2025-26 NTFL live stream: Watch St Mary’s v Nightcliff Tigers in Round 7
St Mary's premiership hopes hit a devastating blow after spearhead Jackson Calder suffered a serious knee injury during their 31-point loss to Nightcliff Tigers. Watch the REPLAY here.
The Nightcliff Tigers were near-perfect in their ability to suffocate every contest to frustrate a St Mary’s outfit who will be most concerned about a serious injury to one of their stars.
The Tigers showed signs early on that they were more than up for the occasion dominating the midfield battles to reclaim some momentum after a tight defeat to Waratah last round.
Meanwhile, the Saints struggled to make a move stick and when spearhead Jackson Calder went down, their chances of a comeback diminished significantly.
Instead Nightcliff stuck in using the likes of returning junior Wade Derksen as a real lead and winning the midfield battles to climb to a 10.11 (71) to 6.4 (40) win.
WATCH A FULL MATCH REPLAY ABOVE
The Tigers pounced on the occasion from the off landing the first blows with their duo of former AFL listed players Fergus Greene and Derksen.
Riley Baldi was a menace through the midfield, winning the key battles in tandem with Brodie Filo while also limiting the impact of Saints star skipper Dylan Landt.
The Saints struggled to get going, trying to bomb the ball toward Calder, but it was a play the Tigers were wise to and able to stifle at every turn.
The Green Machine’s ability to use their full forward faded entirely when he came down awkwardly from a marking contest and landed on his left knee.
The extremity of the injury became clear when opposition co-captain Brodie Filo signalled for the game to be stopped and a stretcher was called for the big man.
A suspected ACL was the early indication, marking a major blow for Saints, with Calder having scored 10 goals last week in a return to the form that earned him three leading goal kicker awards.
There was a momentary reprieve for the Saints until the end of the opening term with Kieran Mu and Luke Patterson on the buzzer sending the ball through.
However, Nightcliff picked up once more into the following quarter dominating where they had been and never letting go of that ascendancy.
The Green Machine tried to mix and match their players to accommodate the loss of their main goal scorer sending Kieren Parnell into the midfield and Matthew Green forward.
But it was their moves through the middle and into the forward line that faltered sometimes unable to stick consecutive marks while the Tigers seemed to cut through with ease.
Nightcliff did spray a few in front of the posts and would have perhaps wanted some more there with considering their ascendancy.
Saints had their moments late too as the game broke up and Landt tried to take the battle on himself moving across the ground, but the suffocating game play went against them.
“(Coach Leigh Crossman) sent the message fairly early on that we’ve got a bit of a rivalry so we really wanted to throw the first punch, compete hard and work as a team,” Derksen said.
“I thought we were good, we were selfless with the footy, used a bit of run and carry and played our roles and we got the result.
“We knew we had to be on it, every time we came out we knew they could kick five or so goals in a matter of minutes so we made sure to keep our foot on the pedal.
“Obviously we put work into the players we know about, we know the quality of players in the comp but we’ve got some weapons too so it’s like for like there.
“For me it’s great to be back here, I grew up here and it’s great to always be welcome, I’ve been playing back for the past couple of years on an AFL list but I will play wherever they want me.
“It says a lot about the whole club and football department that its junior players want to go back and play here.”
Score:
Saints: 2.0 3.0 4.1 6.4 (40)
Tigers: 4.4 6.4 10.8 10.11 (71)
Goals:
Saints:
Elijah Amery 2, Dylan Landt, Jackson Braunthal, Kieran Mu, Luke Patterson
Tigers:
Wade Derksen 3, Fergus Greene 2, Gus Trigwell, Adrian Scott, Riley Baldi, Mitchell Trewhella, Peter Politis
Best:
Saints:
Kieren Parnell, Elijah Amery, Dylan Landt, Liam O’Brien, Josh Smithson
Tigers:
Riley Baldi, Wade Derksen, Marly McGregor, Brodie Filo, Blake Launer
PREVIEW
Modern rivals St Mary’s and Nightcliff are set to renew hostilities in round 7 with the latest chapter in their storied history set to have some big ramifications for the competition.
Every moment of the match will be live streamed from 6.30pm on Saturday by The NT News and KommunityTV as part of our season-long NTFL coverage.
WHY TO WATCH
The two sides sit equal on the ladder with three wins and two losses with Saturday’s match a chance for one to pull clear from the other.
St Mary’s were at their best in round 6, demolishing their old rivals the Darwin Buffaloes by 125 points thanks to a 10 goal performance from Jackson Calder.
Calder and Luke Patterson, who booted seven against Tiwi in round 4, currently sit two and three on the goals tally for the year.
There are a host of talents who have made sure the duo get those opportunities, mainly skipper Dylan Landt, who’s always top of the possessions, and new recruit Jackson Braunthal.
Nightcliff were unfortunate to fall on the wrong side of the score line against Waratah last week but showed plenty in the six-point loss.
Brandan Parfitt was everywhere in the midfield and collected plenty of footy while Peter Politis and Brodie Filo will also be two players the Saints will have to stop.
Boyd Bailey has proven his ability to hit the scoreboard and can be dangerous when given a chance, while the Tigers have a bruising defence that will more than rise to the challenge of the Saints.
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.
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