The New England Nomads tuned up for their upcoming finals campaign with a 95-point victory over a struggling Tamworth Swans outfit on Saturday.
ROUND THE CORNER: New England Nomads’ Adrian Walsh tries to stop a Swans player.
Photo Northern Daily Leader.
After overcoming a sluggish start, the Nomads ran away to win 132-37 at Tamworth’s Number One Oval.
“It was a funny sort of game,” Nomads player-coach Zac Economou said.
“The couple of weeks off showed early on.
“But we were playing pretty good footy by the end.”
A spirited showing by the Swans in the opening quarter saw the Nomads lead by just 15 at the first break.
“We didn’t want the footy early on,” Economou said.
“Thankfully we got better as the game went on.”
A spray by Economou at quarter-time lifted his troops and they didn’t concede a point in the second quarter to lead 62-19 at halftime.
“Tim Keys really stood up and led from the front in that second quarter,” Economou said.
“He got us going.”
The Nomads began to totally dominate possession early in the third quarter and it was only a lacklustre kicking display in front of goal that prevented them from securing a huge lead going into the final quarter.
Economou’s men added a whopping eight behinds in the quarter compared to just three goals to lead 88-25.
“We were disappointing in front of goal, but at least we were having shots,” the Nomads coach said.
“We really started to control play.”
The Nomads final quarter may have been their best as they kicked seven goals to two behinds to cap off a solid day at the office.
“That was the way the day went, we improved as it went on,” Economou said.
“We had a good hard chat at every break.”
The Nomads coach had a fantastic day individually, booting eight goals, but was typically modest when asked to analyse his own performance.
“It was nice to get a few,” he said. “But the delivery forward was fantastic.”
Andre Garraud, Keys and Clarrie Barker were best on ground for the Nomads.
Source: The Armidale Express Wednesday 2nd September, 2015