A perfect winters day greeted the players on Saturday as the Saints faced up with the second placed New England Nomads at Varley Oval. A win would see the Saints join the Nomads on 6 wins for the season and set up a tight tussle for a home final. A loss for the Saints would all but end their chances of 2nd and put them right back into a fight for the double chance some September.
The Saints showed a little bit of rust early after 2 weeks of no footy and were finding the Nomads hard to contain in and around the contest. The Saints managed to settle and get into the groove, but a few costly handling errors gifted the Nomads the ball and with a potent forward line the Saints could not allow that to happen all day. A couple of nice finishes by Chris Whitton and Mike Gould saw the Saints have their noses in front by just a single point at the first change.
It was a renewed Saints outfit that hit the field in the second. After shaking off the cobwebs in the first, their disposal was top shelf and the run being generated through the middle was a sight to behold. The forward started to fire and the men in the middle were getting first use consistently. The Saints piled on 6 unanswered goals to start the quarter, before two individual pieces of brilliance from the Nomads in the last 60 seconds of the quarter resulted in two goals and saw the margin back to 22 points at the long change.
The Saints started the third quarter in need of wresting back the momentum and did exactly that as coach come full forward Nick Baird booted his only three goals in the first 5 minutes of the quarter to put the margin back out beyond 40 points. From there some solid play from Gould, Gary Hadland and Fraser Hughes in the forward line saw the lead get out beyond 8 goals before the Nomads again answered late in the quarter to leave the margin at the last change at 45 points.
The final quarter saw the Saints continue to pile on the goals with the game getting a little sloppy at times with both teams starting to tire from the previous week's bye. Leigh Turner capped an impressive Saints debut with a couple of goals in the last whilst Luke Selig continued to present in his first game of the year. The margin at the final siren stood at 63 with the Saints more than happy to sing the song in the sheds for the 5th time in a row and see themselves within striking distance of the Nomads in second spot on the ladder.
Stewart Walker returned for the Saints and was best afield at full back playing on the dangerous Weston Whitby. Gould, Whitton, Selig and Turner were all among the best for the Saints, with the efforts of the entire back six earning the praise of the coach. Rusty Brien had arguably his best game for the club, providing great run through the middle and KJ Te Velde was also a key component playing in the middle.
The Saints now have to prepare for the Roos in Tamworth next week were the two rivals face off again in another top of the table clash.
Last Modified on 01/08/2011 13:05