In the absence of some of the club’s senior players, New England Nomads youngsters stepped up against the Tamworth Swans.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Nomads travelled to Tamworth with a squad of 17 but still managed to win by 107 points.
For the Swans, it was a celebration of a milestone for a club stalwart in Damien Wendt who played his 200th game for the side.
Nomads president Adrian Walsh said it was fitting Wendt played reached the occasion in a game against the New England team.
“He apparently said in the years when they were strong, the biggest battles were with us so he was happy to have his 200th game against us,” he said.
“Ten years ago they won a premiership against us, they won two in that time and he was very central in that, Damien.
“I think he was keen to play us. He's played for a long, long time Damian Wendt.”
Unfortunately for Wendt, the Nomads’ young guns were at their best even without coach Tom Hunt and experienced players in Luke Raymond, Jeremy Ratcliffe and Ethan Karpany.
Captain Dave Richards, Jesse Petrascu and James Treweeke led the way with three goals each.
Walsh nominated Richards’ younger brother Cameron Graham and fellow Swans Academy player Clarrie Barker with having standout performances in the 19.16-130 to 3.5-23 win.
He said while they were dominant on the scoreboard, the Swans were tireless in their efforts to topple the reigning premiers.
“It wasn't a bad effort, we didn't beat them by as much as last time but they were much stronger, they had a full team,” he said.
“Those times when they have been really badly beaten, they have only had a minimum number.
“When they were beaten by us here and beaten by Gunnedah, they didn't have full benches, this time they had 22 and a good bench.
“They played well, they played good, hard football and played well defensively.”
For the Nomads, they found it tough to capitalise on a ground smaller than they are used to.
“We had the ball on the forward line a lot but it was difficult to convert,” Walsh said.
“It was hard to do too much because it was such a small ground.
“We probably didn't capitalise in the forward line as much as we should have.”
The Nomads have another week off with the bye this Saturday before taking on two premiership contenders in Inverell Saints and Gunnedah Bulldogs.