World Footy News

Wanderers defeated Waratah Saturday night at TIO Stadium in Darwin to book a place in the 2013/14 grand-final against the raging hot favourites, St Mary’s.

The grand-final that was most likely for most of the season came about through a solid if unspectacular win to the Wanderers in the preliminary final, downing the ‘Tahs by 42 points with a score of 11 11 77 to 4 11 35.

For Wanderers it means the chance to challenge for their “lucky” thirteenth premiership since their formation in 1917. This is almost in contrast to the St Mary’s behemoth which will be aiming for back to back flags and their thirtieth flag since their inception in 1952, which would give then an almost phenomenal rate of close to one flag every two years over their 62 year history.

St Mary’s path to the big day has been almost faultless. They remain undefeated across all home and away matches as well as their only final to date when they defeated Wanderers by 34 points. In fact, the two have meet four times this season with the closest match being their Round Three clash which St Mary’s won by 15 points. All indicators suggest a comfortable win for St Mary’s.

But Wanderers know they deserve to be there on the big day. They only lost four games in the home and away season: three times to St Mary’s and once in an upset to a rejuvenated Palmerston outfit. They have pushed Saints in all matches except the final round loss, where they went down by 110 points. Wanderers, also known as the Eagles, know that grand finals are a story of their own and the best team on the day prevails. They simply need to draw on all the reserves from their previous closer encounters and they can snatch the upset on the day.

Of interest to southern readers, Wanderers are well served by some experienced former AFL players in Liam Patrick (ex-Gold Coast Suns) and Eddie Sansbury (ex-North Melbourne) and a strong representation from the Motlop blood lines. St Mary’s also boast some great talent, not the least of which is the continuing Rioli family connection with up to three family members likely to take the field, as well as being led by ex-St Kilda grand final player, Raphael Clarke, and his Geelong opponent from the 2009 grand-final, ruckman Mark Blake.

The match will be played at TIO Stadium in Darwin on Saturday 15th March with the twilight match commencing at 6.30pm. If you are in Darwin, get along for what should prove to be another memorable NTFL grand-final.