What we learned from NTFL 2023-24 Round 9
The importance of Tiwi playing at home, PINT’s return to the finals race and the goal kicking contest were some of the big moments in Round 9 of the NTFL.
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Tiwi’s home return, the goal kicking race and a defensive thriller at TIO Stadium were among the big moments from Round 9 of the 2023-24 NTFL season.
The Bombers, St Mary’s, Waratah and PINT were the big winners in the Men’s Premier League.
While the same clubs, Tiwi, Saints, Waratah and PINT, all pulled off victories in the Women’s Premier League.
Read all the talking points here.
Importance of Bombers’ home games
The Bombers finally got to play on their home ground after back to back cancellations, and got to show off just how well they can play when not burdened by lengthy travel.
Tiwi dominated Wanderers early on scoring seven goals in succession to mark their second win of the season and further their distance from the wooden spoon.
The first half was a show of the system they have in place with leaders such as Brendan Kantilla and Sam Darley ensuring the side stuck to their structures to get the win.
Then the second half when things broke up a bit they played the exciting Tiwi footy they’re famous for with Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti kicking two thrilling goals.
More than anything though this match was proof Tiwi should play more home games.
They’re a side with a natural disadvantage given the distance between some of their playing groups in training.
Beyond that their Tiwi based group have to make the trip every other week of the year to play on the mainland, while opposition clubs only need to make the trip once a year.
It’s only once or twice a year where Tiwi players get the same advantage against their foes, and coach Patrick Bowden believes his players should get it more often.
“It really takes it out of the younger players to have to travel each week, we went into Darwin seven weeks in a row,” Bowden said.
“But to be able to stay at home for a whole week they just felt 100 times better than what they would have if they travelled in.
“The competition don’t understand how hard it is to travel in, we heard Wanderers found it really difficult getting everyone to travel to Tiwi, but we do that every week.
“Hopefully we can get more home games going forward so we can get more advantage.”
Saints goal kickers firing
For the first time in the 2023-24 NTFL season everyone has played the same amount of games, and so the stats finally stack up.
And Saints will obviously be most pleased with where they’re placed putting the Buffaloes out to pasture in their dominant 27.12 (174) to 9.8 (62) victory.
It was the fourth match in a row where the Green Machine scored 20 or more goals against their opposition, part of the reason they sit top of the table at the halfway point.
Their very own reigning two-time NTFL leading goal kicker Jackson Calder leads the goal count following their most recent victory kicking nine goals.
It puts him in prime position to defend the Dennis Dunn trophy, despite missing matches early in the season with a finger injury.
Calder leads Waratah’s Jayden Magro by four goals, while Southern Districts tall forward Jarrod Brander is on 28 goals.
Saints have actually stacked the top goal scorers from there with Jack Landt sitting in fourth with 24 goals, while Tex Korewha is seventh in the competition with 20 goals.
It’s a show that Saints have rectified one of their main issues of last season, becoming too Calder-centric.
They’ve got plenty of proven goal kickers without even mentioning their mids such as Dylan Landt and Jack Kluske who can also drift forward to kick a few when needed.
Saints will be put to the test against Nightcliff, who have conceded the second least amount of points in the competition.
PINT back in the finals race
PINT are officially back in the finals race after pulling off a big win against the Palmerston Magpies.
The Greenants started the season as a genuine contender beating both Nightcliff and Waratah to prove they have what it takes to win tight encounters against top sides.
However, heavy losses to St Mary’s and Southern Districts, as well as a tight win over strugglers Wanderers saw the side fall away from the top five.
In recent weeks they’ve found some form again, not just beating bottom sides Tiwi and Palmerston, but actually piling on the points against them both.
Steven Motlop has been key for those victories, coming out of his suspension period with a genuine point to prove and racking up the possessions as a result.
Goal scoring has also improved with Matt Ryan, Liam Holt-Fitz, Silver Yousif and Nicholas Steele all getting bags, while former Carlton man Lochie O’Brien brought further confidence.
Of course these wins have come against sides below the Greenants, but putting up big scores against these sides is exactly what they needed to do to stay in finals contention.
The big test for this unit comes in Round 10 against the Darwin Buffaloes, who only one match from four against the other finals side.
Last time around PINT led for the majority of the match only to be run down late by the Double Blues.
If the Greenants want to put their hands up for a spot they need to win this one, otherwise they’re going to have to do it the hard way and beat a few of the current heavyweights.
Waratah can win tight matches
A win in a down to the wire thriller against a genuine title contender was exactly what reigning premiers Waratah have been looking for.
Their results up to this stage against the rest of the top six were either blowout victories (Districts and Buffaloes) or tight losses (Saints and PINT).
But against Nightcliff, in a match where neither side could really find the middle of the posts, they had their win in a close encounter 6.11 (47) to 5.13 (43).
It was a match where defence beat offence, and both sides turned up with a plan to counter their opposition.
For Nightcliff the likes of Ryan Nyhuis, Lewis Rinaldi and Mitch Norton all put the pressure on Waratah’s main goal kickers Jayden Magro and Anthony Munkara.
But equally Waratah’s defensive unit including Will Clark, Dan O’Dwyer and Jack O’Sullivan had to work overtime to ensure Tigers didn’t punish them on the scoreboard when they came.
The match did finally break open late in the fourth quarter as Magro managed to free himself from Nightcliff’s grasp, and Tahs finally hit the front.
This is exactly the sort of win Waratah needed, and proves just how important a strong defensive unit is to winning against the top sides.
But it also speaks volumes of how close the competition is right now between the top six.
Every side in finals contention has beaten at least two of their major rivals, while Saints are the only side to have lost just once so far this season.
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