NTFL 2023-24: Watch St Mary’s vs Southern Districts Round 12 livestream

St Mary’s have shot back to the top of the NTFL table proving their prowess in wet conditions against a fast-finishing Southern Districts. Watch the full replay.

St Mary’s high-pressure game in torrential conditions allowed them to hold off a Southern Districts side, which came to life late in the piece.

The Green Machine fell to a two-game losing streak heading into the Christmas break and were in eager need of snapping that run against the imposing Crocs.

However, the sides had to contest heavy rainfall which the Saints initially handled better, to earn a score they held on to long enough to win 6.7 (43) to 4.10 (34).

The Green Machine burst out of the blocks with Sam Glover showing off his footy smarts early in the piece to find Dylan Grills who booted the match opener.

Districts had plenty of time on the footy themselves with their big men in the middle Matt Dennis and Wyatt Ryan juggling time in the ruck.

But for all those efforts and the game breaking nature of the likes of former AFL players Jed Anderson and Nakia Cockatoo, or the talented Beau Schwarze they didn’t get the results.

Nate Paredes was among the best for St Mary's against Southern Districts in Round 12 of the 2023-24 NTFL season. Picture: Celina Whan / AFLNT Media

Instead the likes of Xavier Vallejo, Seth Harris or Jacob Long, in his first game of the season, tackled at everything they could pressuring the ball out of possession and forcing turnovers.

That gave skipper Dylan Landt room to break the game open alongside Joel Garner and Nate Paredes, while Harrison Ling and Darcy Chirgwin stood out down back.

Districts woes went from bad to worse when Roy George limped off at the end of the first quarter to not return.

Saints’ were in the goals again within 30 seconds of the second quarter when Paredes burst out of the midfield and found Glover in the goal square, who karate kicked it through.

It was then Districts got one back with standout Jarrod Brander letting it skid through the goals, but it with the turnovers they conceded they had little else to show for their work from there.

Instead the usual threats from St Mary’s continued to show up, including their talisman tall forward Jackson Calder who popped up to score when needed.

It wasn’t until the final quarter where Districts finally got some fluency in their attack getting the ball down and working it up the grounds through the likes of Michael Bowden to post some scores.

And while Saints had dominated for the majority of the match the wet weather had kept scoring low enough that a Districts comeback looked realistic.

Ronald Fejo looked dangerous while Matthew Mazzini was a key turnover player in the backline, and the scores came as a result.

St Mary's captain Dylan Landt has had a stellar start to the 2023-24 NTFL season. Picture: Celina Whan / AFLNT Media

But ultimately the surge came too late to take the win with St Mary’s doing just enough defensively late in the piece to keep hold of the lead.

“It’s very relieving to win this one, we knew they had a really good side full of experience, tough players, so we knew it would be a contest,” Paredes said.

“We just played surge footy for the conditions, surged forward and took our chances when we had them and it worked out really well for us.

“They’ve got some of the best contested players in the comp, so we knew it had to be won through the midfield, and I think we competed really well in there with their big bodies.

“We knew they were going to come, and we just had to try and resist them as much as we could, and thankfully the siren went and got the four points.

“We’ve had some really tough sessions over the break, especially with the heat, we knew we had to work really hard to make sure we came out on top in the second half of the season.”

Score:

St Mary’s: 2.3 5.4 6.6 6.7 (43)

Districts: 0.2 1.3 1.7 4.10 (34)

Goals:

St Mary’s:

Dylan Landt 2

Jackson Calder 2

Dylan Grills

Sam Glover

Districts:

Jarrod Brander 2

Jonathon Ross

Michael Bowden

Best:

St Mary’s:

Dylan Landt

Nate Paredes

Sam Glover

Xavier Vallejo

Joel Garner

Districts:

Matthew Mazzini

Jarrod Brander

Matt Dennis

Matthew Johnston

Nakia Cockatoo

Preview

St Mary’s have a shot of redemption after back-to-back losses leading into the Christmas break, but to do so they need to get the better of a very strong Southern Districts outfit.

The NT News and KommunityTV will be there to stream all the action from 7pm Saturday.

St Mary’s were leading the way after winning seven of their first eight matches, but losses to Nightcliff and then Tiwi, in part due to lightning, saw them fall back into the pack.

Skipper Dylan Landt, who was the league’s best player in the first half of the season, will be pushing for a big reaction from his men in their first game back.

He was instrumental in his side’s early success, while Jackson Calder will be hoping to add to his goal tally in some way.

Districts’ Jarrod Brander is also in the goal chase and will be eager to get the majors on the other end of the field, as both chase Tah’s Jayden Magro’s lead in that statistic.

Southern Districts face off against St Mary’s on Saturday.

The Crocs have been in fine form of late and have a formidable midfield to take on St Mary’s offering with Jed Anderson, Beau Schwarze and Matthew Johnston all having fantastic seasons.

It’s a group of players who on current form can knock Saints to a third successive defeat, but with a double chance berth potentially on the line neither side will be giving an edge.

Full replays of the match will be posted here following the game’s finish.

The NT News and AFL Northern Territory have come together in a partnership to livestream both the Men’s and Women’s Premier League games for this TIO NTFL season.