THE Tamworth Swans have continued their winless start to the AFL North West women's season, going down at the hands of the New England Nomads.
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Sitting fourth on the ladder heading into Saturday's game, the Swans were coming into the game off the back of a heavy defeat at the hands of the Inverell Saints last week.
The Nomads were also heading into the clash looking for their first win of the season and little separated the two sides at quarter time.
With neither side able to register a goal in the opening term, the Nomads led two behinds to one at the first change.
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The Swans made the most of their opportunities in the second quarter, kicking the first goal of the afternoon to take a 1-2-8 to 0-4-4 lead into the main break.
An early goal after half-time was not enough to stop the Nomads' momentum as they piled on four goals in the third term.
The onslaught saw the Nomads take a 4-5-29 to 2-2-14 into three-quarter-time.
From there, the Nomads' defensive pressure saw them keep the Swans goalless in the final quarter to run out 6-7-43 to 2-2-14 winners.
Clare Cummings was the main destroyer for the Nomads, kicking three goals in a best-on-ground performance.
Madison Sharp and Lara Taggart were the Swans' only goal-kickers on the day.
Swans captain Jessica Kirkpatrick said her side would take valuable lessons from the defeat.
"It's an interesting thing, our pressure was very good all day but we just didn't take our chances," Kirkpatrick told the Leader.
"I think our last couple of games against the Inverell Saints required us to be very defensive, so when we did have our chances to attack against the Nomads, we didn't seem to know how.
"That's just a part of the learning process for us and something we can learn from going forward."
Kirkpatrick said the efforts of the side's junior players had been "inspiring the last few weeks".
"Girls like Lara Taggart, Billie Mitchell and Bianca Hughes have been massive for us the last few weeks," she said.
"Their attack on the game has been great and something the whole group is really working on.
"I think if we can continue to try and play like that, learn to get the game on our terms, our first win for the season won't be too far away."
In the round's other game, the Inverell Saints avenged last year's grand final defeat against the Tamworth Kangaroos by picking up a 17-11-113 to no-score victory.
Gabrielle Mooney and Clare McCosker were the Saints' two best goal-kickers while Emily Southwell was named the Roos' best player.