NTFL 2024-25 live stream: Wanderers vs Darwin Buffaloes Round 7 live

Wanderers have made sure the Buffaloes winless start to the NTFL season continued on Friday night, but the result didn’t come without an almighty scare. SEE how it all unfolded.

Wanderers held on to their first half buffer to see off the fast-finishing Buffaloes and triumph in the NTFL Indigenous round opener.

The historic Nungalinya Cup clash brought added pressure to a contest between two sides in desperate need of wins to keep any hope of a season turnaround alive.

The Eagles built up their buffer to 32 points at the main break, and they needed all of that advantage to see out the contest. Holding out a fast-finishing Buffaloes 10.13 (73) to 9.11 (65).

WATCH THE FULL MATCH REPLAY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

Wanderers were without two of their top ball winners in Jaxon East and Cody Leggett, but still found a way to move the pill out of the midfield at will.

Tyson Whyte and Jack Sinclair were consistent out of the middle winning the clearance battle, despite Buffs’ ruckman Ben Archard winning most of the contested ball.

Former NT News Player of the Year winner Archard was back in the Double Blues jumper for the first time this season, alongside former AFL player Matt Campbell forming Darwin’s best side of the year.

But despite his consistent hit outs it was the Muk Muks, who had the ball working in their favour pushing it out to find an industrious Jak Trewin up forward.

Billy Crofts playing for Wanderers against St Mary's in Round 5 of the 2024-25 NTFL season. Picture: Tymunna Clements / AFLNT Media

Trewin, who popped up plenty in the midfield too in a huge opening half showing, combined with Davin Ferreira as multiple goal scorers as Wanderers asserted some dominance.

The Buffs, however, couldn’t really make anything shine despite the best efforts of usual workhorses Jarrod Stokes, Tom Simpson and Tim Eldridge.

Their access into the forward 50 was limited due to some strong defending from the Eagles, led by their skipper Mitchel Taylor and Billy Crofts, who outmuscled their foes.

Wanderers were unable to take full advantage of their early ascendency as their accuracy left them in the second half.

A slew of behinds despite frequent shots in advantageous positions allowed the Double Blues to find some consistency out of the middle.

There the explosive pace of Stokes was finally rewarded by his forwards with well-known scorers namely Daniel Stafford and Liam Holt-Fitz, bringing the side right back into the contest.

But still the Eagles kept their noses ahead relying on their early buffer and a gutsy set of defending to see out the game despite a passionate finish from Buffs.

Crofts, who was named among Wanderers best, said the game came much closer than they wanted.

“We came out well with the idea of just playing our own game and not go away from our systems,” he said.

“We knew they were going to come back in the second half, they’re a proud club and they did and that was a really good response from them and their quality players.

“We were happy to get through that one considering our young, developing group, we’re just learning what it takes to win games in different ways.

“Ideally we would like to win by a bit more, but being able to hold on with teams coming at us even when we’re running out of legs is important to our growth.”

Score:

Wanderers: 3.3 8.3 9.10 10.12 (72)

Buffaloes: 1.4 2.7 6.9 9.12 (66)

Goals:

Wanderers:

Jak Trewin 4, Davin Ferreira 3, Jeremy Piercy, Murray Waite, Jack Sinclair

Buffaloes:

Jarrod Stokes 2, Jordan Harrington, Tom Simpson, Liam Holt-Fitz, Will Irwin, Bradley Stokes, Daniel Stafford, Nathan Spry

Best:

Wanderers:

Jak Trewin, Billy Crofts, Mitchel Taylor, Tyson Whyte, Jack Sinclair

Buffaloes:

Jarrod Stokes, Tom Simpson, Ben Archard, Tim Eldridge, Bradley Stokes

PREVIEW

The Darwin Buffaloes and Wanderers will go head-to-head in an important meeting for both sides to tip off the first match of the NTFL Indigenous round on Friday night.

And the NT News and KommunityTV will stream every moment of this clash from 7pm.

The clubs currently sit in the bottom throngs of the NTFL ladder and will be looking at this one as a chance to score a much-needed win.

Daniel Fuller of Wanderers and Tim Eldridge of the Darwin Buffaloes ahead of the 2024-25 NTFL Indigenous round. Picture: AFLNT Media

Wanderers have perhaps been the better side of late, claiming a win over fellow battlers Palmerston while showing signs of what they can do against the strength of both St Mary’s and Nightcliff.

Jaxon East has been their man on the ball claiming plenty of possessions while Jak Trewin has had several positive showings in front of the big sticks.

Meanwhile, the Buffaloes are also in need of some momentum with a win yet to appear against their name this season.

The proud club still has its big game players who have proven themselves in the past and an on song Jarrod Stokes is a danger to any side, he just can’t do it all on his own.

Watch the full replay 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.