The joy of last week’s drought-breaking triumph was replaced by a mix of relief and satisfaction for Tamworth Swans coach Paul Kelly after they made it back to back wins on Saturday.
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Following on from their four-point victory over the Tamworth Kangaroos, the Swans defeated the Narrabri Eagles 10.14-74 to 7.9-51.
“It was very satisfying to get the win,” Kelly said.
He admitted he was “very nervous” going into the game.
His nerves weren’t eased any as the Eagles fought back from a 13-point deficit at quarter-time to level terms at the main break, and to trail by just five heading into the final quarter.
“At three-quarter time I thought, we’ve got a fight on here,” he said.
But the Swans defence repelled everything the Eagles threw at them to hold the visitors goalless in the final term.
“The last five minutes they had it down in their forward line but our back six worked really hard,” Kelly said.
He remarked that last year they would have lost that game.
“But this year the boys fought it out to the end,” he said.
“Every time the ball came into their forward 50. We pushed it out straight away.”
He thought the Swans dominated most of the game but they couldn’t score.
Part of that was down to the pressure the Eagles applied.
They were also able to shut down the running game that served the Swans so well against the Kangaroos.
As much as the Eagles pressured them, Kelly thought the pressure they put on the visitors was what won them the game.
One of the hardest tasks for him this week was bringing the boys back down from the high of the Roos win.
“It’s good to go to training when you’ve won a game. You walk a bit higher,” he said.
“Normally we start at six and they start wandering in like milking cows, but all the boys were there early on both nights.”
The hero last week with his clutch kick, Chris Walker was the only multiple goal-kicker for the Swans with five.
Daniel Hughes and Thomas Mackey kicked two apiece for the Eagles.
Gunnedah had their radar switched on up in Moree, Jake Spackman leading the way with six goals, Mitch Swan five and Richard Kestles four as the defending champions thumped the Suns 25.23-173 to 9.9-63.
Zach Collier was the Suns best, kicking five of their nine goals.
In Armidale the New England Nomads produced a 46-point final term to power to a 18.14-122 to 4.14-50 win over the Tamworth Kangaroos.
Dave Richards booted five and Angus Quail three for the Nomads, who had forfeited their previous two games, while Adam Watson snagged three for the Roos.
