Southern Districts boss Shannon Rusca not shying away from a tough month of January football

SOUTHERN Districts are set for a big seven weeks of football when the all-important post Christmas NTFL season kicks off

Sam Smith and his Palmerston rival have eyes only for the ball in this 2018 clash at TIO Stadium. Picture: Felicity Elliott

SOUTHERN Districts are set for a big seven weeks of football when the all-important post Christmas NTFL season kicks off in early January.

The third-placed Crocodiles play every other side in the top four in January, but their coach Shannon Rusca said the players will be ready for the challenge.

“We’re tracking in the right direction by landing in third place at Christmas without playing our best footy,’’ he told the NT News.

“We’ve showed some good glimpses in different quarters, but the majority of the pre-Christmas period for us has been pretty hard in terms of getting some continuity.

“Post-Christmas we’ll be getting our best players back and from that should flow some continuity and what we like to call consistency.’’

Former AFL Docker and Sun, Michael Barlow, Sandover medallist Rory O’Brien and big ruckman Seb Guilhaus will be regulars as they chase the six-game mark and finals eligibility.

“We’ve got a minimum of seven games to qualify all of our fly-ins, so it’s important we get some games into them,’’ Rusca said.

“Their experience and class will go a long way to gluing the side together and from that, playing the type of footy we want to play at the business end of the season.

“We don’t want seven or eight changes a week, two or three maximum through injury or unavailability is the ideal number.

“We’re up and about, we pushed Nightcliff in both matches we lost to them without our best side and that’s not making any excuses.

“They (Nightcliff) are the benchmark and we have to find a way to get over the likes of them, St Mary’s the Darwin Buffaloes and the Tiwis in successive weeks.’’

Districts are third with seven wins and a draw in 11 games, a number Rusca and his brains trust are happy with.

One player yet to make an appearance this season is ruckman-utility Sam Smith, who hurt his left knee before Christmas 12 months ago and has not played since.

But Rusca expects him to play before season’s end, even if finals football might be out of the question.

“Sam’s a work in progress,’’ Rusca said. “Everything is on track and he should get the all-clear to play in about three weeks when we’ll work at getting some games into him.’’