The 2012 New England Nomads have been the front-runners for much of the season. They began the season under new coach Tom Granleese, who took over from the long-standing coach Brendan Meehan. Granleese inherited a richly talented team that could attack from any part of the ground and has turned them into a defensive minded force that loves to run and rebound.
Their season started with a loss in Tamworth to the Swans in what was their only loss in the first 10 rounds. They received from two forfeits throughout the season that helped their percentage, but did nothing for game fitness. They followed up that Round 1 loss with a big win over the Cats, and then just to show they were going to be a force in 2012, they knocked over the Roos by 52 points at home in Round 3. That followed that up by being the first team to beat the Saints in Round 5 and then got revenge for that Round 1 loss by smashing the Swans in Round 7. Due to some changes to the revised draw, that game became their last home game for some 2 months, where coach Granleese had to keep his men focussed on the job at hand. They pulled off a great comeback win over the Roos in Tamworth in Round 9, and then travelled to Muswellbrook understrength and got the job done a week later. Their one poor performance of the year was in Inverell where they were comprehensibly beaten by the Saints in Round 11, but it turned out to be an aberration as they finished the season without another loss. This included back-to-back wins over the Saints and Roos to finish the season and wrap up top spot on the TAFL ladder. However, they were disappointing in their endeavour in the Major Semi and never looked themselves against the Saints. They more than made up for it a week later as they defeated the Nomads to give themselves a crack at flag number 4 this weekend. It is the first time they have made the big one since losing to the Swans in 2006 and they will be keen to get into the action come 2pm Saturday afternoon.
Biggest win: Round 2 vs Cats 23.17.155 to 7.3.45
Biggest loss: Round 11 vs Saints 19.20.134 to 5.9.39
Longest winning streak: 8 games
Longest losing streak: 1 game
Last Modified on 30/08/2012 11:08