Jon Freund was one of New England’s best against the Tamworth Kangaroos last weekend as they secured a shot at the premiership today. He’s here getting away from Roos’ Matt Hodge. Photo: Grant Robertson 250812GRB10
NEW England Nomads can’t just expect things to happen if they want to claim their first Tamworth AFL competition flag for almost a decade today.
If there was a lesson to take from their major semi-final loss to Inverell two weeks ago it’s that.
“Our attitude wasn’t right,” Nomads coach Tom Granleese said.
“We came into the game knowing we’d beaten them and expecting things to happen.”
Everyone was waiting for someone to do the work, and the Saints “played how they wanted to”.
They can’t allow that to happen today but they know that.
“We know everyone has got to contribute to win,” Granleese said.
One of the issues of their lacklustre effort two weeks ago was that they got caught just kicking into packs.
Against a big and tall team like the Saints, the direct game isn’t the option.
“We’ve got to run around, use the whole field and wear them out,” Granleese said.
That’s the game that has worked for them all season, especially at Bellevue Oval.
Varley Oval is a bit shorter but it’s still got plenty of width for them to exploit.
They’ll be looking to use the space out wide and then bring it back in.
Their last trip to Inverell didn’t turn out that well but Granleese isn’t too worried about that.
“We played them in the middle of the uni holidays and were very short-staffed,” he said.
“They thrashed us but we still learnt plenty from that.”
It has been quite a while between grand final appearances – and titles – for the Nomads.
They haven’t made the decider since 2006, and last won the premiership in 2004.
Adrian Walsh is the only survivor from that side. There’s a few more who played in that losing grand final.
“I’ve been trying to drum into them that these opportunities don’t come along too often,” Granleese said.