Grey Morris: Mistakes made on both sides in Tiwi Bombers saga

EVERYTHING is good in hindsight and I suspect the powers that be that run the NTFL competition would like to turn the clock back to last Thursday

Wanderers player Adam Tipungwuti in hot pursuit of Tiwi Bombers rival Clement Kerinaiua. PICTURE: Ivan Rachman

EVERYTHING is good in hindsight and I suspect the powers that be that run the NTFL competition would like to turn the clock back to last Thursday.

Their loaded email stating the Tiwi Bombers would be stripped of four premiership points for a $12,000 debt was the AFL way, not the Territory way.

Those readers screaming “they were in debt and paid the bloody price’’ need to look ­beyond the facts.

Australian football on the Tiwi Islands is life, nothing more, nothing less. They know they play the game better than most and with a style that captures the country’s attention.

It gives their people a big focus in life, away from boredom and aggression brought on by no direction and the built-up frustrations that come with it.

It’s why this writer was surprised to read acting AFLNT boss Stuart Totham’s comment on the Bombers statement on slamming the league for publicly shaming them as an “emotional reaction”.

Yes, the Bombers were warned to pay their debt as long ago as late November and yes, there was fault among the Tiwi administration in not ­responding immediately to the warnings.

But why didn’t the AFLNT get involved when they knew the Bombers were in trouble?

Why wasn’t there more consultation with the club’s board, the sponsors and even people like Peter Atkinson, who knows how the Bombers operate?

Announcements from the Government and league saying they will work on the club’s financial problems and ways to tackle them are way too late.

The Tiwis won’t be getting a lot of sympathy from the other seven clubs on their financial plight and it will be a hot topic at the next presidents’ meeting.

But the Bombers have never been in the league’s gun according to AFLNT boss Michael Solomon when I spoke to him in November.

That is one piece of good news, particularly when their merger with Tracy Village starts to gain momentum and Chinese whispers start the rounds saying the Bombers will become Tracy Village ­before a Ross Tungatalum drop punt splits the middle.

What has to happen and sooner rather than later, is for Solomon and his administration to place a general manager in a position of authority at the Bombers and I’ll nominate former president Allan McGill for the role.

McGill knows how the game works on Bathurst and Melville islands, how the island people think and work and most importantly, what needs to be done to fill the widening chasm between the league and the club.