St Mary’s NTFL legend Justin Wilson says club culture won’t break ahead of Wanderers clash
IF there is a cultural problem at St Mary’s, there are still plenty of experienced heads involved to get the club back on track, according to four-time premiership winner Justin “Ferret” Wilson.
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IF there is a cultural problem at St Mary’s, there are still plenty of experienced heads involved to get the club back on track, according to four-time premiership winner Justin “Ferret” Wilson.
In unprecedented punishments handed down to the Green Machine from AFLNT late on Thursday night for fly-in player rule breaches, Saints were whacked with the following:
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– $10,000 fine for a breach of the fly-in player rule where the club fielded two more than the allowed three fly-in players against Wanderers on February 27.
– $1500 additional fine as carry-over charges for the Division 2 walk off against Waratah on November 14.
– Four week suspension of Premier League coach Anthony Vallejo – two weeks for breach of the fly-in player rule and an additional two weeks for a charge post the 2019-20 grand final. Vallejo will not be able to coach until round three of the 2021-22 season and will miss both the 2020-21 preliminary final and a potential grand final.
– Premier League team deducted four points at the start of the 2021-22 season for the breach of the fly-in player rule.
In the past 12 months, the proud Darwin club has also been faced with the following 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 officials 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 the fact Saints are about to line up in a men’s preliminary final against Wanderers at TIO Stadium tonight speaks volumes about the club’s resilience, Wilson believes.
This is a club that finished with the ignominy of picking up the wooden spoon for the first time after the 2018-19 season, but then made the grand final in the 2019-20 campaign.
It is a fiercely proud club – with a stunning 32 flags to its name – which has always bounced back from challenges.
“If there has been a cultural change at the club, you’ve still got experienced older heads like Anthony and Iggy Vallejo, Johnny Anstess, Josh Heath, and the Long and Rioli families involved. And they’d pull it back in place,” Wilson told the NT News.
“Around the time I retired, we lost over 1000 games of experience and plenty of flags in that group.
“When you lose so many players with so much experience things do change.
“But the club will bounce back – it always has.”
Wilson then went on to explain his hatred for premiership fancies Nightcliff, his comments drawing plenty of attention yesterday.
“The club now needs to be 100 per cent focused on winning the competition,” he said.
“If I was still playing, I’d be filthy (at the penalties handed out to St Mary’s) and I’d use that as motivation to win the preliminary final and then beat Nightcliff in the grand final.
“My hatred for Nightcliff is well known. They have been the kings of fly-ins over the past 10 years.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Wanderers because, like St Mary’s, they’ve only used a handful of fly-ins over the past 10 years.
“We’ll cop our whack on the chin. (But) 100 per cent our club will rally through this – that’s what St Mary’s have always done.”
Wilson said there were clear indications that all was not right financially before he retired from his decorated NTFL career, and before the NT News’ revelations of the $300,000 hole.
“I played my last game just before (the club’s financial woes were made public),” he said.
“But even then all the supporters, volunteers and players were chipping in to help.
“I bought a brick for $500 (at the clubhouse). We all did (past premiership-winning players).
“That’s what St Mary’s always has been and always will be about.”
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