Round 12 was played in the NTFL last weekend, the first round back after the Christmas/New Year break. Whilst fans were delighted to see the footy back again, the round has seen a tightening of ladder positions with top spot, top five and wooden spoon well and truly undecided and set for big finishes from all clubs over the remaining six rounds.

The Southern Districts Crocs are locked in a battle with the Nightcliff Tigers for top spot, both teams on ten wins. In third place, four games behind the leaders, the Darwin Buffaloes sit level with Waratah. Just outside the five on five wins are Palmerston, followed by the Tiwi Bombers on four wins and Wanderers on three.

On Saturday, the Tigers downed the Buffaloes by 14 points. The teams kept up a tight match to three-quarter time, with the final quarter set for one of the other side to break the game open. However, neither team goaled in the last quarter leaving the Tigers victors.

Just a few weeks ago, the Tiwi Bombers were on the crest of a wave. With three consecutive wins, the Bombers were cautiously looking at a surprise finals charge. But since then they have lost three games in a row, last weekend against the bottom placed Wanderers. The Bombers now face the prospect again of a wooden spoon unless they find form again. Wanderers, however, have won two of their past four matches and can justifiably claim their own march to finals.

In other matches on the weekend, the Darwin Buffaloes brought down the Southern Districts Crocs, Nightcliff comfortably dispatched St Mary’s and the Palmerston Magpies won a thriller after the siren against Waratah.

Wanderers seemingly threw away their golden chance to defeat the Bombers when they kicked just one goal from seven scoring shots in the opening quarter. They we made to pay, as the Bombers kicked five second quarter goals to lead at the main break. But the Muk Muks really did run amok in the second half. Wanderers hammered home ten goals in the second half to just four from the Bombers to win comfortably by 32 points.

Former Lion Kaitlyn Ashmore will now play for one of the new AFLW teams in the 2019 season, the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos.

“Family is a big thing for me, and being closer to them was one of the main reasons why I came home. When North were granted a license, I thought it would be the perfect fit for me," Ashmore said

"North has had an alliance with Melbourne Uni for years, where I have played for 6 years and over 130 games. I was also moving back and forth from QLD every 6 months over the 2 seasons I had there and it’s actually quite exhausting." 

 Image Source: North Media

 For the Kangaroos, Ashmore will continue to wear the jumper number 10 in 2019 same as the number she wore at the Lions. 

 

 

Round 10 of the NTFL Premier League saw the Palmerston Magpies make their biggest statement yet regarding their desire for the rest of this season. Their win over the Darwin Buffaloes has them and the league rethinking the rest of the season. St Mary’s also spoke loudly to the rest after downing Wanderers, the Crocs gave the Tiwi Bombers more to think about and Nightcliff’s shellacking of Waratah has asked some big questions.

The Magpies got away to a blinder against the Buffaloes, producing an exciting seven goal opening quarter. The Buffaloes came back hard and just three points was the half time margin in favour of the Pies. Palmerston had the better of the third quarter and held off a determined Buffaloes in the final term to hold on by 20 points. For Palmerston, the win see them equal on points with fifth-placed St Mary’s but more importantly, the win sees them having beaten the third and fourth placed teams this season.

A few weeks ago, the Palmerston Magpies were riding a wave of optimism. On the back of consecutive wins, the Magpies sat with three wins and three losses and a place in the top five. Since then, however, their fortunes have dipped markedly, and their 111-point hiding today to the Southern Districts Crocs has been the worst of three consecutive losses which have derailed their season.

The Crocs were awesome and relentless. A fifteen goal first half decided the game, putting the Magpies out of winning contention and setting up a dangerous second half for the ‘Pies. The second half wasn’t as damaging, and could have been better for Palmerston had they kicked straight. But one goal and twelve behinds for the second half killed off any reasonable hope of a fightback.

After a start to the season they would happily forget, Wanderers pulled off the upset of Round 8 when they defeated the Darwin Buffaloes at TIO Stadium. Going into the match, Wanderers had just one win whilst the Buffaloes sat within the top three. But Wanderers ignored that to record a memorable win. Across the weekend, the Tigers downed the Magpies, the Bombers were too good for Waratah and the Crocs defeated St Mary’s.

Wanderers got away to the ideal start, gaining a 15-point advantage by the first change and instilling belief into their players and fans. It was the platform for a huge second quarter where they dominated the Buffaloes across the ground to rattle on another six goals and hold a big 41-point half time lead. The Buffaloes were always going to fight back, and they turned on a five goal to two third quarter, but still trailed by 22 points. The game was winnable, but Wanderers smelled blood and held back the tide to hold on by 10 points in a huge game for the club.

Charlie Hall found a nugget of gold in a creek near the site of a town that now bears his name in the Kimberley region of Western Australia’s far north. Further east, but still in the far north, Cairns became a port that would, in part, service the gold discoveries on the Hodgkinson River goldfields and later across the Tablelands. In both locations, gold discoveries led directly to their settlement and development.

By the 2010’s, a different kind of AFL gold is being discovered and sought by AFL clubs and this season’s national draft brought that notion clearly into focus as both locations provided clubs with yet more young talent.

By road, Cairns is around 3000 kilometres from the footballing Mecca of Melbourne. Halls Creek is even further away – about 4300 kilometres by road. Neither is in the backyard of Melbourne, nor any other state capital. Yet by way of recruiters, scouts, word of mouth and social media – word gets around about precociously talented kids. Many leave home for the cities to either further educations or improve their chances to play big time footy. It’s working.

The NTFL deck was shuffled on the weekend with some upset results shaking up the competition. At least, the winners and losers were shuffled yet the ladder remains largely the same. Waratah brought down the previously undefeated Southern Districts Crocs, the Tiwi Bombers downed the Darwin Buffaloes, St Mary’s burst the Palmerston bubble and Nightcliff were too good for Wanderers.

Saturday’s triple-header at TIO Stadium kicked off with a revitalised Tiwi Bombers outclassing the Darwin Buffaloes. But it didn’t start that way as the Buffaloes burst out of the blocks with a seven goal to one opening quarter. Leading by 26 points at half-time, Darwin had little idea what was about the happen. The Tiwi Bombers called on the grit and explosiveness that saw them defeat St Mary’s last weekend to launch a nine goal third term. Another six goals in the last quarter saw the Bombers race away to an impressive 44-point win.

In front of an ecstatic home crown at Tiwi Oval on Bathurst Island, the Tiwi Bombers finally got their first win of the season. They downed St Mary’s by 21 points to not only gain their first four points of the season but also claw their way off the bottom of the ladder. In other results, the Palmerston Magpies resurgence continued with a win over Wanderers, The Darwin Buffaloes downed Waratah and in the top of the table clash, Southern Districts defeated Nightcliff.

Over in Wurrumiyanga, the Tiwi Bombers were up against an equally desperate St Mary’s. Both teams needed a win to keep finals on the radar, but more so the Tiwi Bombers who really had to win this one. The enthusiastic home crowd played their part as the Bombers gained the lead and stayed there before running out 21-point victors. Mathematics says that Saints are still right in the mix for finals, but form is another matter altogether. Their first six rounds have been shaky, at best, and they need to find the firepower to win consistently.

 

The following article from Fox Footy at their www.foxsports.com.au website looks at the naming of Essendon and AFL legend, Michael Long as the 2018 Northern Territorian of the year. As well as being an icon of the game for his achievements on and off the field, Long remains an inspiration to generations of people inside and outside of sport. 

ESSENDON champion Michael Long has been named Northern Territorian of the Year in recognition of his work as an indigenous community leader.

Darwin-born Long has been described as a football icon who made a stand against racism during his career, and an advocate for reconciliation. 

The Michael Long Learning and Leadership centre in Darwin provides accommodation, education, football and other sporting and corporate facilities.  

The centre aims to give young indigenous Territorians the same opportunities as their non-indigenous peers.