Mate against mate as Gunnedah Poochettes beat new England Nomads

A player shortage prompted several Gunnedah Poochettes to swap teams at Wolseley Park last Saturday as the home side comfortably defeated the New England Nomads.

Having struggled for numbers this year, the Nomads had only five players make the trek for the round three fixture in the AFL North West women’s competition.

The game began with 11 Poochettes on the home side and five on the visiting side, with Gunnedah captain Alexa Walker among those in New England colours.

Walker later donned the Gunnedah colours while other Poochettes also changed from one team to the other.

The number of players per team also changed throughout the game, as it was 11 against 10 at first and then nine against nine later on while the quarters were 15 minutes rather than 20.

“Full credit to the handful of New England players who made the trip to Gunnedah, and full credit to our players for committing themselves to each team to make it a better contest,” Walker said.

A century of points for Gunnedah was on the cards as the home side led by 53 points at half-time, before a change of complexion resulted in the Nomads outscoring the Poochettes in the final two quarters.

Gunnedah finished on 9.12.66 to New England’s 4.0.24.

Amy Clark kicked five goals for the Poochettes and one for the Nomads, whose four goal-kickers included three Gunnedah players.

Two goals to Meg Foster and one to Clark helped the Poochettes to a 3.3.21 to 0 lead at quarter-time, before Clark landed four majors to Foster’s one in the second term as the score blew out to 8.5.53 to 0.

Following a raft of changes to the teams, New England player Lucy Petrie kicked the only goal of the third term while Gunnedah managed just two behinds in this 15-minute period.

Beccy Wilson booted a major for the Poochettes in the final quarter before Gunnedah players Laura Ewington, Amelia Woolaston and Clark landed a goal each for New England, with Clark’s six-pointer coming in the final minute.

Two wins from their opening three matches left the Poochettes in second place on the five-team ladder, before having a bye this weekend.

LEFT: The Gunnedah Poochettes and New England Nomads lock horns at Wolseley Park last Saturday. Numerous Poochettes players swapped teams as the visiting team was short of players.