxed? Scratching your head about how they did it? Read Lachy Ewart’s erudite review below and all will be revealed. One more mystery solved in a world that is gradually making sense.

On Saturday the 11th of August, Armidale travelled to Inverell.

For anyone who is unaware of the semi average Thunderdome Australian movie, where two men enter the dome and only one was to leave.
This is the closest description I can find of this day. It was hard, tough and only one team was going to walk away.

Q1
Inverell had a charity day and the local crowd responded by attending in large numbers.
The Nomads boys were nervous and kicking against a heavy breeze made it tough going early. Inverell were keen to input their physical presence early but it was a hard fought first quarter with very few free ball movements. Already it was shaping up to an old classic.
Nomads trailed by three goals at the first quarter.

Q2
The boys were feeling the pressure but knew the challenge was still to come much like a poor girl stuck with Snowy. This quarter we had the breeze.
Jeremy Ratcliffe stood up and so did Carson in the middle.
Karps was back to his amazing best and kicked a few.
The nomads went into the half with their heads up. Saints were like a day 4 pitch at the SCG, the cracks were opening but still firm.
However the Nomads knew more was to be required. The nomads Led by 3 points at half time.

Q3
The premiership quarter. The Nomads came charging out of the change rooms.
Inverell started to put the hits on and attempt to slow our rhythm however the nomads kept on playing good footy.
Nick Locke and Quaily kept switching from the guts to the forward line and were also sharing the goals.
The backline led by the Glorious Mullet himself was outstanding. Mitch Harriot reportedly just needed some time by himself to breath after sharing breaths with his opponent all game, that’s how little space he gave away.
However it would require a big effort with only one on the bench all day, the legs were starting to hurt.
The nomads were down by 6 points at the break.

Q4
The energy and talk coming from the 3rd quarter time huddle was as positive as Liam Cudmore telling himself he might get a root this year.
The gladiators left the huddle to the sound of negativity from the pretty well all saints crowd.
It is hard to explain what happened this quarter but desperate and brave football is the only way. Mod was picking apart the Inverell defence and practically won the game with his personal performance.
Connor had been brilliant all day and kept going. The backline continued to be tighter then the leash James Treweeke is kept on by his girlfriend.
The injuries and the cramps were mounting up as we even had 17 on the field for a few minutes. Shem lost a testicle for a minute but bravely came back on.
Snowy dribble kicked the winning goal and the crowd went silent.

Karps took a mark 50 out with 40 seconds remaining and it was all over.
The nomads had won by 2 points.
I actually saw Star jump a decent foot off the ground with celebration like a Nike AD, Harry Wakefield aka the general was swapping salutes for ass slaps and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

This game is impossible to do justice via a semi average footballer and an even more average reporter. However the Nomads had very little rotations, against a hostile crowd and an even more hostile Saints outfit. This two point win, sends a message that the nomads are no joke this year.
There is still work to be done and we would like to thank Inverell for the game.

Carson was best on for the night, re painting Nick’s car before arriving at Armidale.
The celebration continued early into the morning which was deserved by all involved.

Round 17 2018

This entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2018 at 1:01 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.