NTFL 2023-24: Watch St Mary’s v Nightcliff Tigers women’s qualifying final live stream

St Mary’s did what they do best - build an early lead and then deny their opponents any hope of a comeback. Next up it’s the much-anticipated women’s grand final qualifier. Check out the REPLAY.

St Mary’s have booked themselves a spot in the Women’s Premier League major semi-final, with their depth of talent proving too much for Nightcliff in the qualifying final.

Adelaide Crows star Danielle Ponter was the standout for the Green Machine, playing a part in almost every play of her side’s 8.10 (58) to 3.4 (22) win.

Nightcliff started full of running with Sophie Berry and Ashanti Bush gathering plenty of the ball and it was Berry who booted the first goal when she slid a kick off the ground between the big sticks.

While the Tigers continued to dominate possession, Danielle Ponter marked in the pack and converted for Saints halfway through the term.

And almost against the run of play, Monet Hunter got another six-pointer one minute later to give the Green Team the lead for the first time in the game.

Janet Baird and Ciaralii Parnell were strong in defence and then given a roving commission, Baird was collecting possession at will and the beneficiaries were Caitlin Sargent, Kaitlyn Armstrong and Ponter who all kicked goals early in the term to set up a 25-point lead at the long break.

Danielle Ponter in the St Mary's vs Nightcliff Tigers 2023-24 NTFL women's qualifying final. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The Tigers opened the third term roaring and it paid dividends when Berry popped through her second for the game to keep her side in the contest.

But Armstrong squared the ledger a short time later when she was awarded a warranted freekick in the goal square and made no mistake.

The Tigers were brave throughout the match but once Saints got their noses in front, and try as they did through Hanna Turnbull, Jasmine Ware at halfback and Gypsy Schirmer across the ground, they were worn down by a more disciplined St Marys team.

Janet Baird in the St Mary's vs Nightcliff Tigers 2023-24 NTFL women's qualifying final. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The player who kept Saints in the game early when the Tigers were in dominant form was Janet Baird and in her first ever finals game she played like a veteran.

“I’ve not had any finals experience before today and it was pretty hectic especially early where Nightcliff took it up to us all over the ground,” Baird said.

“We’ve done a bit of work at training on our defensive structures, and we needed every bit of it early and fortunately it fell my way on a number of occasions.

“I’ve also been given a bit of a licence to play as a utility, so when I get around a bit, I need to get back quickly.

“We’ve got PINT next week and while they don’t have any weaknesses, it’s a game we are looking forward to and we don’t seem to have got any serious injuries so we will hopefully be at full strength.”

Score:

St Marys 2.15.47.58.10 (58)

Nightcliff1.2 1.33.33.4 (22)

Goals:

St Marys:

Kaitlyn Armstrong 3

Danielle Ponter 2

Monet Hunter 2

Caitlin Sargent

Nightcliff:

Sophie Berry 2

Mickayla Ward

Best:

St Marys:

Danielle Ponter

Janet Baird

Jo Miller

Paula Pavic

Chinette Grant

Nightcliff:

Hannah Turnbull

Sophie Berry

Jasmine Ware

Gypsy Schirmer

Mickayla Ward

PREVIEW

Ensconced in the top two all season, St Mary’s will be favourites to set up a mouthwatering week two finals clash with the impressive PINT.

But even though Nightcliff finished 14 points behind them on the ladder, they were far from pushovers - and a late-season surge means an upset is not beyond the realms of possibility.

The NT News and KommunityTV will be at TIO Stadium to stream every moment of the qualifying final from 2.15pm on Saturday.

The Green Machine remain the only side to have disrupted PINT’s perfect 2023-24 record.

The likes of Billie Byers, Jemma Iacono and Jo Miller have been among the best in the competition all season, each racking up plenty of possessions.

And with Danielle Ponter, Emma Stark and Kaitlyn Armstrong all in their forward line, they have got plenty of goalscorers, certainly enough to scare any defensive set up.

St Mary's will face the Nightcliff Tigers in the 2023-24 NTFL qualifying final.

The Nightcliff defence, led by their skipper Hannah Turnbull, have been impressive this season and have managed to stem the tide of Saints’ scores in both their previous matches.

But crucial for the Tigers is getting a strong start. They have trailed at halftime in both their round one and round 10 clashes.

A full replay of the match will be posted here at the end of the game.

The NT News 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.

LAST TIME(S) THEY MET:

Round 1: St Mary’s won 6.7 (43) to 5.4 (34)

The first match of the season feels like ancient history now, but both sides confirmed their finals potentiaal in an exciting clash.

St Mary’s built their lead through the middle half of the match, with Lexie Cagney grabbing two goals.

Jemma Iacono and Jo Miller were other standouts from the encounter, getting plenty of the ball and ripping into the contest at every chance.

Nightcliff nearly pulled off an unlikely success late on by scoring two goals to none in the final quarter.

And though the goalkicking of Mickayla Ward and defensive efforts of Hannah Turnbull weren’t quite enough to steal the win, it did confirm the side would mix it with the best all season.

Round 10: St Mary’s won 9.4 (58) to 5.2 (32)

Another match where Saints built out an early lead, scoring eight goals before halftime to put themselves in a strong position.

Grace Senior scored two goals while the AFLW tested Janet Baird played her first game back in the NTFL, this time in the green and gold of St Mary’s.

Nightcliff also scored the majority of their goals prior to the half, with four of the five scored in that time, and only one more thereafter.

Cassie McWilliam was the main weapon this time around with three goals to her name, while Mickayla Ward again had a presence in the forward line.

However, this was a match which quickly transitioned from a goal frenzy to a goal drought after the main break.

It poses a big question, which of the halves will be most represented this time around?