At NO.1 Oval in Tamworth the New England Nomads took to the field knowing that a loss to the Cats was unacceptable. In the first quarter they were peppering the goals with 9 shots for 5 goals to the Cats 2 goals from 3 shots, giving the Nomads a 21 point lead a quarter time. In the second quarter the Cats showed some flair from yester year by keeping the Nomads goalless for the quarter, while kicking 4 goals straight themselves. This cut the Nomads lead at half time to just 2 points and the Cats had their tails high in the air. After an inspired talk from Coach Brendan Meehan the Nomads came out in the third quarter and showed that they were serious about attempting to play finals this year by kicking straight. They kicked 6 goals from 7 attempts and restricted the Cats to just 2 goals and taking a 26 point lead into the last quarter. The last quarters for the Nomads this year have been a real mixed bag of agony and ecstasy. The ecstasy is they have more than their fair share of shots on. The agony is they cannot convert those shots and it was no different in this game when they only converted 4 shots on goal from 12 attempts. The saving grace was that they restricted the Cats to just 3 behinds for the quarter and took home a very good 55 point win. The Cats can take some positives out of this game though. It is their highest score for the year, the first time they have kept a team goalless for a quarter this year and their smallest losing margin. The Nomads named their inspirational Captain, Matty Maxwell, as their best player with 3 goals and he was ably assisted by Caleb Dobos with 4 Goals. For the Cats they named Adam Griffiths as their best player and had the ever reliable Stuart McAdam slip through 4 goals.
The Swans turned up at Varley Oval in Inverell with the knowledge that if they beat the Saints they could again be a game clear on top of the ladder if the Kangaroos beat the Bulldogs. Alas it wasn't to be as the Saints lead at every change in the game. The first quarter saw the Saints attacking the ball hard and the Swans were playing a lot of rebound footy. The Saints had 3 goals on the board before the Swans could score 2 behinds. When the Swans did get their first goal the Saints hit back with another goal to take a 17 point lead into the quarter time break. The Saints had Darren Pithers yellow carded and reported in the first quarter, this gave him 15 minutes on the bench to cool his heels. After the Saints kicked 2 behinds to start the second quarter the Swans kicked a goal courtesy of young gun Mitch Firth. This was quickly answered by the Saints before Firth booted another goal. That was the last for a while for the Swans as the Saints took over the quarter kicking 5 goals before the Swans got a late goal to finish the quarter and cut the Saints half time lead to 39 points. Swans Coach, Rick Watt, did what he has been doing all year and gave his charges the advice to get them back in the game. And it appeared to work at the start of the third quarter and the Saints would have been feeling a case of deja vu coming on as they were being out played. But the Saints steadied and stemmed the flow a little to see their lead cut to only 32 points. Unfortunately for the Saints Darren Pithers was again reported in the third quarter and was red carded and sent from the field for the rest of the game. The last quarter saw the Saints take control of the game and despite being reduced to just 16 men on the ground with 10 minutes to go, courtesy of a yellow card and report to Jason Gobbert, they still outscored the Swans to win by 41 points. The Saints named Dan Corcoran as their best player, closely followed by Beau Ryan with 6 goals. For the Swans they named Tristan Jones as their best with Josh McKenzie a close second and Mitch Firth kicked 4 of their 9 goals.
Down at the Kennel the Bulldogs were looking to keep their home ground dominance intact, but the Kangaroos had other ideas and went to the top of the ladder with their win over the Bulldogs. The first quarter was a tight tussle with the Kangaroos kicking 4 goals from 7 attempts and the Bulldogs kicking 3 goals from 5 attempts, giving the Kangaroos a quarter time lead of 7 points. The second quarter saw the Kangaroos get on top of the Bulldogs by kicking 4 goals 4 behinds and keeping the Bulldogs to just 1 goal 1 behind. This gave the Kangaroos a 28 point half time lead. I would like to have been in the Bulldogs half time address by Coach Dave Chapman. All year he has been able to inspire his charges with these addresses and this time was no different. The snarling Bulldogs took it right up to the Kangaroos in the third quarter restrict ing them to 1 goal and booting 5 goals themselves cutting the Kangaroos half time lead to just 5 points at three quarter time. This set up a great contest for the last quarter with just the Kangaroos experience in tight finishes over the years getting them through to a 20 point win in the end. The Bulldogs named boom recruit Paul Brown as their best player with their other boom recruit Shaun Higgins kicking 4 goals and young forwards Farran Lamb and jacob Bee-Gill kicking 2 goals each. For the Kangaroos they named Paul Tapper as their best player and the old stager Geordie Ackeroyd kicking 3 goals as did Pat Walton. Even though the Bulldogs lost their first game at home for the year it did not affect their ladder position as they remain in second place. The Kangaroo's jumped to first on the ladder with the win though and with the Swans loss they have dropped to third. A total of 1.35% separates first ato third spots on the ladder.
Last Modified on 02/08/2009 10:05