Things are definitely looking up in the New England region. The Great Moscow Circus has been in town, the mice seem to be disappearing and – in Australian Rules football- the Nomads are starting to win again (with the added bonus of new lad Patrick Sharp kicking 10). On Saturday May 15th, in Tom Hunt’s 100th game. Tom, as has been the case for the previous 99 (well most of them!) played a blinder. As did his partners in crime in the middle, Modra Richards (who also kicked 3 goals), Clarrie Barker and Lewis Wheatley (aided and abetted by Monseigneur Mark Yep). Down back, the master of Zen defence Phillip Mitchell along with his fellow tall Conor Nest, repelled the Roos advances on goals. Overall a very pleasing result. Final scores were Nomads 23.12.145 to the Tamworth Kangaroos 9.6.60.

Leaving behind the madness of a town caught up in Great-Moscow-Circus Mania, the Nomads travelled down the hill to relative tranquility of the Peel Valley to take on the Tamworth Roos at No.1 Oval. The boys were excited for the game and for the first time in quite a while the selection committee had to make some selections since there were 25 people to choose from.

Tom ran through a particularly subtle banner made by his sister and sister-in-law Maddy and brother-in-law (twice over) Ben Fleming. Kicking to the eastern end, the Nomads were out fo the blocks, with Clarrie and Tom killing it the middle and kicking long to new recruit Patrick Sharp. It didn’t take long for Pat to repay the faith, marking strongly in the goal square. The Nomads had gone with a bigger bodied midfield and it was paying dividends. Lewie was changing up with Monseigneur Yep and both were providing plenty of grunt in the middle. The Roos hhowever were particularly dogged and did not let the Nomads have it their own way. The Nomads often found themselves with not quite as much time as they thought they had or having their kicks smothered. Some of the new blokes were also surprised by the east-west orientation of the oval never having encountered this before. At the end of the first quarter the scores were Nomads 7.2.44 to 2.0.12.

A photo of Patrick Sharp marking (courtesy of Richard Jones from Balcony Films).

The second quarter saw the Nomads kicking to the swimming pool end and continued in much the same manner as they had earlier. Jetski kicked one of his two requisite goals and Pat Sharp also kept the scorers at work. Tom Moscou was also busy up forward. And the Feinian from the Apple Isle, Ira Sulzberger was getting creative on the half forward flank. Overall, it was a pleasing effort. At half time the scores were 14.4.88 to 4.4.28.

Modra in full flight: Photo courtesy of Richard Jones from Balcony Films.

In the third quarter the Nomads took the foot off the pedal (relatively speaking) and only kicked 4 goals. The Roos to their credit did not give up and made the Nomads fight for every kick. Noah Connick was moving up the ground and proving a real target for those coming out of defence. Ira was hard at the ball and Benji Dutaillis was hitting the packs hard. But there were winner all arounds the ground. At the final change scores were 18.9.117 to 8.4.52

In the final quarter a number of the boys from Erle Page College and Austin College (Ira, Conor, Noah and X-Man) had to leave for a college function which meant that the Nomads did not have a bench for the rest of the game but this did not stop the Nomads momentum. Somewhere around the 18 minute mark of the quarter, Coach Clarrie (dot.com) gather his 43rd possession. The Nomads kicked another 5 for the quarter and ran out very comfortable winners.

So we should end the discussion with another photo of the Big Fella, this time with wife Anj and daughter Willa. Well done Tom. You have been a real champion for the Nomads.

Round 5 2021

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