![Fraser Menzies bemoaned his squad's commitment after 14 players turned up to face Gunnedah in Narrabri. Fraser Menzies bemoaned his squad's commitment after 14 players turned up to face Gunnedah in Narrabri.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/T7RGn6Wqupu9DPpBgesVjF/ebcab29d-1ea8-4ae6-b3ba-741b14fef50a.JPG/r0_0_5402_3457_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
New England Nomads assistant coach Fraser Menzies has bemoaned his side's lack of commitment to training and round games in the lead up to the AFL North West semi-finals.
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The Nomads took 14 players to Narrabri on Saturday to face the Gunnedah Bulldogs and were beaten 12.23-95 to 11.13-79 but it wasn't the effort on-the-field Menzies was disappointed with.
It was those who are continually failing to show up.
"I think we are getting a little bit cruisy," Menzies said.
"There's probably a lot of people who are complacent from winning the premiership from last season which is a bit disappointing."
In 2022, the Nomads had a rough end to the year with a forfeit and poor player numbers.
They then went on from fourth position to win the premiership.
Menzies doesn't want to rely on them coming together in the finals to try and lift the trophy this year.
"It is one of those things that happened last year and it might happen again this year but I don't want to hope it happens," he said.
"I want to see people put that commitment in."
Coupled with that, Menzies believes their record this season against all teams except for Inverell has seen some members of the playing group ignore the regular matches and only focus on how they can beat the Saints.
Numbers to training have declined and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Nomads to implement any sort of game plan.
"As a team we have been tied on this fact on 'what do we need to do to take our game to the next level against Inverell?'" Menzies said.
"I think we have got a bit lost in a way on we have just been so tied up on this objective that we have got to beat Inverell to win the premiership.
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"But in hindsight we should be like 'how can we be the best we can be today?'
"That's the thing we're struggling with at the moment."
Menzies said he addressed the team earlier this week and is waiting for an actions speak louder than words response when they face the Tamworth Swans this Saturday for their final match of the regular season.
"I had a bit of a chat to them on Monday, not using any stern words or anything but regarding commitment and willingness to not only play for yourself but for your teammates," he said.
"I put it in a way that you are not letting yourself down, you are letting the team down more than anything."
It was also disheartening for Gunnedah to field a full contingent of players knowing the Nomads were lacking.
"They asked us if we wanted to go to Narrabri and we said 'that's fine' so we put in the extra miles to help them out for this game they wanted to do in Narrabri and they decided to play extra players on our team," Menzies said.
"They are well and truly in their rights to do it but I was slightly disappointed in the fact we could have easily played in Gunnedah and only two hours of travel, we probably would have got close to 18 people.
"We put in the extra miles to help them out for this game."
Following the game against the Swans, the Nomads round out the regular season with a bye before finals commence on August 12.
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