Nightcliff and St Mary’s to clash in what many fans believe is the 2019-20 grand final preview

ASK any fan of the NTFL’s Premier League who the likely 2019-20 grand finalists will be and the names Nightcliff and St Mary’s will be prominent

James Tsitas returns to the Nightcliff midfield on Sunday for the NTFL match of the round against St Mary’s at PSC BM Oval. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

ASK any fan of the NTFL’s Premier League who the likely 2019-20 grand finalists will be and the names Nightcliff and St Mary’s will be prominent.

Reigning premier Nightcliff has 12 wins to its credit and St Mary’s 10, reason enough to stamp those two clubs as the form sides of the competition.

But Nightcliff’s premiership coach Chris Baksh said a lot of water still had to run across PSC BM Oval before the March 14 grand final.

Both sides meet in a Sunday afternoon clash at Nightcliff this week, giving pundits an inside look at both sides.

Nightcliff will regain spearhead John Butcher and midfielder James Tsitas for the all-important 4pm game.

The Tigers are coming off a 33-point win over a feisty Darwin Buffaloes last week.

But the win was dampened by a power failure that reduced the four-quarter match to a two and half quarter contest.

Baksh and his coaching looked on while the 30-minute timeslot available to restore power to three light towers at TIO Stadium was used up.

“It was unusual and disappointing not to finish off the four quarters,’’ he said.

“But I thought we were in control of what was turning into a competitive game, even with Daniel Stafford causing some headaches for us.’’

Baksh started Jayden Kickett on the in-form Stafford in a bid to free up hard running defenders Kaine Riley and Daniel Bowles.

The move only partly worked, with Stafford booting four goals and missing two set shots from close range after a series of strong marks.

“Big Stafford was hard to control after we freed up Kaino and Bowlesy,’’ Baksh said.

“We had hoped our midfield would get on top and that was the case until the third quarter when they started to find a bit of the footy.

“This week’s the same, it will be a good challenge for us with Saints probably the form side at the minute.’’

Baksh said the main word in his side’s dictionary this season was improvement.

“It’s definitely a week by week proposition for us, we don’t want to look too far ahead,’’ he added.

“No injuries is a big thing, touch wood and the training continues to be intense.’’