Narwan Eels defeated Armidale Rams 42-24 at Newling Oval on Sunday afternoon in a convincing Round 11 win, but it was a result both coaches were not completely happy with for surprisingly similar reasons.
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Narwan coach John Roberts said they had had a win, but said he would not go as far as saying it was a good one.
"Our completion rates were down. I think they said we were completing at about 20 per cent which is not to our standards. We have to work on our ball control," he said.
"We're fit enough and we can play some decent football when we're on our game. I think we went into the game thinking it was 'only Armidale', which was not the mindset we wanted to go into the game with.
"But it definitely felt that's how we played."
Roberts thought if Narwan's ball handling was as loose against teams such as the Moree Boomerangs or the Glen Innes Magpies, the scoreboard would have displayed an entirely different story.
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"They got tries off a couple of dropped balls, a couple of runaway tries, but if we can hold the ball and play our game we'll be pretty hard to beat on the day," he said.
"We also had three backs and two forwards who also played Reserve Grade because it was short [of players].
"So that's where they lacked a little bit. So we wen't at full-strength. We had four players out, a couple who couldn't come back."
Armidale Rams coach Luke Kirby said the Rams had to put a big defeat behind it from the last time the two sides met in Round 8.
They were defeated 82-10 on their home turf on that occasion and Kirby said the sting of that defeat was still with the team when it ran on at Newling.
"We decided to focus on what we could do and the team that I had, they had the right attitude, I think," he said.
"Nawan were just too good for us, but we gave them as much as we could and I was quite happy with the effort that we put in, both Reserve Grade and First Grade.
"When you've got a smaller pack [of forwards], it's obviously a lot more mobile, and we used that to our advantage as much as we could. But we did struggle with our lack of bigger bodies in getting over the line, when we were attacking their line."
Kirby said the Rams needed more players.
"I ended up playing two grades on Sunday, and so did a couple of the other boys," he said.
"It's not what we want. We shouldn't have to play two games, and a couple of their boys did as well.
"For us, I think it's more about committing ourselves to training and actually coming together as a side. Individually each and every player is capable of playing First Grade, and if they combined together they could actually do some damage in First Grade."
At the end of Round 11, the Glen Innes Magpies are at the top of the Group 19 First Grade Competition ladder on 18 points, followed by Narwan Eels on 16 and the Moree Boomerangs also on 16. The Moree Boars follow the leaders on 10 points and the Armidale Rams are on the bottom rung with four points.
Next week, Narwan play the Boomerangs and the Rams play the Magpies.