Rep footy lights up Northern NSW
Photo courtesy of Port Macquarie News
It was a tough battle at Port Macquarie’s Wayne Richards Park but the North Coast team prevailed 18.7 (115) to 11.18 (84) after a strong second half.
Poor goal-kicking cost the Tamworth AFL Power side a win, the home side kicking 18 behinds in Saturday’s clash.
North Coast coach Peter Chadwick said it was a tough representative match in the early stages but they eventually regrouped to win.
“We were blown off the park in the early stages,” Chadwick said.
“They were just so quick and fit, and they took an early lead.
“We had to change the pace of the game and slowly pegged them back, but at the start of each quarter they kept coming out with their running game and we just had to slow things down to our style of play.”
Chadwick heaped praise on the team and singled out Port Macquarie’s Jessie Schmidt who was well supported by the likes of Mackenlay Pearce, Daniel Johnson and Mark Couzens.
Poor conversion cost the Power any chance according to Tamworth coach Tom Granleese.
“It all goes down to errant goal-kicking,” he said.
“That was disappointing.
“If we had kicked straight we would have rolled them.
“Unfortunately we didn’t make the most of our opportunities because we played well all over the ground.
“We just had a couple of lapses in the second and third quarters when they kicked most of their goals.
“Apart from that, the boys gave a real good account of themselves.”
Granleese thought Gunnedah coach Scott Hardy was outstanding in the middle.
“Jed Ellis-Cluff was great up front, Zac Economous was very solid at centre half back and Hamish Bird was fantastic with his tackling and pressure.”
Hayden Chapple was another to impress.
The TAFL resumes this weekend, with New England Nomads hosting Tamworth Swans at Bellevue Oval, Inverell Saints trekking to Muswellbrook to play the Cats and Gunnedah Bulldogs at home to Tamworth Kangaroos.
