World Footy News

Round Three this year and the Southern Districts Crocs downed St Mary’s by three goals. It was the Saints’ second loss in three rounds, going down in the season opener to Nightcliff, and only a big last quarter saw a win against the Darwin Buffaloes. Last year’s premiers were looking shaky, and attention turned to the all-conquering Tigers as they dominated all teams.

But Crocs had just poked the bear.

Since that day, Saints have gone on a rampaging seven match winning streak. That in itself is nothing new – plenty of teams have achieved that. But what is actually frightening is the carnage they have created in doing so. Their seven wins have seen them play most teams in the league (so far only thee Buffaloes have been spared in this current streak), and along that journey their average winning margin is over 100 points – that is frightening in any football league.

Nightcliff had been enjoying their own wonderful start to the season, winning their opening eight games. Then they met Saints. What ensued what an 83 point shellacking at the hands of the team they had beaten less than two months earlier.

But Nightcliff shouldn’t really feel too bad – they have plenty of other casualties sharing the same ward. The Saints’ streak has seen wins against the Tiwi Bombers (103 points), Waratah (103), Palmerston (137), Wanderers (70), Tiwi Bombers (146), Nightcliff (83) and Southern Districts (75).

In all likelihood, Nightcliff will go to the Christmas/New Year break on top of the ladder. Based on form they should squeak past Crocs this weekend. But if they do falter, and Crocs (fourth) are capable of causing that, then Saints could enter 2017 at the top, heavily favoured to beat Wanderers (third). Waratah sit fifth in their much-improved season and will get a chance to consolidate that spot by defeating the out-of-sorts Tiwi Bombers this weekend. They need to as Darwin Buffaloes (sixth) play the Palmerston Magpies (seventh) in a must-win match for their own finals aspirations.

But as it stands, each team must play St Mary’s before the season ends – Wanderers, twice. It means that every team, including Nightcliff, has some serious homework to do to figure out how to stop, or at least slow down, the terrifying Saints juggernaut.

Good luck with that!