Round two of the AFL North-West draw had the Nomad’s travelling down the hill to meet the Tamworth Kangaroos. Following a respectable outing against a strong opponent the week prior, our girls were keen to build on those efforts. Various events and other commitments meant we were desperately short for numbers, only managing 12. This would phase a lot of other teams however many of our players who played last year know all to well the reality of playing short. We relish the challenge it presents. The Roos only had a few extra than we did so we could smell a potential upset. Despite a fantastic first half, a third quarter fade out let the Roos pile a handful of quick goals on to seal the game. A resilient fourth quarter meant we closed the margin back to 15 points. The final score being 4.5.29 to 6.8.44.

We started the first quarter very well. Our midfield was dominant and giving us first use out of the centre. Nayana and Molly Davidson were combining fluently to extract the footy. El Capitan, Mads was doing Mads things and running around like bull in a China shop. We were playing a good, quick brand of footy that the Roos struggled to grapple with. A quick overlap play to the forward pocket gave Belle Fox all the time and space she needed to boot the first goal of the game on the run. This got the girls up and about early on. Our backline lead by Kaitlyn Read was repelling the Roos advances. We kept up the attacking pressure and went on to kick a few more minor scores. An unlucky free kick against us, late in the quarter gave the Roos a goal which levelled the scores to nine apiece.

Heading into the second quarter we knew we were right in this. We played much the same as the first quarter. We certainly did not look like we only had 12 on the field. The confidence the girls were playing with was great to watch. Everyone was contributing and doing the one percenters. Debutant Izzy Smith was doing good things, putting her head over the footy as she found her feet in the game. Connie Blake was playing well in defence being the reliable old battle axe that she is. We were playing all over the Roo girls. This was evident in the scoring as we won the quarter and kept them to only a further minor score. Anna Greenland was doing a fantastic job up forward in only her second game of Aussie Rules. Rewarded a free kick for a great tackle, she went back and nursed the ball through the big sticks for our second goal. A real dampener on an otherwise fantastic quarter was our glorious leader Mads going down with a knee injury that will see her miss some weeks. Our efforts thus far had given us a handy seven point lead heading into half time.

Coming out of half time we wanted to avoid a third quarter fade out that hurt us last week. We knew that if we kicked the first goal, it would go a long way to ensuring our victory. Alas, a surge from the Roos quickly made us second guess ourselves. We struggled to stem the flow for the quarter as the Roos kicked four unanswered goals. We began to run through the motions and drop our heads a little. By this point we only had 11 girls on the field so everyone was absolutely spent. We simply couldn’t go with the Roos as they got a run on. In saying this there were still some bright lights. Second gamer Kayley Ohara was killing it in the backline, taking a handful of intercept marks and denying the Roo forwards any easy footy. Ash Wright was also playing well, hitting targets on kickouts and attacking the footy. Three quarter time couldn’t come soon enough as we were on the end of massive momentum swing.

The message in the huddle was simply to relish the moment. We could either lay down or stick it to the opposition and let them know we don’t ever stop battling. Its moments like this that show how resilient a team is. This must have lit a fire in their bellies as the girls went to work right from the bounce. We somehow managed to find something and go up a gear. We kept taking the game on and trying to play quick footy. The outside run of Molly Davidson gave us a lot of drive going forward. Her heard work was rewarded when she amended her missed opportunity last week to kick a goal. Our third for the game. Nay was doing a great job on one of their better players and getting back to help our backline. Emma Gliddon kept attacking the footy, tackling and presenting all the while with a suspected broken hand. Lauren Nest added to the tally after she ran into an open goal square to kick her first for the season. Our final last-ditch efforts meant we kept the Roos to only one major and outscored them for the quarter. The fightback from the girls, similar to that of last week was really heartening to see.

With the weekend’s result, the Nomads Women are still looking for their first scalp of the season. The game really highlights how difficult it is to win games when you don’t play four quarters of footy. However, this isn’t to take anything away from our efforts. We did a lot of things right and played how we wanted to. This week were able to take our opportunities in front of goal which put us in a winning position. Sometimes the game doesn’t go your way but that’s just football. The resilience we showed in the last quarter, despite being without our fearless leader and being desperately short in number speaks volumes about the character and heart of our girls. If we keep up the great work and keep gelling as a team, a win won’t be too far away.

Awards
Captains: Anna Greenland
Players Player: Nayana Patmore
Coaches: Kayley Ohara

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2022 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.