Women’s Premier League season to be a thriller in NTFL 2023-24

A bumper season of the Women’s Premier League is on the way with plenty of big off-season moves and a growth in experience across the league. Read how the clubs are shaping up.

The 2023-24 women’s premier league is poised to be the most competitive yet, with off season moves and a clear growth in experience at every club.

And to showcase that the season starts with one of the league’s premier match-ups between the two most recent winning teams PINT and Darwin Buffaloes.

The 2022-23 premiership-winning Queenants have undergone some changes in the off-season losing long time star Katie Streader to injury, as well as Jahla Hunt to a developing Palmerston side.

But they will once again be the side to watch with plenty of top line talent including former Adelaide Crow Jasmyn Hewett and talented forwards Amy Chittick and Steph Lawrence.

Coach Rick Nolan said they were once again targeting a strong season and pointed out Kate Atkins as one player to keep an eye on.

“Preseason has gone well, numbers have been fairly high with a lot of new, really athletic girls from other sports showing their promise,” he said.

“It’s been really, really promising for us, but we still have a lot of our top end talent like Jasmyn Hewett and Amy Chittick in our group.

PINT are hunting back-to-back premierships after winning the 2022-23 flag. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“Going back-to-back is once again our major goal, that’s why we all play footy is to win premierships and we’re coming into this season with that as our target.

“We want to win and we think we still have the talent to win all our games this season.”

They come against their grand final foes Waratah in the second round, with Tah’s captain Kierra Zerafa saying her side were looking to do some damage with a year of experience under their belts.

The side have already added some interstaters to their list including Victoria Winstanley from the Southport Sharks in the QAFLW and Abi Adams from Coburg in the VAFA.

“It obviously hurt last year, so we’re hitting the season again this year and the goal would be a grand final again this year, but it’s a long way off yet,” Zerafa said.

“Last year we had a few younger players, including myself, coming through Premier League and now we will be more experienced and have a more mature mind on us on how it works at this level.

“We’ve got Districts first up and we need to go in hard and hit Round 1 with a bang, we’ve worked really hard to be as fit as we can and hopefully we can come away with the win.”

Waratah senior representatives Chris Lai, Maddi Jeans, Eddie Morris, Kierra Zerafa and Ryan Ayres at the 2023-24 NTFL season launch. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Meanwhile, the ever-growing talent at the Darwin Buffaloes will be on display with new juniors such as Keanne Hart-Aluni and Alysha Jeffrey set to lead the charge in the Mel Taylor-led side.

It’s only two years since their premiership win and if they can pull some of their top line talent such as Molly Althouse, Tayla Hart-Aluni and Dom Carbone in for a few games they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Then there’s St Mary’s who went on a 12-game winning run in the 2022-23 season and can replicate the success if they get their best players, including Danielle Ponter, in the mix.

And the Nightcliff Tigers are never out of the mix with Cassie McWilliam and Sophie Hatzismalis leading the charge.

Palmerston’s young talent will be the ones to watch with Rising Star winner Tatyana Perry alongside last season’s under-16 and under-18 best and fairest winner Marika Carlton in the mix.

The Magpies have also been busy on the recruiting side with Hunt from PINT, Lydia Jenkins from Cairns, Ella Ward and Tahlia McRoberts from South Fremantle and Shakara Newry from the Kimberly Spirits.

And then there’s the natural talent of the Tiwi Bombers with plenty of their players coming in match fit from the Tiwi women’s competition.

Southern Districts and Wanderers are also in the fight and are each in transitional phases where the focus will be on building their younger lists.

Originally published as Women’s Premier League season to be a thriller in NTFL 2023-24