2025-26 NTFL live stream: Watch Southern Distritcts v Waratah in Round 7
Southern Districts maintained their unbeaten start to the season despite a late Waratah surge that threatened to steal the occasion. Watch the full match replay FREE.
Southern Districts survived a late surge from a visiting Waratah outfit to remain unbeaten in their 2025-26 premiership defence.
The Crocs perfect start continues but it was dealt a late scare when final quarter ill-discipline couple with Waratah finding some accuracy narrowed the score line.
After a promising start Districts scored just two goals in the final half and when Waratah goaled on the final siren they proved the difference in the Crocs 9.8 (62) to 8.9 (57) win.
Districts came out emulating the hunger that got them 11 goals in the opening quarter of their most recent match and though the first shot for goal wasn’t there’s they had four fairly swiftly.
Wyatt Ryan in the ruck battle and the work rate of the likes of usual powerhouses Jed Anderson and Quinton Narkle dominated the early exchanges.
Dylan Barry had two, including a belter of a snap that got the crowd on their feet, while former West Coast player Isiah Winder equalled his teammate’s contribution.
The Crocs were also well served by former Gold Coast and PNG player Hewago Oea, who brought plenty of pace, while the strong home grown players turned up time and again.
Though Waratah kept their grip on the game with the midfield efforts of Scott Carlin and Cody Szust paying dividends, while Robbie Turnbull was strong in defence.
Jake Gasper snapped through and soon after recovered a dropped mark with another score to ensure his side kept themselves in touching distance.
The second quarter was where the Crocs found their real breakthrough not only kicking three goals to none, but ensuring their foes found little road toward success.
Beau Schwarze covered plenty of ground and teed up his forwards plenty with Barry continuing to prove a danger option up front.
It was the defensive efforts that were most telling with Brodie Lake, Lloyd Johnston and Jordan Johnston among others intercepting and getting in front of almost every Waratah escape route.
Matthew Johnston was another out the middle and when pushed into a defensive role turned up consistently to put his side on the front foot.
Big moment smothers and cut outs allowed Districts to build their lead, but it was one they struggled to build on come a second half in which they would only score two further goals.
Waratah took advantage of free kicks that came their way and stuck into their opposition, with Joel Stevens a player who kept the pace up to put the pressure on.
Jayden Magro had his breakthrough early in the fourth quarter, after misses at the top of each of the other three terms and backed it up soon after.
Ill-discipline continued to bite Districts and as a result Waratah found themselves marched up the ground and were finally able to punish.
But a Josiah Farrer goal from far out late in the piece kept the margin up and proved to be decisive in the moments that followed.
As it turned out Waratah would score twice more off free kicks, for the returning Dylan Collis and Timothy Kerinaiua on the siren, with the side finishing six points adrift.
“We knew it could come down to the final two minutes so it was about grinding the whole way against a very good side in Waratah,” Barry said.
“They’ve got a good system so we knew it wouldn’t be an easy game and had to keep going back to our brand of footy and back what we can do when on.
“Our starts have been a big part of our club philosophy, it’s incredibly important particularly after Christmas when the competition heats up and better teams will jump on us if we don’t start well.
“For me I’m just getting the rewards off the hard work of our midfielders and defenders, if I can do my part and kick the goals then I’m rewarding the team as a whole for their efforts.
“We’ve built a reputation that good talent wants to come to our footy club and want to be a part of it and building that culture and continuing this success is something we want to maintain for a long time.”
Score:
Districts: 4.1 7.2 8.5 9.8 (62)
Waratah: 2.2 2.4 4.6 8.9 (57)
Goals:
Districts:
Dylan Barry 3, Isiah Winder 2, Isaiah Butters, Quinton Narkle, Josiah Farrer, Jed Anderson
Waratah:
Jayden Magro 2, Jake Gasper 2, Dylan Collis, Timothy Kerinaiua, Joel Stevens, Kyle Russell
Best:
Districts:
Matthew Johnston, Jordan Johnston, Mitchell Bidmade, Jed Anderson, Dylan Barry
Waratah:
Robbie Turnbull, Cody Szust, Mitchell Jorgensen, Timothy Kerinaiua, Joel Stevens
PREVIEW
Southern Districts coach Shannon Rusca is expecting “all-out war” as the star-studded reigning premiers’ unbeaten streak is set to be tested by the visiting Waratah.
Every moment of the match will be streamed live and free from 8pm on Friday by The NT News and KommunityTV as part of our season-long coverage.
The Crocs are now 16 games undefeated with their most recent loss coming against St Mary’s in Round 8 of last season.
But a Tahs side coming to Norbuilt Oval on the back of three-straight wins – including a clutch victory over Nightcliff last week – had Rusca eager not to be complacent.
“They’re well coached as we are and aren’t too dissimilar to us in terms of how they’re set up so we’re preparing for all-out war between two great teams,” Rusca said.
“Obviously a perfect start such as this is what you hope for, it’s not just been gifted to us but something we’ve worked extremely hard on the training track for.
“We had a really good start last year too until Saints toppled us, we know we can’t rest on our laurels because eventually the rest of the competition will catch us napping.
“We always talk about moving forward because we are the hunted and have to be hungry and keep striving to be the best, which doesn’t take one or two people but a whole club motivated to go on.”
There’s plenty of star power in this Districts side, from the likes of returning former AFL players Jed Anderson and Steven Motlop to their established base of state league-quality guns.
Lloyd Johnston, Quinton Narkle, Ash Johnson and Isiah Winder are other former AFL players to come on-board this season, while talks of Tarryn Thomas joining on are building too.
The big names have in large part taken centre stage but have been allowed to succeed on the back of the strong group Districts has already built.
Usual defender Jordan Johnston soared against the Wanderers in attack with five goals while home grown talents such as Beau Schwarze, Brodie Lake and Taj Stanley have stepped up too.
“Our club juniors who have been here right the way through have really stepped up and that’s where our undercurrent of success lies,” Rusca said.
“People haven’t worked that out because everyone is focused on the top end talent when the local home-grown players are propelling this ship forward.
“A lot has been made of our former AFL players but there’s a stat that we’ve only had six new players this season compared to other clubs that have more than 15 new guys.
“We recruit smart not silly and we’re very comfortable with what we’ve recruited and how many new players in our system compared to everyone else, it shows we’re leaps and bounds in front.
“This group has been a process for the past five or six years, we’ve been able to retain players and build a culture that everyone is buying into and staying for.”
Districts will play their second home game under lights on Friday against a Waratah side who announced themselves as a side who can go all the way last round.
The Tahs played their best game of the season in a finals-esque home match against Nightcliff, which was played on a knife’s edge all the way through.
Skipper Scott Carlin, Robbie Turnbull, Joel Stevens and a back six who never gave in were among the standouts of the six-point win against a Nightcliff side that couldn’t be taken lightly.
Waratah will add a former AFL name of their own in this fixture with Collingwood 18-gamer Trey Ruscoe expected to be named by the side.
Meanwhile, Crocs bared their teeth against the Muk Muks in what was a sensational start scoring 11 goals in the opening quarter.
“We’ve focused hard our fast starts because we don’t want to take 10-15 minutes to find our composure and want to be on the run from the opening minutes,” Rusca said.
“The Waratah match (against Nightcliff) was quality, both sides will be pushing for finals and both showed very good brands in a high end game and we’re expecting no different from them this week.
“The amount of ball they’re getting forward and the amount of scores they were posting we know we have to be ready because they’re coming to topple us.”
HOW TO WATCH
The NT News, KommunityTV and AFL Northern Territory have come together in a partnership to live stream both the men’s and women’s Premier League games for this TIO NTFL season.
On game day, the live stream for this match will appear at the top of this story in the lead up to the first bounce.
To find other games from this round click the links in the schedule box above.
Alternatively you can head to www.kommunitytv.com.au and use the video player at the top of the site to watch all the action live and scroll through the most recent replays.
Only News Corp Australia full digital subscribers will have exclusive access to watch the action.
Join the conversation
Replay: Polished PINT go top after pushing past Wanderers
Read more
Replay: Nightcliff snap Districts’ winning run
Read more