At Leitch Oval in Narrabri the Eagles eagerly awaited the arrival of the New England Nomads. The Nomads have been touted as premiership contenders in 2011, but the Eagles are building and were full of confidence for this game. The first quarter was very close with the Eagles leading 4 points at quarter time. The Nomads had their chances in this quarter though by having 1 more scoring shot than the Eagles, with accuracy letting them down. In the second quarter the Eagles kicked on and had they kicked straighter they would have had a bigger half time lead. Coach Phil Dennis would have been happy with the Eagles go forward in this quarter but not happy with the conversion rate at 4 goals 5 behinds for the quarter. Still the Eagles lead by 2 goals at the long break. The Eagles came out in the third quarter knowing their fate was in their hands. In the other dressing rooms the Nomads coach, Brendan Meehan, was reminding his players that with expectation comes the hard work that is required to win. The Nomads again had more scoring shot then the Eagles in the third quarter but again were not accurate and only reduced the half time margin by 1 point. It was all or nothing for the Nomads in the last quarter and they did give their all, but still got nothing. In the Eagles preseason game against the Bulldogs they faded out in the last quarter and here again the faded. Coach Dennis will be working on their last quarters at training this week. The Nomads had their best scoring quarter in the last but it was the Eagles just hanging on to win by 6 points. For the Eagles big Dan Hughes was their main goal scorer with 4 goals and Michael Leven was their best player. And for the Nomads new players David Richards and Hamish Ross were the main goal scorers with 3 apiece and regular star Hamish Pearce was their best player.
The upset of round 1 came from Tamworth's No.1 Oval. The Swans were expected to win at home against the Gunnedah Bulldogs. Unfortunately for them someone forgot to tell the Bulldogs that. I thought the Bulldogs would struggle in 2011 with their heavy player losses. But new Coach, Peter Chapman, certainly has his charges up running. I know it is only round 1 but my expectations of the Bulldogs have risen greatly. If Chapman can sort out a long time problem of the Bulldogs i.e. their inaccuracy in front of goal, they will be a tough team to beat all year. All this and they didn't have a full 22 players. On the other hand Swans Coach, Gary Harriott, will not be pleased at all with his side's efforts. After recruiting well in the off season big things were expected of the Swans. While the Swans were only 10 points down at half time they forgot turn up in the second half. The Bulldogs were terrific in the second half restricting the Swans to just 3 goals 3 behinds. While the Bulldogs themselves kick 9 goals and 16 behinds. Luckily for the Swans the Bulldogs inefficiency in front of goal flattered them. This could have been very nasty for the Swans if the Bulldogs 16 behinds were converted to at least 8 goals. At the end of the day the Bulldogs won by 60 points, should have won by a lot more, and have a new confidence level for the rest of the season. For the Bulldogs their leading goal scorer was Brent Hartley with 5 goals and their best player was Matthew Pengilly. For the Swans their leading goal kicker was club stalwart, President and old half back flanker Josh McKenzie with 3 goals and their best player was another club stalwart and premiership captain Damien Wendt.
In Inverell the Saints hosted the Muswellbrook Cats. This is the 2 outpost teams of the Essential Energy TAFL competition with the road trip being about 6 hours one way. The Cats were able to get enough players to field a full team and the scores don't really show the quality of the game. The Saints started their title defence with 7 new faces in their line up, showing that they too are rebuilding for a tilt at this year's title. The best of the Saints new faces was Russell Brien and in fact he was the Saints best player and leading goal scorer, 6 goals, on the day. The Cats never stopped trying all day and their Coach Bryce O'Connor was happy with their efforts. He has them playing a good style of footy and they have adopted the new quick kick in after a behind is cored to their team very well. It will serve them well and may just catch some of the other EETAFL teams out. The Saints kicked 6 goals in each of the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarters to remind the rest of the teams that even though they are rebuilding don't write them off just yet. In the end the Saints won by 99 points in a very entertaining game. For the Cats their leading goal kicker was Ken Garland with 6 goals and their best player was first gamer Tristan Luhrs.
Last Modified on 01/05/2011 10:24