Both the Nomads and the Saints finished the regular season on the same amount of wins with the Nomads finishing second due to their superior percentage. The Preliminary Final has seen the Nomads drop a position and finishes their season in third place after their loss to the Saints. The first quarter saw the Nomads kicking with the aid of the wind. The Saints had 3 goals to the Nomads 1 goal in the first 15 minutes of the quarter. In the last 10 minutes the Nomads had the ball locked in their forward line putting great pressure on the Saints defence. But the Saints defence stood up to the task restricting the Nomads to just 4 behinds. So at quarter time the Saints held a handy 9 point lead and would have use of the wind in the second quarter. The Saints started the second with a goal to Gary Hadland and all of a sudden it looked like the Saints would run amok. But the Nomads were not going to let the game slip that easy as they kicked the next 3 goals of the quarter including 2 goals to Dan Perry. The Saints did kick one more goal for the quarter. The Saints could have buried the Nomads as they were bombing away with the wind but could not convert and kicked 7 behinds. But even with the Saints bombing away the quarter was fairly evenly matched. The Nomads cut the Saints lead to 7 points at the long break. The Saints took control of the game in the third quarter kicking into the wind. Captain Chris Whitton kicked the first 2 goals of the quarter and that was the spark that the Saints needed to play the game in their forward half. Their forward pressure was enormous as they strangled the Nomads preventing them from running the ball out. After Gary Hadland had kicked his second goal of the game the Saints had stretched their lead to 26 points. The Nomads managed to get the ball out late in the quarter and snapped two late goals to reduce the margin to 15 points in the Saints favour at the last break. Again having the aid of the wind in the last quarter the Saints quickly got the ball out of the middle and into the hands of Whitton. Whitton was unable to convert and the Nomads took the ball straight from the kick in down to their forward line where Darby Pearce did convert his attempt on goal and all of a sudden it was game on with a margin of 10 points. Alias for the Nomads though that was their only goal for the quarter as the Saints kicked a further 3 goals to run out winners by 28 points. The Saints now take on the Tamworth Kangaroos in the Essential Energy Tamworth AFL Grand Final next week on NO.1 Oval in Tamworth. The Saints best player was Mick Corcoran and Captain Chris Whitton bagged 3 goals. And for the Nomads Hamish Pearce was again their best player, and would be odds on in their best and fairest, and Dan Perry kicked 3 goals for them.
Last Modified on 10/09/2011 21:17