This year the Preliminary Final will in Armidale at Bellevue Oval, between the New England Nomads and the Inverell Saints. Both teams had different lead ups to this game with the Nomads going down to the Kangaroos by 58 points last week and the Saints beating the Eagles by 40 points. When these two met at the same venue in the Qualifying Final two weeks ago it was played in wet atrocious conditions and both teams were still feeling the effects last week. The Saints had a higher than expected number of bench rotations against the Eagles and the Nomads efforts against the Kangaroos was one of a tired team. With those games under their belts both teams will be far better this week and as there is no tomorrow for one of these sides there will be nothing left in the tanks after game either. The Nomads will be looking to send Captain Nick Schultz out with a premiership in his last season with them and the Saints are still searching for the elusive back to back premierships after being in the last 4 grand finals straight. The Saints back line has been able to cover the loss of premiership fullback Shaun Mansbridge well this year and have a very tight back six lead by Jono Elphick with Joe and Sam Kimmince, Fraser Hughes, Dave Vidovic and Mister reliable Matt Harrison. Putting them up against the Nomads forward line of Weston Whitby, Hamish Ross, Dave Richards, the old timer Adrian "Starry" Walsh and swing man Johnathon "Frosty" Frost and it will a great contest to watch. Frost is the Nomads everywhere man, usually starting in defence he is regularly thrown forward for a couple of quick goals or onto the ball to give them some grunt and drive out of the middle. And for that very reason he commands respect. The Nomads defence is lead by their Captain at fullback and he is their barometer down there. The Saints have multiple options to goal with their Coach Nick Baird, now back at full forward, and Captain Chris Whitton the two rocks. The middle of the ground is where it gets interesting between these two. The Saints picked up Leigh Turner late in the season and he has developed into a very good tap ruckman and his battle with the agile Omphile Temoso will be crucial to both teams. As will the battle between Hamish Pearce and Justin Pay. The fact that Turner's arrival has allowed Pay to play as a ruck rover has been a great benefit for the Saints and Pearce is just a class act that deserves the respect of the close checking he gets each week. Armidale's forecast for next Saturday is sunny but with only a top temperature of 10 degrees. That will be a far cry from last week's 21 in Inverell and 22 in Tamworth and the wet weather from two weeks ago.
Prediction: This really is a hard game to pick as both teams are evenly matched and it will come down to attitude. But because I have to go with finals experience on this occasion and tip the Saints to win by 13 points.
Last Modified on 04/09/2011 10:20