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Well it is around the halfway mark of both the NTFL and TEAFA competitions.
NTFL
The NTFL so far as been a reasonably exciting competition but in my opinion only four (possibly five) teams are a chance to take out the premiership cup. Southern Districts, St Marys and the Tiwi Bombers are in the box seat with Waratah closely following them and Palmerston slightly behind the Warriors, even though they beat them in a five point thriller yesterday. At their best I believe that Southern Districts are the best team in the competition with several interstate recruits having already left a mark on the league. Leading goal kicker Steele Viti and Clint Kelly are among the top forwards in the NTFL. A key-forward is vital in this league and without Ashley Wedding, who kicked 115 goals last year, Southern Districts may have needed one more than the other teams. I'm still hearing from a number of different sources that former Fitzroy and Brisbane Lions player Chris Johnson will be coming up. Any side with Darryl White, Shane Morrison, Chris Johnson, Steele Viti, Clint Kelly, Ben Ah Mat, Shannon Rusca and Mark Rattley in it would be hard to beat. Other Districts players are getting their names in the best. Some of these include: Thomas O'Shaughnessy, Keegan Dingo, Kapun Morris, Ben Aalbers and Mark Lloyd.
Tiwi Bombers can defeat the Crocodiles if they play their usual fast and attacking style. They beat them in Round 3 using that style in a relatively high scoring match when Districts had both Darryl White and Shane Morrison. The key to stopping the islanders is stopping their run. Districts and St Marys have done that this year. How come Roy Farmer isn't talked about when it comes to the draft? He dominates the junior competitions and steps into the A-grade as an 18-year-old and dominates there as well. He has lighting pace and beautiful skills of both sides of the body. He is one of many match-winners that the Tiwi Bombers have. Ephrem Tipungwuti and suspended Southport recruit Cameron Betts have also been in top form. Little Graham "Aeroplane" Puruntatameri entertains the crowd and he is a very effective player and can often kick six or seven goals playing as a small full forward or out of the pocket.
Looking at the St Marys team on paper, their list doesn't seem as impressive as the Southern Districts team. Saints rely a lot on their islanders, Samson Mungatopi, James Puatjimi and Ross Tungatalum. Lewis Roy, from Duck Creek, is also in fine form. Stapleton, Ilett and Flesfadar are playing well as usual and it shouldn't be too long until Iggy Vallejo starts finding his last year's pre-Norwood form. They're an interesting team St Marys because they have a lot of avenues to goal. Most people would regard Benjamin Zanker and Shaun Hill as 'B-graders' however both have kicked bags of goals in the A-grade this year. Zanker is currently equal leading goal kicker at St Marys with Peter McFarlane. The son of the NTFL's greatest goal kicker Dennis Dunn (Anthony Gardiner) is in equal second place with Anthony "Chopper" Vallejo on 13 goals.
It is hard to tell where Waratah stand in premiership contention. They have proven they can almost match it with Tiwi Bombers, Southern Districts and St Marys but they just don't seem to be at their level. Traditionally, Tahs have been a slowish big 'southerner' team and this year is no different. However losing Graham Puruntatameri to the Islanders has been a big loss, as they need a crumbing forward. They have tried to replace him by playing youngsters Jacob Schaper and James Wray. Jake Smart as been a good, consistent performer this year as has Dane Bergman and Brad Rayson. Former Kangaroos player Brad Stephens has looked good when not injured. Jethro Calma-Holt is once again playing some good footy and not receiving any recognition. Nathan McLean, Jarrod Young and Chris Mules have also been reasonable this year. They have many forwards including: Duane Annable, Scott Ward, Jarrod Young and Frank Matthews (who celebrated his 100th game on the weekend) however they have not been able to kick big scores. Kevin Bruce was playing well in the forward-line until he got injured.
At their best, the Palmerston Magpies could potentially be as good as any of the teams above them. They were in control of the Tiwi game until half time - similar to the St Marys game. They have beaten Waratah twice but they haven't proved that they can be competitive with the Crocodiles. Their only encounter with them this year was an 83-point flogging in favour of Southern Districts. They don't seem to be dominant against the lower placed teams either apart from one commanding victory against Nightcliff. They have lost games against Darwin and Nightcliff and only narrowly beat Wanderers in very wet conditions. If they can get Dylan McLaren, Lance Whitnall, James Imbi, Justin Wilson, Shannon Masters and the Shepherd brothers firing then they may go all right but even then there are still question marks. My prediction is a fifth placed finish.
In my opinion the top five is firmly set because the other three teams look gone. It will be interesting to see who finishes sixth, Darwin, Nightcliff or Wanderers? Darwin and Nightcliff are both on three wins yet in my opinion I see Nightcliff the more superior team. Coach Mark Motlop dubbed them the “Nightclub Tigers” referring to how in last week’s match against Wanderers they were too busy talking about drinking after the game instead of focussing on getting the four points. Nightcliff were boosted by the return of Saul Caddy and Chris Gibson but obviously it mustn’t have helped them much if they lost to the then winless Wanderers Eagles. Warren Berto, David Fevaleaki, Sam Liston, Robert Campbell and Jayden Kickett have been playing well for Nightcliff. They suffered a massive 134-point loss to Southern Districts at Nightcliff oval this year.
I’m undecided as to who I would predict to finish seventh this season because I believe that Wanderers are a better team then Buffaloes but Darwin have beaten them twice this season when I expected the result to go the other way. The only player playing well for Buffaloes was Cameron Stokes but since he has been added to Hawthorn’s rookie list, they obviously won’t have him for the rest of the season. Ross Billias, Phillip Wills and Desmond Hayes haven’t been their worst players but I can’t imagine them getting too many games at other teams like Southern Districts or the Tiwi Islands. Apparently many Darwin A-grade players don’t train which would obviously be a big concern for any team of any standard if your players weren’t turning up to training. Buffs simply have no one that can kick goals for them. Cameron Stokes was their leading goal kicker, having twice as more as the person coming second. Their average losing margin is 109.8 points – vastly different from their 2.6 average winning margins.
Poor old Wanderers are my prediction for the ‘wooden spoon’. They’re not a terrible team but they are stuck on only one win because they should have beaten Buffs in both of the two games they played this year. Apparently Byron Pickett wants to play for Wanderers but you never know with Darwin footy whether they end up coming or not. He has to get permission to play from the Port Adelaide Magpies as he has signed with them for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Craig Marshall, Cameron Thyer, Ali Bond, Dustin Pickett and Relton Roberts have been good for the Eagles. Roberts is a fantastic player and is also their leading goal kicker on eight goals.
It has been an entertaining season so far. In the first round the Southern Districts vs. Darwin game had to be called off after the ground sprinklers turned on. Not that it mattered because at three-quarter-time the score was 118-19 in favour of Southern Districts. The clock on the scoreboard hasn’t worked all season and the siren stopped working in the first couple of rounds. The lights went out in last week’s Southern Districts vs. Tiwi Bombers match after a lightning strike leaving the ground in complete darkness for a five-minute period in the second quarter. It has been a pretty good season for AFL players playing in Darwin. Dylan McLaren, Lance Whitnall, Shane Morrison, Brad Stephens have all put on NTFL Guernseys with Chris Johnson and Byron Pickett expected to make an appearance.
Waratah and St Marys will probably battle it out for the reserves premiership. Nightcliff, Southern Districts and Waratah look strong in the Under 18’s competition. Southern Districts, St Marys and Waratah are going along nicely in the 16’s. Palmerston and Waratah are also going well in the 15’s. St Marys are head-and-shoulders above the rest in 14’s. Darwin, Waratah Red and Palmerston Magpies are going pretty good in the nine-team Under 13’s competition.
My predictions for NTFL season 2007/2008:
Premiers – Southern Districts
Runner-up – St Marys
Nichols Medal – Ben Ah Mat
Runner-up – James Imbi
TEAFA
TEAFA A-grade teams only play 12 games each this season due to the Demons dropping out of the competition it made it a five-team competition, which meant the need for a bye. Banks are currently undefeated but that doesn’t mean that they would be certainties for the premiership. Tracy Village and PINT both have the ability to beat them in my opinion. Daryl Melville is in good form for the Bulldogs as are the Baldock brothers (Steven and Richard) who between them have kicked 23 goals.
Tracy Village Razorbacks are in second position but will find it a little tougher without star mid-fielder Patrick Glassborow. Keith Mellor and Steve Balnaves have been pretty good for the Razorbacks. Tracy Village are boasted by the occasional game from full forward and AFLNT Football Operations Manager Tim Beacham.
PINT Greenants, coached by Wayne Worden, are in an interesting position because one day they can look a million dollars playing against teams like Combined Services and University but the next week they can get flogged by Tracy Village. They have the competitions leading goal kicker in Matt Crichton – when Crichton is having a good day he is very hard to beat whether it is on the ground or in the air. Last year’s TEAFA medallist Clinton Browne has been unlucky with niggling injuries at the start of the year. Former Port Power rookie Callum Crook has been good in the ruck while Brad Burge, Brendan Dover and Dave Seiter have been pretty good so far this year. Demons recruit Jamie Hart has had the occasional good game as has Spencer Harvey. Travis Edwards, Karl Gunderson and Brett Hand are all nice players and if in the same team at once, will be trouble for opposition teams. Ex-Belconnen Magpies Danny Walsh has been realable down back. Former Wanderers player James Sing has had a good start to the year.
University and Combined Services won’t challenge for the premiership. Damian Hale coaches the servicemen.
Casino Sharks re-entered the reserves competition but unfortunately they haven’t has much success. With a percentage of 8, they have been thrashed in every game this season and some weeks cannot field a full team.
Banks look to be in control with Tracy Village in that competition. Matthew Parmenter is still leading Banks’ leading goal kicking. Parmenter kicked 19.6 in Round 3 against Casino Sharks in what many believe is a TEAFA record. It was a pretty good effort for a bloke who usually plays in the back line.
Tracy Village have the competition’s two spearheads in Jason Broughton and Tim Edwards. Between them they have kicked 70 goals (Broughton – 42, Edwards – 28). They enjoy playing Casino. In Round 2 they kicked 23 goals between them (Edwards – 14.0, Broughton – 9) and in Round 7 they kicked 19 goals between them (Broughton – 10, Edwards – 9).
Jabiru look great some weeks, other weeks they don’t look too great at all. Peter Cooper, Kingsley Whitehurst and Richard Linder are handy players.
PINT have had an on-and-off season in the B’s.
University aren’t doing much.
Casino Sharks have been beaten by: 154, 208, 195, 170, 172, 116, 144, Forfeit, 33. The leading goal kicker for the Sharks is Aaron Ruddick with four – he kicked them all last week.
My predictions for TEAFA season 2007/2008:
Premiers - Banks
Runner-up - Tracy Village/PINT (undecided)
TEAFA Medal - Daryl Melville
Runner-up - Keith Mellor
NTFL
The NTFL so far as been a reasonably exciting competition but in my opinion only four (possibly five) teams are a chance to take out the premiership cup. Southern Districts, St Marys and the Tiwi Bombers are in the box seat with Waratah closely following them and Palmerston slightly behind the Warriors, even though they beat them in a five point thriller yesterday. At their best I believe that Southern Districts are the best team in the competition with several interstate recruits having already left a mark on the league. Leading goal kicker Steele Viti and Clint Kelly are among the top forwards in the NTFL. A key-forward is vital in this league and without Ashley Wedding, who kicked 115 goals last year, Southern Districts may have needed one more than the other teams. I'm still hearing from a number of different sources that former Fitzroy and Brisbane Lions player Chris Johnson will be coming up. Any side with Darryl White, Shane Morrison, Chris Johnson, Steele Viti, Clint Kelly, Ben Ah Mat, Shannon Rusca and Mark Rattley in it would be hard to beat. Other Districts players are getting their names in the best. Some of these include: Thomas O'Shaughnessy, Keegan Dingo, Kapun Morris, Ben Aalbers and Mark Lloyd.
Tiwi Bombers can defeat the Crocodiles if they play their usual fast and attacking style. They beat them in Round 3 using that style in a relatively high scoring match when Districts had both Darryl White and Shane Morrison. The key to stopping the islanders is stopping their run. Districts and St Marys have done that this year. How come Roy Farmer isn't talked about when it comes to the draft? He dominates the junior competitions and steps into the A-grade as an 18-year-old and dominates there as well. He has lighting pace and beautiful skills of both sides of the body. He is one of many match-winners that the Tiwi Bombers have. Ephrem Tipungwuti and suspended Southport recruit Cameron Betts have also been in top form. Little Graham "Aeroplane" Puruntatameri entertains the crowd and he is a very effective player and can often kick six or seven goals playing as a small full forward or out of the pocket.
Looking at the St Marys team on paper, their list doesn't seem as impressive as the Southern Districts team. Saints rely a lot on their islanders, Samson Mungatopi, James Puatjimi and Ross Tungatalum. Lewis Roy, from Duck Creek, is also in fine form. Stapleton, Ilett and Flesfadar are playing well as usual and it shouldn't be too long until Iggy Vallejo starts finding his last year's pre-Norwood form. They're an interesting team St Marys because they have a lot of avenues to goal. Most people would regard Benjamin Zanker and Shaun Hill as 'B-graders' however both have kicked bags of goals in the A-grade this year. Zanker is currently equal leading goal kicker at St Marys with Peter McFarlane. The son of the NTFL's greatest goal kicker Dennis Dunn (Anthony Gardiner) is in equal second place with Anthony "Chopper" Vallejo on 13 goals.
It is hard to tell where Waratah stand in premiership contention. They have proven they can almost match it with Tiwi Bombers, Southern Districts and St Marys but they just don't seem to be at their level. Traditionally, Tahs have been a slowish big 'southerner' team and this year is no different. However losing Graham Puruntatameri to the Islanders has been a big loss, as they need a crumbing forward. They have tried to replace him by playing youngsters Jacob Schaper and James Wray. Jake Smart as been a good, consistent performer this year as has Dane Bergman and Brad Rayson. Former Kangaroos player Brad Stephens has looked good when not injured. Jethro Calma-Holt is once again playing some good footy and not receiving any recognition. Nathan McLean, Jarrod Young and Chris Mules have also been reasonable this year. They have many forwards including: Duane Annable, Scott Ward, Jarrod Young and Frank Matthews (who celebrated his 100th game on the weekend) however they have not been able to kick big scores. Kevin Bruce was playing well in the forward-line until he got injured.
At their best, the Palmerston Magpies could potentially be as good as any of the teams above them. They were in control of the Tiwi game until half time - similar to the St Marys game. They have beaten Waratah twice but they haven't proved that they can be competitive with the Crocodiles. Their only encounter with them this year was an 83-point flogging in favour of Southern Districts. They don't seem to be dominant against the lower placed teams either apart from one commanding victory against Nightcliff. They have lost games against Darwin and Nightcliff and only narrowly beat Wanderers in very wet conditions. If they can get Dylan McLaren, Lance Whitnall, James Imbi, Justin Wilson, Shannon Masters and the Shepherd brothers firing then they may go all right but even then there are still question marks. My prediction is a fifth placed finish.
In my opinion the top five is firmly set because the other three teams look gone. It will be interesting to see who finishes sixth, Darwin, Nightcliff or Wanderers? Darwin and Nightcliff are both on three wins yet in my opinion I see Nightcliff the more superior team. Coach Mark Motlop dubbed them the “Nightclub Tigers” referring to how in last week’s match against Wanderers they were too busy talking about drinking after the game instead of focussing on getting the four points. Nightcliff were boosted by the return of Saul Caddy and Chris Gibson but obviously it mustn’t have helped them much if they lost to the then winless Wanderers Eagles. Warren Berto, David Fevaleaki, Sam Liston, Robert Campbell and Jayden Kickett have been playing well for Nightcliff. They suffered a massive 134-point loss to Southern Districts at Nightcliff oval this year.
I’m undecided as to who I would predict to finish seventh this season because I believe that Wanderers are a better team then Buffaloes but Darwin have beaten them twice this season when I expected the result to go the other way. The only player playing well for Buffaloes was Cameron Stokes but since he has been added to Hawthorn’s rookie list, they obviously won’t have him for the rest of the season. Ross Billias, Phillip Wills and Desmond Hayes haven’t been their worst players but I can’t imagine them getting too many games at other teams like Southern Districts or the Tiwi Islands. Apparently many Darwin A-grade players don’t train which would obviously be a big concern for any team of any standard if your players weren’t turning up to training. Buffs simply have no one that can kick goals for them. Cameron Stokes was their leading goal kicker, having twice as more as the person coming second. Their average losing margin is 109.8 points – vastly different from their 2.6 average winning margins.
Poor old Wanderers are my prediction for the ‘wooden spoon’. They’re not a terrible team but they are stuck on only one win because they should have beaten Buffs in both of the two games they played this year. Apparently Byron Pickett wants to play for Wanderers but you never know with Darwin footy whether they end up coming or not. He has to get permission to play from the Port Adelaide Magpies as he has signed with them for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Craig Marshall, Cameron Thyer, Ali Bond, Dustin Pickett and Relton Roberts have been good for the Eagles. Roberts is a fantastic player and is also their leading goal kicker on eight goals.
It has been an entertaining season so far. In the first round the Southern Districts vs. Darwin game had to be called off after the ground sprinklers turned on. Not that it mattered because at three-quarter-time the score was 118-19 in favour of Southern Districts. The clock on the scoreboard hasn’t worked all season and the siren stopped working in the first couple of rounds. The lights went out in last week’s Southern Districts vs. Tiwi Bombers match after a lightning strike leaving the ground in complete darkness for a five-minute period in the second quarter. It has been a pretty good season for AFL players playing in Darwin. Dylan McLaren, Lance Whitnall, Shane Morrison, Brad Stephens have all put on NTFL Guernseys with Chris Johnson and Byron Pickett expected to make an appearance.
Waratah and St Marys will probably battle it out for the reserves premiership. Nightcliff, Southern Districts and Waratah look strong in the Under 18’s competition. Southern Districts, St Marys and Waratah are going along nicely in the 16’s. Palmerston and Waratah are also going well in the 15’s. St Marys are head-and-shoulders above the rest in 14’s. Darwin, Waratah Red and Palmerston Magpies are going pretty good in the nine-team Under 13’s competition.
My predictions for NTFL season 2007/2008:
Premiers – Southern Districts
Runner-up – St Marys
Nichols Medal – Ben Ah Mat
Runner-up – James Imbi
TEAFA
TEAFA A-grade teams only play 12 games each this season due to the Demons dropping out of the competition it made it a five-team competition, which meant the need for a bye. Banks are currently undefeated but that doesn’t mean that they would be certainties for the premiership. Tracy Village and PINT both have the ability to beat them in my opinion. Daryl Melville is in good form for the Bulldogs as are the Baldock brothers (Steven and Richard) who between them have kicked 23 goals.
Tracy Village Razorbacks are in second position but will find it a little tougher without star mid-fielder Patrick Glassborow. Keith Mellor and Steve Balnaves have been pretty good for the Razorbacks. Tracy Village are boasted by the occasional game from full forward and AFLNT Football Operations Manager Tim Beacham.
PINT Greenants, coached by Wayne Worden, are in an interesting position because one day they can look a million dollars playing against teams like Combined Services and University but the next week they can get flogged by Tracy Village. They have the competitions leading goal kicker in Matt Crichton – when Crichton is having a good day he is very hard to beat whether it is on the ground or in the air. Last year’s TEAFA medallist Clinton Browne has been unlucky with niggling injuries at the start of the year. Former Port Power rookie Callum Crook has been good in the ruck while Brad Burge, Brendan Dover and Dave Seiter have been pretty good so far this year. Demons recruit Jamie Hart has had the occasional good game as has Spencer Harvey. Travis Edwards, Karl Gunderson and Brett Hand are all nice players and if in the same team at once, will be trouble for opposition teams. Ex-Belconnen Magpies Danny Walsh has been realable down back. Former Wanderers player James Sing has had a good start to the year.
University and Combined Services won’t challenge for the premiership. Damian Hale coaches the servicemen.
Casino Sharks re-entered the reserves competition but unfortunately they haven’t has much success. With a percentage of 8, they have been thrashed in every game this season and some weeks cannot field a full team.
Banks look to be in control with Tracy Village in that competition. Matthew Parmenter is still leading Banks’ leading goal kicking. Parmenter kicked 19.6 in Round 3 against Casino Sharks in what many believe is a TEAFA record. It was a pretty good effort for a bloke who usually plays in the back line.
Tracy Village have the competition’s two spearheads in Jason Broughton and Tim Edwards. Between them they have kicked 70 goals (Broughton – 42, Edwards – 28). They enjoy playing Casino. In Round 2 they kicked 23 goals between them (Edwards – 14.0, Broughton – 9) and in Round 7 they kicked 19 goals between them (Broughton – 10, Edwards – 9).
Jabiru look great some weeks, other weeks they don’t look too great at all. Peter Cooper, Kingsley Whitehurst and Richard Linder are handy players.
PINT have had an on-and-off season in the B’s.
University aren’t doing much.
Casino Sharks have been beaten by: 154, 208, 195, 170, 172, 116, 144, Forfeit, 33. The leading goal kicker for the Sharks is Aaron Ruddick with four – he kicked them all last week.
My predictions for TEAFA season 2007/2008:
Premiers - Banks
Runner-up - Tracy Village/PINT (undecided)
TEAFA Medal - Daryl Melville
Runner-up - Keith Mellor
