The New England Nomads have edged closer to the top of the AFL North West ladder after their win over the Tamworth Swans.
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The 16.8 (104) to 10.13 (73) victory means the Swans are now joined on top of the ladder by the Tamworth Kangaroos - who beat the Inverell Saints - with five wins each.
The Saints are on three wins alongside Gunnedah after the Dogs beat Moree-Narrabri - who have one win next to their name - on the weekend.
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The Nomads are just one win off the two Tamworth teams on the back of a Patrick Sharp-inspired victory.
The full forward kicked nine goals on Saturday to go with the 11 he kicked against the Roos a fortnight ago.
"That's certainly been one thing we've been focusing on, is giving him [Sharp] that forward line. He's the general down there and we just have to lower the eyes and hit him when we can," Nomads coach Clarrie Barker said.
The Nomads started strongly and held a 12-point lead at quarter-time in the see-sawing affair.
That lead stretched out to four goals at times but when the Swans kicked the opening goal of the final quarter, the deficit was reduced back to 11 points.
However, the Nomads found their feet to secure the four points from a match Barker described as a good contest.
"It was on right from the start," Barker said.
"We got lucky with a couple first goals and that really put that little gap in front of the Swans but it was back and forth all day.
"We could have easily slipped and fell but fortunately we held in there and controlled the ball the way we wanted to control it."
Sharp was named the Nomads' best for his haul in front of goal while Barker made mention of Phil Mitchell for his game in the backline.
"He sort of played on the half back line, we were missing big Conor Nest today, so having him sliding back and forth on the backline was really handy," Barker said of Mitchell.
"He was general down back and pushing everyone up was really handy for us."
For the Swans, Rhys Chillingworth continued his strong form in front of goal with six majors.
Michael Parker was named the Swans' best while Josh Cruickshank also got plenty of touches through the middle for the Tamworth side.
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