Grey Morris divided opinion on the best 50 Territory sports stars
Picking the NT’s Top 50 sports stars from more than a century of Territory sport was always going to be fraught with danger and clouded in controversy. The brave Grey Morris gives his reasons.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
SELECTING a top 50 from more than a century of Northern Territory sport was always going to be fraught with danger and clouded in controversy.
We are talking about 100 years of extraordinary achievements from the Territory’s men and women in teams sports ranging from Australian football, rugby league, cricket, soccer, basketball and softball to individual sports like swimming, cycling, athletics, boxing, motorsport and darts.
A lot of people have queried the absence in my list of sporting greats like Cadel Evans, Shaun Burgoyne and Leisel Jones, a star trio who were born in the Northern Territory before leaving our borders to pursue careers of excellence interstate.
My logic is their eventual homes — Evans built his career in Victoria and South Australia, Burgoyne in South Australia and Jones in Queensland — benefited most from their magnificent achievements.
Katherine born Evans went on to win the 2011 Tour de France, the crown jewel of world cycling, his Katherine “cousin’’ Jones was rated the best breaststroke swimmer of her time in the mid noughties and Burgoyne’s 370 games with Hawthorn and Port Adelaide make him the ninth longest serving AFL player of all time.
There are so many other sportspeople who qualified for my top 50 but were squeezed out due to the influence and commitment to their sport they achieved within the Territory’s borders.
Butterfly swimmer Danni Miatke was very unlucky not to be named. The NT Institute of Sport product’s gold medal swim in the 50 metre butterfly at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and world championship gold medal 12 months before that came from the top shelf.
OUR best value NT News subscription deal yet: $1 a week
The same can be said of softballer Kerry Dienelt, a dual Olympic bronze medallist who learnt her craft with local side South Darwin who can arguably be tagged one of the Territory’s greatest softball product.
But there were so many other sports stars that narrowly missed my final cut. Australian football is the Northern Territory’s frontline sport and several players who made their name in the highly competitive Australian Football League could easily have been named.
IN OTHER NEWS
The McAdam name is royalty in Alice Springs after the achievements of brothers Greg, Gilbert and Adrian with St Kilda, Brisbane and North Melbourne and another Centralian, Joel Bowden, played 256 top quality games with Richmond.
Cameron Ilett has arguably been the best footballer to come out of the NT in the last decade, his record with Thunder in the NEAFL certainly proves that.
And the late Sebastian “Sibby’ Rioli and ‘Rockin’ Ronnie Burns are still idolised on the Tiwi Islands and players like Benny Vigona, Basil Campbell and Michael Graham were stars of the WAFL and SANFL.
My mathematics was reasonably good at high school, but I always struggled to fit 100 into 50, unless I cut each person in half and they wouldn’t like that.
Keep an eye on the NT News website and Facebook page in the coming days for your chance to nominate and then vote for your favourite NT sports stars of all time.
THE NT’S GREATEST SPORTS STARS: 50 — 41
THE NT’S GREATEST SPORTS STARS: 40 — 31
DRU 2024-25: Top performers and point scorers of round named
The NT News sport team has run the rule over the DRU grade competition, compiling a list of the top performers and point scorers from Round 12. See who made it from your club.
‘Exciting milestone’: Stingers depart Darwin for Kuala Lumpur
A sense of responsibility and pride and an update on the future of Marrara’s turf fields were the talking points as the Stingers officially departed for Malaysia.