Nightcliff Tigers forward signing Tom Boyd itching for NTFL pre-season after quarantine ends

NIGHTCLIFF Tigers are hammering themselves on the training track as they prepare to shoot for a third-straight NTFL title this pre-season, while their star signing is sitting in a room just 30km outside of Darwin.

Nightcliff star tall forward recruit Tom Boyd (right) with Werribee teammate Hudson Garoni. Picture WERRIBEE FOOTBALL CLUB

NIGHTCLIFF Tigers are hammering themselves on the training track as they prepare to shoot for a historic third-straight NTFL title this pre-season, while their star signing is sitting in a room just 30km outside of Darwin.

And for the next seven days there is nothing he can do about it.

So when Tom Boyd, 21, emerges from his mandatory two-week COVID quarantine at Howard Springs next Wednesday, it will come as no surprise that he will be itching to make up for lost time.

The tall 192cm forward - who has represented Greater Western Sydney in the NEAFL and Werribee in the VFL - cannot wait to join his new teammates where they are sweating through their pre-season paces at Dripstone Middle School.

The workout options for Shepparton standout (in the Goulburn Valley Football League) Boyd - at the Manigurr-Ma Village in Howard Springs - are minimal.

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“There’s only a little 500m pathway here, so it will be nice to run around on an oval when this is over. I’m a week into my quarantine,” Boyd told the NT News.

“But I can still go outside and exercise, and the food is pretty good. You can ask for more food if you need it.”

Boyd is grateful to be given an opportunity to play for two-time reigning NTFL premiers Nightcliff, and was recruited to Tigerland through coach Chris Baksh, who played in Victoria with his father Brian.

“I’m really excited. I’ve wanted to come up north and play up here. It should be a really good experience playing in the summer months. It doesn't happen anywhere else,” Boyd said.

And the young talent with an impressive playing resume has high aims for the Top End.

“I want to play the best football I can, and I want to try and dominate,” Boyd said.

“I can play as a third tall up front, or I can go down back and try to chop off a few balls.”

Due to no football being played in Victoria at the moment - with the state heavily hit by the coronavirus - there is no shortage of southerners now looking to relocate to the Top End for the 2020-21 NTFL season.

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“It should be a really good competition this year - very strong,” Boyd said.

“It will be really good to run around with a strong Nightcliff team, and hopefully I can add to that.”

Boyd has plenty of good memories from his time with GWS, where he played three NEAFL games in 2018.

“It was an awesome experience, and I went back and played my best club footy after that,” he said.

“We’d watch the seniors play after us and get a great insight into what’s required at that level.”

Boyd - who kicked 22 goals in 16 games for Shepparton last year, after winning a pair of Murray Football League premierships with Nathalia - also has the potential to have a long and successful VFL career.

He represented Werribee Tigers four times at that elite level last year.

“Mark ‘Choco’ Williams is now our coach which has been awesome for me,” said Boyd, who also played 32 TAC Cup games with the Murray Bushrangers, making him a previous AFL Draft prospect.

“And playing for Shepparton (in the Goulburn Valley Football League) has also been great - they’re a pretty handy team.”