Nomads had a very welcome return to the winners’ circle at the Bellevue Cathedral against a significantly under-manned Gunnedah side. There were winners all over the ground, but outstanding performers were new lad Noah Connick, Clarrie Barker, Phill Mitchell, Tom Hunt, David “Rampaging” Richards, Conor Nest and John “Joof” Mckay. Up forward Noah kicked 10 goals (and gave away another 5 to fellow Nomads), Modra, 4, Clarrie, 3 and goal-sneak Tom Moscou with 3. The final scores were Nomads 24.20.164 to Gunnedah 2.6.18.

It was good to be back in Armidale playing football and there were excellent matches in the under 14s and the women’s before the men took the park.

The team was strengthened by the return of the Twin Towers Tom Hunt and Conor Nest and hard ball winning forward Joof McKay. Another very welcome addition was first gamer Toby Fleming, who hails from ‘somewhere down near Warnambool’ (as they said on the sidelines – when too many Flemings are barely enough).

The Nomads won the toss and kicked to the Uralla end (as is traditional). Right from the start the Nomads were dominant with Tom Hunt, Isaac “Jetski” Jessep and Barker.dot.Clarrie.com winning everything in the middle. Up forward Noah Connick was surprising the shocked Dogs back-men with his high leaping and quick movement. Phill Mitchell was busily directing his charges in the backline. Joof was also providing lots of leads on the half forward line. There was some wild kicking at goal with way too many points kicked from hasty shots at goal. Things needed to slow down a little around the goal front. At the end of the first quarter the scores were 5.6.36 to 0.3-3

The second quarter saw much more of the same. Modra was his usual elusive self. Tom Moscou managed to sneak a goal out of nowhere. And Nick Buckland was consolidating his role as a forward. The X-Man playing in the backline, somehow finding himself in the forward 50, dodged a couple of Dogs and kicked impressively around his body, only for the ball to hit the post. At the half time break the scores were 9.14.68 to 0.6.6.

In the third quarter the Nomads really put the foot down and Noah was unstoppable. The Dogs double-teamed him. but that just provided opportunities for the other Nomads including the irrepressible Joof. The team kicked 7 goals for the quarter, helped by much straighter kicking. Modra also kicked some goals that only he can kick. And Harri managed to pull off the tackle of the year. At three quarter time the scores were 16.16.112 to 1.6.12.

In the final quarter the Nomads enjoyed themselves with a little bit of farnarkling around (Joof and Harri – what was going on with the two card trick?). When the ball did go towards the Dogs forward line, Conor Nest and Phill Mitchell sent it quickly back to the Nomads half. The final scores saw the Nomads winning by 148 points. (Unsurprisingly, there were quite a few players who didn’t know the song).

It was a very pleasing display, although given the quality of the players missing from the Dogs squad, we should not break out the champagne just yet. It will be very different playing the Dogs at home in the next Round when they have a full side.

We look forward to playing the Inverell Saints at home next week.

Round 3 2021

Nomads def. Bulldogs
	G	B	P		G	B	P
Q1	5	6	36		0	3	3
HT	9	14	68		0	6	6
Q3	16	16	112		1	6	12
FT	24	20	164		2	6	18

This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2021 at 10:37 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.