NTFL 2023-24: Watch Nightcliff Tigers v Waratah Round 18 live stream
Jayden Magro kicked two goals to ensure he didn’t miss out on the Dennis Dunn Medal this time, but it wasn’t the only piece of good news on a huge night for the defending champions. Relive all the action.
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Waratah have achieved the perfect finish to their regular season by beating Nightcliff to secure the double chance, while Jayden Magro sealed the leading goalkicker award.
The X-factor forward needed just one goal to secure the accolade, level on majors with Saints’ Jackson Calder and Districts’ Jarrod Brander going into the match.
And while he secured that early in the second quarter, it was their rock solid defence that proved the difference as the Tahs beat Nightcliff 9.7 (61) to 3.13 (30).
Waratah struggled early on to get the ball to Magro and co as Nightcliff’s much-vaunted defence, including Lewis Rinaldi, Mitch Norton and Nathan Brown, impressed.
Instead Nightcliff scored the early points through two Tristan Singh-Lippo majors, and Waratah had to rely on different avenues to strike back.
But at the top of the second quarter, Anthony Munkara found himself with a chance, and instead handballed off in a move Magro got on the end of.
It was a moment that settled Waratah, with the pressure off trying to feed Magro at every opportunity.
From there they dominated the contests, and while Nightcliff got plenty of ball into their forward 50, it was very quickly repelled by the Tahs.
Tom Spence and Dan O’Dwyer were particularly important for Tahs in the backline, while skipper Dylan Collis was importnat on his return to the outfit.
And proven goal scorers such as Cam Ilett struggled in front of the posts, with only an opportunist bouncer from Jackson Grundy going through.
Though Jonathon Peris had a strong showing of his own on the defensive end in what was his 200th NTFL game.
Tahs stars Brodie Carroll, Lachlan Cassidy and Scott Carlin were their usual influential selves through the middle and turned everything into a contest.
And while the scoring remained low the reigning premiers kept the scoreboard ticking long enough, and got the points they needed late to secure the victory.
By winning, Waratah have set up another date with Tigers in the first round of finals.
“It’s unreal to win here, I’ve never beaten them here, so to get that and the double chance is huge for us,” Magro said.
“We dropped a couple of games we shouldn’t have, but played some good footy too so to get this is a testament to the boys and the hard work we put in.
“It was a battle of the midfields, we locked on and played man on man footy, our target was to beat the man we were playing on and we did that.
“Jacko pipped me last year, so it was good to get one over him, he’s a good mate of mine and Brander has had a good year too so it’s been a good battle.
“It’s a credit to the boys though, I’ve just finished off their work really, they put it down my throat all year, so it was good to get it for them.”
Score:
Nightcliff: 2.2 2.5 2.8 3.12 (30)
Waratah: 2.1 3.4 5.7 9.7 (61)
Goals:
Nightcliff:
Tristan Singh-Lippo 2
Jackson Grundy
Waratah:
Jayden Magro 2
Brodie Carroll 2
Joel Hillis 2
Jack O’Sullivan
Anthony Munkara
Best:
Nightcliff:
Luke Wines
Lewis Rinaldi
Jonathon Peris
Brodie Filo
Tristan Singh-Lippo
Waratah:
Scott Carlin
Lachlan Cassidy
Brodie Carroll
Dan O’Dwyer
Dylan Collis
PREVIEW
After missing out by the barest of margins last year, Jayden Magro again finds himself right in the thick of the goalkicking race for the Dennis Dunn medal.
But even though the Waratah spearhead leads rival Jackson Calder by four goals entering the final round (Districts’ Jarrod Brander is also right in the hunt but isn’t playing), facing a rock-solid Nightcliff defence in the Battle of the Beaches brings with a unique set of complexities.
And the NT News and KommunityTV will be there to stream every moment of the biggest game of the round from 7pm on Saturday.
The goalkicking race is very similar to the 2022-23 edition where Magro led St Mary’s star Calder going into the final round.
However, Calder got seven against Wanderers while Magro only got five against Palmerston, leaving the Saint the medal winner for his second year.
Magro has a bigger margin this time around in his favour, but also faces a much tougher prospect to defend it, with Nightcliff renowned for their defence.
The Tigers have the best defensive record in the competition, conceding just 753 points at an average of just over 50 per game.
That means the likes of Lachlan Cassidy, Brodie Carroll and Scott Carlin will have a tougher task seeking Magro out than they would like.
Getting Magro over the line isn’t the Tahs’ sole objective out of this game.
A win will send them above Districts into third on the table, and in turn give them the finals double chance.
Teammate James Arratta said he would be a focus point for the side should the opportunity present itself, but knew the big battle would be about winning first.
“It’s an obviously a really big game given the contest of this season, we’re aware if we win we’re a good chance of getting into the top three,” Arratta said.
“The games between us and Nightcliff have obviously tight and have given mixed results in recent times due to both club’s successes.
“Last week’s win in the shootout against Buffs, where they really brought it to us, will give us a lot of confidence coming into this match.
“For Magro, we won’t go away from what we’ve been doing all year, he will get on the end of a few, and hopefully a part of what we do will gift him a few snags.
“We know the leading goal kicker has eluded him in the past, and he’s hungry, but we’re not going to go away from what we do, we know what works for us and what we need to do to win.”
Nightcliff have won their last seven games in some style, with last weekend’s 75-65 win over Districts the closest any team has gott to them in that period.
Their last defeat, ironically, came at the hands of the Tahs back in early December. In a low scoring game, Magro kicked two as the Tahs snuck home by four points.
Mitch Norton, Nathan Brown and Ryan Nyhuis all in great form in the backline for the Tigers, while Lewis Rinaldi knows how to lock down any possession getter.
Zac Moody and Jay Moody showed their ability up forward last week, feeding off ball from midfielders Brodie Filo and Cooper Dahms.
“It’s been good for us having these hard games leading into finals, it’s prepared us well,” Nyhuis said.
“We’ve come through unscathed so to have the momentum is good, and there’s a good vibe around the place at the moment heading into finals.
“The back six or seven we’ve had have plenty of time to play and gel together, and with the likes of Browny and boyo (Peris) back there the average age is about 35, so plenty of experience.
“There’s a lot of trust and composure back there which holds us in good stead, but plenty fo credit needs to go to our forward and midfield pressure.
“The top five have been tight all year, we didn’t want to come into this time of year needing to rely on other results and that’s forced us to lift in what we have done.”
The match and golden shovel are sponsored by the Nightcliff Community Bank with Jim McDougall saying the winner would be awarded $3000 for charity, while the loser would get $2000.
The chosen charities are Starlight and DV Phones.
A full replay of the match will be posted here at the end of the game.
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