Cats 19-18-132 def 7-12-54
The road trips between Muswellbrook and Armidale are long ones and the Nomads would have felt similar to the Bulldogs last weekend, making the long trip down to meet the Cats, playing a very strong team at home and then facing the long trip home licking their wounds.The Cats opened with a bang, kicking 8 goals to 2 in the 1st quarter to set the tone for the rest of the game. The young Nomads team was probably a bit shell-shocked after this blistering opening and struggled to make headway against the strong Muswellbrook defensive line. The Nomads managed to kick 2 more goals in the 2nd but couldn't match the Cats who kept scoring steadily, going into halftime with a 12 goal to 4 lead. Some wayward kicking in the middle part of the game hurt the Nomads and any game where the behinds outnumber the goals is always tough to win. The Cats cruised for the remainder of the game, kicking another 7 goals to comfortably take the match. At this stage of the comp, it looks like the Saints and Cats have firmed as heady favourites as the only two teams that can really match it against each other. The Nomads were up there but have dropped off the pace slightly with losses to both the Cats and Saints in recent weeks.
Saints 24-19-163 def Eagles 6-5-41
The Saints did not have a great record travelling out to the Eagles home ground and many saw this as a danger game for them. This thought was probably well dispelled after the first and second quarters in which the Saints kicked 8 goals in each. This set up a handy 16 goals to 3 lead at half time and the final result was probably never in doubt even after the first 25 minutes. The Eagles are invariably stronger at home and after two consecutive games on the road where they struggled to find some form, but did perform better against the Swans in their last match, they probably weren't quite ready for the strong Saints team that arrived on Saturday. The Saints have demonstrated their committment to winning the flag and depth, turning up with a team that was not their strongest and boosting their F/A % as well as taking the 4 points. The Saints are strong across the park and the Eagles did well to post 6 goals against their defensive line. for the Saints, Mick Viney and Stewart Walker kicked 6 & 5 goals respectively with Coach Dick Gleeson adding 4 as well.
Roos 15-15-105 def Swans 12-9-81
The local derby between the two Tamworth sides carries with it a fair bit of history and each club always wants to put it over the other at each and every opportunity. This match was no different and started out as a close affair, with the Roos taking the early lead, booting 5 goals to the Swans 3 in the opening quarter. The game got even closer then with the Swans matching the Roos throughout the 2nd quarter and narrowing the gap to one goal and only trailing the Roos by 9 points at the long break. The 3rd quarter saw the Roos once again take control of the match, kicking 5 goals to the Swans 2 and this part of the game has been a bit of a problem for the Swans this year. Still, they got themselves back up again and actually kicked 3 goals to 2 in the last quarter, but it was not enough to narrow the overall gap and the Roos took the 4 points and first round bragging rights.
Swans coach Lachlan ROWLINGS said,"We went into the game understrength and with a lot of key position players out. A feature of our game today was trying some different things and playing blokes out of position. I thought it was a spirited performance, and although you're never happy with a loss I was happy with our effort. The development within the team is exciting."
Last Modified on 27/05/2007 12:41