Nightcliff’s rise from also-rans in the Men’s Premier League to the brink of a three peat of flags can be put down to astute planning

Nightcliff’s premiership aspirations have grown out of all proportion since the dark days of the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s as president Mark Dodge explains

Nightcliff president Mark Dodge in front of the soon to be demolished Tigers' donga. Picture: Grey Morris

NIGHTCLIFF’S rise from perennial also-rans to the NTFL Premier League’s elite includes playing in grand finals for the next decade.

Club president Mark Dodge recalled a nuts and bolts committee meeting in the dry season months of 2013 that set the standards for today’s side.

The 20-21 men’s side is chasing a club record three consecutive Premier League flags, something Tiger fans were comparing to climbing Mt Everest before back-to-back wins in 2019 and ‘20 brought them to this point.

“The journey started at least seven or eight years ago when the committee decided to sit down and begin looking at a 10-year plan,’’ Dodge said.

“We wanted to get to a point where we were regularly winning the Men’s Premier League flag or at least playing in grand finals.

“It took a long time to get to where we are now, beginning with recruiting the right leadership group and the right playing group.’’

Dodge singled out late 2018 as another turning point for the club when Cameron Ilett, Phillip Wills and Chris Baksh formed a three-way recruiting package.

“That was when we really started to move forward, Bakshsy had been the assistant coach under Troy Coates before putting his hand up for the (head coach) position when Coatsey was injured.

“The committee decided to back Bakshsy, then Cameron Ilett came across on Chris’ recommendation and we got Willsy and Shaun Wilson at the same time.’’

Dodge played down suggestions Nightcliff had been a club that accepted defeat.

“I think they did take losses hard, bearing in mind they always had a pretty strong junior program but they weren’t able to join that with senior success.

“Someone mentioned this week the big drop from age 18 to senior footy was a sizeable problem we had.

“But you look at the last 12 or 18 months you can see a lot of guys who played most of their junior footy with us.

“So while we’ve got some stars in the side, these players who have come through the under-16s and 18s are developing well and Andrew Moniz-Wakefield is one.’’

Dodge said longevity as a power club was something Nightcliff wanted to make happen after the drought breaking 2018-19 flag.

“We didn’t want it to be a one-off and we were able to get a second flag in a row which takes us some way to where we want to go,’’ he said.

“We need to be playing grand finals for five or 10 years, whether we can win them is another thing, but the club needs to be in the top three every year.

“That will give credence to what we wanted to achieve when we sat down as a committee all of those years ago.’’

And a three peat of flags?

“There hasn’t been a lot of sides do it, apart from St Mary’s, the Buffaloes and Wanderers in the league’s early years,’’ Dodge said.

“It’s hard to win a premiership in any year and while it looks easy when you win games like the (second semi-final) win over Wanderers, it takes a lot of hard work to get to that point.

“St Mary’s will be a different kettle of fish this weekend with their long history of playing finals football.’’