The Inverell Saints have regained top spot after their 62 point win over the Tamworth Kangaroos. The Kangaroos went to Inverell minus some of their stars in the twin goal kickers Andrew Hawkins and Dan Overeem along with Geordie Akeroyd, Ash Cruikshank and Ben Kennedy. The Saints on the other hand were close to full strength with Joe Kimmince and Bruce Wall the two major stars yet to come back in. The first quarter was a tight tussle with the Kangaroos winning the toss and not making full use of 3goal wind, and the game was all square 2-4-16 a piece at quarter time. With 5 minutes to go in the first quarter the Saints had Chris Pay yellow carded leaving the Saints 1 man down for 15 minutes. The second quarter was again a tight tussle for the first 10 minutes until the Saints regained their extra man to put the two teams back on equal footing. The Saints then started to cut lose with Stew Walker finishing off the good work from up field by Fraser Hughes, Alex Dasey, Tom Williams and Chris Whitton to go with a half time lead of 30 points. The third quarter was in contrast to the first 2 quarters with both teams kicking straight, but the Saints won the quarter with 4 goals 1 behind to the Kangaroos 4 goals straight to lead at the three quarter siren by 31 points. The last quarter was all Saints and if they had kicked the three extra goals that they missed from very easy shots the final score could have been a lot worse. The Saints kicked 5 goals 5 behinds while restricting the Kangaroos to four measly behinds to run out convincing winners by 62 points.
In the first game of the double header in Tamworth the Tamworth Swans put a big dent in the aspirations of the Gunnedah Bulldogs to hold a home grand final. The Swans led the Bulldogs at quarter time by 8 points. The Bulldogs had their straight kicking boots on in this game scoring 10-3-63 while the Swans continued on with spasmodic kicking. The Swans could have beaten the Bulldogs by a lot more as they kicked 2 goals 6 behinds in the last quarter and the Bulldogs won the quarter by a point. It was the only quarter they won. What next for these two teams? Well, for the Swans, next week sees them finish their season against the Kangaroos and you can bet they will be giving their all to beat them for the first time since 2006. The Bulldogs will meet the Nomads and will have to beat them by 100 points to regain third spot on the ladder.
The second game at Tamworth saw the New England Nomads smash the struggling Muswellbrook Cats. Weston Whitby had an outstanding day as best on ground kicking a lazy 19 out of the 31 goals kicked by his team. The Bulldogs would have watched this game thinking they would find away to back up their last win over the Nomads in Armidale, but are now probably thinking more along the lines of not only do you have to stop Whitby but also the Nomads’ midfield, because if they can’t get the ball to Whitby he can’t kick the goals. The Nomads left their best until the last quarter where they unleashed a barrage on the helpless Cats, kicking 11 goals 4 behinds while keeping the Cats scoreless. This should be enough to put the Saints, Kangaroos and Bulldogs on notice that if the Nomads click on the day they are going to be more than nuisance value in the finals - they could go all the way.
Last Modified on 03/08/2008 10:29