St Mary’s club legend Justin Wilson: ‘Beating Nightcliff should give my beloved club motivation to bounce back from huge penalties’ imposed by the NTFL

ST Mary’s officials bunkered down on Friday as the aftermath of the unprecedented penalties for breaching AFLNT FIFO player laws hit home. But a club legend spoke out, saying beating a “hated” rival should give the club all the motivation it needs to “whack it up our critics”.

St Mary's legend Justin Wilson said his club’s sole motivation should now be winning the 2020-21 NTFL Grand Final after the Green Machine was hit with unprecedented penalties for breaching the competition’s fly-in rules late on Thursday night. Picture: Justin Kennedy

ST Mary’s officials bunkered down on Friday as the aftermath of the unprecedented penalties for breaching AFLNT FIFO player laws hit home.

A scheduled NT News exclusive interview with new president Adrian Moscheni was called off by club media officials in the hours after details of the penalties were revealed.

When contacted on Friday, Moscheni said would not be providing any further comments.

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Saints officials and the Men’s Premier League playing group were also banned from speaking to the media as the crisis hit home ahead of the club’s crucial preliminary final against Wanderers on Saturday night.

A TURBULENT PAST

OVER the course of the past 12 months, the proud St Mary’s club has also dealt with these crises:

– Three different committee presidents.

– Revelations it was recently in a debt of up to $300,000 on the eve of this season.

– Coach Anthony Vallejo’s much-publicised verbal tirade at match offfcials after the 2019-20 grand final.

– A walk-off during a Division 2 game against Waratah at TIO Stadium No.2 in November.

– And a teenage player who suffered a cracked vertebrae after she was assaulted in the TIO Stadium carpark following a Saints v Wanderers under-18 game last month.

But four-time premiership winning club legend and former midfielder Justin Wilson – who still talks about the Green Machine as a “brotherhood” – has backed his beloved organisation to bounce back stronger than ever.

Former star St Mary’s midfielder Justin Wilson believes his beloved club – where he won four NTFL premierships – can bounce back from Thursday night’s stunning penalties imposed on it by the AFLNT. Picture: Aaron Burton

He added beating a side he “hates” – premiership fancies Nightcliff in next Saturday night’s grand final if Saints beat Wanderers in Saturday night’s preliminary final – should be the Men’s Premier League team’s sole focus in “earning our respect back”.

“The focus now needs to be on winning the competition and beating Nightcliff in the grand final next week,” Wilson told the NT News.

“That’s how you get respect back. My hatred for Nightcliff is well known. They are the kings of fly-in players.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Wanderers because, like St Mary’s, they’ve only used a handful of fly-in players over the past 10 years.

“So if the boys can go on to win the comp, that’d be a great way of whacking it back up everyone.

“That’s how they’ll get their respect back. Once you’re in at St Mary’s, you’re all in and part of the brotherhood.”