The new season might just be five rounds old but the Southern Districts Crocs have already thrown down the gauntlet to all clubs. Their 69 point demolition of perennial powerhouse, St Mary’s at TIO Stadium today was the biggest sign yet that the Crocs mean business in 2015/16. The victory sees them level on points with last year’s premiers Wanderers but well clear on percentage.

The loss for St Mary’s places them in an unusual position – for them. They now sit in fifth place, albeit just a game behind Crocs. But with the developing log jam at the upper end of the ladder, Saints will need to find more wins than others to get back in reach of top spot.

Final Score: Southern Districts 19 9 123 d St Mary’s 7 12 54

The race for top spot is already gathering steam after just four rounds of the NTFL season in Darwin. Southern Districts, Wanderers and St Mary’s each have three wins and are narrowly ahead of Nightcliff, Palmerston and Darwin Buffaloes on two apiece. It sets the scene for a torrid few weeks headed towards the Christmas/New Year Break in December.

The weekend matches were highlighted by a slashing game between previously undefeated Southern Districts and Wanderers. The Crocs led after a five goal first quarter and held the lead at half time by nine points. But in a spirited second half, wanderers found the extra gear to get ahead and hold of the determined crocs, running out three point winners in yet another result decided this season by less than a goal. Two of those were losses for Wanderers (by three points to St Mary’s and two points to Buffaloes), so the result was a huge relief for last year’s premiers.

Final score: Wanderers 13 10 88 d Southern Districts 13 7 85

The 2016 AFL Fixture was released today.  Full details can be seen below.  Round 23 is left open in terms of what part of the weekend each match will be played on.  Note there will be no match played in NZ for Premiership points in 2016 with St Kilda ending their deal with Wellington.

The AFL is pleased to announce a Toyota AFL Premiership Season match will occur at Cazalys Stadium, Cairns in the 2016 Season.

The match, to be held in Round 17 on Saturday July 16 at 7:25pm EST, will see the Western Bulldogs host the Gold Coast SUNS.

Simon Lethlean, the AFL Executive Team Member responsible for the 2016 fixture, thanked the Queensland Government and Cairns Regional Council for their continued support in taking the match to the region.

“We know North Queensland fans are passionate about AFL, and with the support of the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland, and Cairns Regional Council we are thrilled to bring a match to the region for the sixth straight year,” he said.

The Darwin Buffaloes, often better known locally as just the Buffaloes, have certainly started to turn the NTFL competition on its head, or at the very least clip it around the ears. Desperately unlucky last weekend to go down to the St Marys powerhouse by a solitary point, the Buffaloes went one better, defeating the other of last year’s grand finalists, Wanderers, by two points.

After having spent the past few years inhabiting the lower reaches of the NTFL ladder, there is something very inspiring about the Buffaloes at the moment. If last weekend’s loss was seen as “just one of those days”, then this weekend’s 10 11 71 to 10 9 69 win over Wanderers is proof. The Buffaloes are on the way back up. This in light of the fact that they trailed last year’s premiers by 36 points at half time. The second half belonged to the Buffaloes but they still trailed by 20 points at the final change. But the momentum of the second half was theirs and they hung on in a thriller to come from behind and create the upset of the season to date. Watch this space, Buffaloes fans.

The ladder after the second round of the NTFL season sees two teams undefeated (Southern Districts and Wanderers), two teams winless (Buffaloes and Tiwi Bombers) and St Mary’s in the somewhat unusual landscape of fifth place. But as clinical as leader positions can be, they don’t tell the story of the matches played to get there. Round two was a case in point as the fans were treated to thrillers, seesaws and a hiding for good measure.

The round kicked off with the Nightcliff Tigers taking on the Tiwi Bombers. Nothing in the game at quarter time became a useful three goal lead to the Tigers by the main break. Then the Tiwi boys unleashed a willowing third quarter to kick nine goals and take total control of the match. Being 23 points up at the final change, the Bombers should have put this away, but Nightcliff then powered home with nine goals of their own in the final quarter to win by the same half time margin – 18 points. In an amazing statistical anomaly, both teams kicked eleven goals seven for the second half, built around two opposing quarters of dominance.

With a simple tweet Mike Pyke literally and figuratively hangs up his boots after a successful (surprisingly so) career at the Sydney Swans that was highlighted by a most solid outing in the 2012 premiership win against the pre-three-peat Hawthorn Hawks. From a 25 year old taking as big a personal sporting gamble as several more high profile 'code hoppers' - but with far less fanfare or fortune - Pyke has carved out a 6 year career that more than justified his personal journey and also the leap of faith of his club and coaches. And also highlighted the need the system to retain the means by which the sporting narrative can throw up such pleasant surprises rather than militarily fit to a formularised predictability.

The Northern Territory Top End summer footy season roared back into life last weekend with four Premier league matches to kick off 2015. The NTFL (Northern Territory Football League) got off to a flyer with a triple header at TIO Stadium in Darwin, with the showcase of the round being the traditional Grand Final rematch from the previous season – Wanderers against St Mary’s.

The feature match was a thriller, and treated the crowd to an exciting come from behind win to last year’s premiers – Wanderers. The St Mary’s crew skipped out to a five point lead by quarter time, despite only having three scoring shots to eight. The adage of bad kicking being bad football was on display as Wanderers squandered opportunities whilst the Saints made the most of theirs kicking three straight to Wanderers one goal seven behinds.

 

Hawthorn’s superstar, Cyril Rioli, more than deserved his Norm Smith Medal last weekend when Hawthorn defeated the West Coast team for the 2015 AFL Premiership. His electrifying skills, especially during the first half when the victory had to be set up, thrilled the crowd. No person at the game would deny his influence, and Rioli now sits in the history books alongside other legends of the game.

 

 

But two of those legends are his uncles and they all hail from the same islands to the north of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Cyril and his uncles, Maurice Rioli and Michael Long, not only share a heritage, a home and a culture – they also share a unique place in VFL/AFL history as Norm Smith Medal winners, adjudged best on ground in a AFL Grand Final.

Hawthorn are 2015 AFL Premiers, recording their third consecutive Premiership with a 46 point win against the West Coast Eagles.

The Eagles scored the first goal through a free kick to Luke Shoey and hopes of a competitive Grand Final were alive. But a steady and accurate Hawthorn gradually built a 5.0 to 1.5 lead by quarter time with Cyril Rioli, Sam Mitchell and Isaac Smith leading the way for the Hawks.

The second quarter saw the Hawks drawing further away lead by inspirational captain Luke Hodge, but a late goal to Josh Hill and another after the siren to Elliot Yeo at half time pulled the lead back to 31 points and kept the game alive...barely.