NTFL Season 2023/4

[palmomagpie]

FINALS WEEK 1
A huge first round of finals - no massive shocks though. Southern Districts knocked PINT out with a 26 point win. Huge controversy has followed this match after PINT's Warwick Williams has struck a few players, then pulled a young umpire over who was trying to break it up. News channels have jumped all over it - including the fact that he was recently released from a 14 month prison sentence for assault. Not going to be pretty at the tribunal. Further info here if anyone wants to read :

Footballer recently released from jail faces huge ban for assaulting teenage ump in shocking scenes​

Waratah and Nightcliff played a classic in their qualifying final, with Nightcliff pipping them by 2 points and securing a match against St Mary's next week for a shot at the GF. It looked ugly early for Nightcliff , who were down 0.2 to 5.2 at quarter time, 1.5 to 5.4 at half time, 4.8 to 8.7 at 3QT, before firing 5 goals to 1 in the last term to win.



Heading into Week 2, we'll see Waratah vs Southern Districts in a knockout Semi Final for a shot at the Prelim Final / loser of St Mary's and Nightcliff. Nightcliff and St Mary's will be broadcast live on 7PLUS at 6.45PM Darwin Time on Saturday night. Will be worth the watch and won't clash with any AFL games (Hawthorn vs Bulldogs is on much earlier).

 

[IKE TURNER]

Yeah not a good look, spending a year in jail for coward punch then playing footy and doing this, you would think might have prior indiscretions so will be looking at getting deregistered, protection of umpires is paramount especially the young ones so the tribunal might throw the book at him

 

[IKE TURNER]

Couple of upsets in Ntfl finals, districts gave Waratah a touch up and finished their season and Nightcliff beat St Marys and go straight into grand final, if I was saints and tigers I would be a little nervous

 

[palmomagpie]

FINALS WEEK 2
Late to update thanks to a crazy week at work - but as above, Southern Districts thumped and knocked Waratah out, guaranteeing that we'll see a new premier this season. Nightcliff also pulled off an upset beating St Mary's, including kicking 6 goals to nothing in the first quarter. Whilst Saints surged and started fighting back, Nightcliff held their nerve and booked yet another grand final.




We're now down to 3 - Nightcliff, St Mary's and Southern Districts. Big game this weekend between Saints and Districts. Just a reminder it will be streamed online on 7Mate - clashes with GWS and Collingwood but will be a good watch either way. As much as it pains me to say, I'm hoping Districts get the flag this year. Sick of Nightcliff and Saints, and have to throw some support to the other guys past the Berrimah line.

Also, an update on PINT'S Warwick Williams - he has copped a 20 game suspension for pushing the young umpire, basically ending his football career. He has been deregistered, and will need to apply for re-registration once that's been served and be able to prove he is rehabilitating: NTFL player banned for 20 games after hurling young umpire to the ground

 

[palmomagpie]

FINALS WEEK 3 - PRELIM FINAL
In a result that most likely shocked nobody, St Mary's came out on top against Southern Districts by 26 points at TIO Stadium. Despite there being only 1 point between them at half time, Saints kicked 7 goals to 3 in the 2nd half to run away and book a rematch and big grand final against Nightcliff this weekend. Should be a close grand final this weekend that could go either way.

 

[seanoff]

Well that was scrappy and that’s easily the worst I’ve seen TIO look and play. But order has been restored ;-).

 

[IKE TURNER]

Yep ground was unusually muddy probably the worst it has been for years and unfortunately was on grand final day, 4 earlier games played on it didn't help but it is a wet weather sport, tigers beat saints 3 out of 4 times but not the one that mattered

 

[palmomagpie]

Yeah wasn't a good look by the end of the day. I was watching the earlier games on youtube, slowly watching the oval get torn up and muddy. Knew by Premier League time it was going to be an absolute cow paddock and wasn't disappointed. Huge win for Saints though, congrats seanoff

 

[palmomagpie]

GRAND FINAL

Unfortunately, after watching just about all the GF's on Youtube, I was working when the Prem grand final was on and just had it on 7Plus on my phone pretending I was using it as a calculator. In a scrappy, muddy affair, St Mary's won their 34th (I think) NTFL grand final by 13 points. Only in Darwin/Wet Season weather could you have a premier league/top division grand final have a combined 8 goals scored the whole game - but watching these guys absolutely bulldoze around in the mud and heavy rain just adds to the spectacle. A see-sawing season which always seemed would have these two at the finale, Jackson Calder's 3 goals were enough to hand St Mary's the flag.



Thanks for everyone who followed along with my scrappy and delayed match postings. The NTFL is one of the main things I miss about living in Darwin; the magic of watching local footy in extreme heat and torrential rain and sinking tins. Fingers crossed next year is a more even comp and Palmy and Wanderers can climb into relevance.