The top goalkickers from the NTFL season from Under 12s to Premier League
A St Mary’s forward is closing in on a good mate and Waratah rival to claim his second consecutive Dennis Dunn award. See every goalkicker here.
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There have been plenty of six-pointers slotted in NTFL footy this season.
And this publication has crunched the numbers to find every goalkicker from all NTFL divisions, from the Under 12s up to Men’s and Women’s Premier League.
They included talented juniors to AFL legends, such as Eddie Betts, with just more than 100 players kicking double figure goals this season.
The list is based on data entered by clubs into statistical portal PlayHQ.
Saints forward closes in on second consecutive Dennis Dunn award
St Mary’s star forward Jackson Calder might be just one goal behind good mate and Waratah rival Jayden Magro for the prestigious Dennis Dunn trophy, but there are bigger issues to deal with right now.
Calder, who has slotted 44 majors from 15 matches in Men’s Premier League this season, said sealing his second consecutive Dennis Dunn was way down the priority list as the Saints look to secure the double chance in Round 18.
However, he did admit there has been some banter, with the pair playing in a premiership in 2022 with Cairns City Lions.
“We’re good mates, me and ‘Mags’,” Calder said, who leads the MPL for forward 50 marks with 57.
“We have a bit of a laugh about it, I tell him I’m coming for him.
“I can’t let a small forward win it.”
Calder, who scored last season’s Dennis Dunn with 58 majors, admitted he had been fortunate in Tiwi Bombers forfeiting their Round 14 meeting with Tahs.
“He probably missed out on a couple there, but I’ll hopefully take advantage of it,” he said.
Most of the focus though is on winning the Saints’ final game of the home and away season against Wanderers, with the Muk Muks getting home in their last encounter in Round 4 by just three points.
A Saints loss, and a big Nightcliff victory over Tiwi Bombers, could see the Tigers pinch third spot on the ladder, to close out the home and away season.
Currently third, Saints lead fourth-placed Nightcliff by four points on the MPL ladder and are nearly eight percentage points clear.
“It’s all just team focus, we just want to make sure we finish top three,” he said.
“If Nightcliff have a big win, they’ll be pretty close to us.”
However, first thing’s first and Calder said the Saints owe Wanderers one.
Despite winning the inside 50 count 53/42, the Eagles were able to pull down 17 forward 50 marks to just six, with Ed Simpson picking up seven of those grabs.
“Our entries were a bit rushed and they have some really good defenders,” Calder said.
“They’re a rival, they’re based next door to us, we’ll be looking to get one back.”
Looking for back-to-back premierships, Calder said the Saints were travelling nicely after a poor start to the season, including a 101-point smashing in Round 1 against Waratah.
“It’s always good to time your run after Christmas, it’s sort of two seasons within the season,” he said.
“It feels like it’s coming together pretty well. (We’re) quietly confident but a lot of work to do still.”
He said the Saints would gain a lot of confidence from a one-point thriller against Tahs last round after Brandyn Grenfell kicked a point on the siren.
“There’s a bit of rivalry there over the last couple of years,” Calder said.
“They embarrassed us a bit (in Round 1).
“We made it really hard for ourselves in that first quarter ... but it was a really good fightback.”
Calder, who will return home to play with Mornington in 2023, was keen to return to the Territory for another season: “I love it up here, before I get too old I’ll try to sneak in as many seasons as I can.”
Alkamilya recruit Kaitlyn Armstrong bags 12 against Palmerston
With some guidance from her legendary uncle, a Red Centre football star has doubled a career-best effort with a 12-goal haul in her debut season with the Green Machine.
Kaitlyn Armstrong, the niece of Central Australian Football League legend and three-time Minahan medallist Charlie Maher who grew up 30km west of Alice Springs, has shot to second place on the WPL’s goal kicking table after 36 majors in just eight games.
Including a mercurial snap from the boundary line at TIO Stadium, Armstrong bagged a dozen against Palmerston in a 125-point demolition in Round 16.
When asked how she managed to slot that unlikely major, Armstrong said she simply tried to get a boot on the ball before being tackled.
“I don’t know, I just kicked it and it went through the goals,” Armstrong said modestly.
Armstrong’s big bag doubled her career-best of six against Southern Districts in Round 11.
Her prolific season will be no surprise to keen CAFL watchers, with numerous goal kicking awards already in her keeping and a third place in the Yeperenye Margaret Liddle medal in her most recent season with Alkamilya.
Armstrong began chasing the leather in the backyard as a youngster with her uncles and aunties, before progressing to Auskick and then Alkamilya; judged best on ground in a 2015 losing grand final to Pioneer when just a teenager.
However, she would later win back-to-back titles in 2017 and 18.
Armstrong’s Red Centre deeds were enough to catch the attention of NT Thunder selectors, following in the footsteps of Maher – the first Indigenous person to run all six major marathons – where he won two premierships.
After an initial WPL foray with Wanderers in 2020-21, she switched to St Mary’s in 22-23 to play alongside Saints teammate and friend Kalisha Rioli.
Armstrong said Maher, who also won two CAFL premierships with South Alice Springs, remained a huge influence on her football development.
“He’s been pushing me through trainings and games, he’s been a big part of my footy career,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong may have won so many CAFL goal kicking awards she’s lost count, it’s all about trying to win another senior women’s flag with the Saints.
“I love the club, I love the girls here,” she said.
Sophie Berry a lone hand for Southern Districts
On the recovery trail from a rib injury sustained in a recent representative match, and playing in an unfamiliar position, Southern Districts forward Sophie Berry wasn’t expecting to produce a career best at Marrara.
However, the 17-year-old would bag five goals against Tiwi Bombers in Round 15 of Women’s Premier League, earning herself NT News Rising Star nomination.
The Palmerston resident, who started her footy career at Nightcliff, has been a lone weapon for the Crocs this season, with that historic quartet sliding her into fourth spot on the WPL’s most potent forwards list.
Berry traditionally fulfils a high forward role, rotating into the midfield with fellow solid scorer Rhania Hewitt — 14th on the table with 12 goals.
The next best for the Crocs is Natalie Wilson in 40th place with five six-pointers, underlying the team’s reliance on just a few.
But against Tiwi, she started out of the goalsquare despite suffering bruising in the NT Thunder’s curtain-raiser match the prior weekend.
“The day the team was supposed to be sent out I called my coach and said: ‘Hey I’m up to playing if you want me to play’,” Berry said.
“I’m never usually full forward.
“I’ve gotta play that position more often now I reckon.”
Berry is embarking on her first, full season in NTFL’s top grade, after she made her debut just after her 16th birthday in 2021-22.
It’s been the Berry Show on many occasions this season, with a next best of four against the powerful St Mary’s in Round 11, the only goals the Crocs could muster that day.
“Going up to Women’s Premier League was very daunting at the start,” she said.
“But being surrounded by a team that was so welcoming and encouraging made it a lot easier.
“It’s at my skill level (too).”
Steph Lawrence lashes the opposition in Women’s Premier League
The footballing future of traveller turned Queenant recruit Steph Lawrence remains up in the air for now.
However, one thing is certain: PINT’s stellar 12-1 season can be largely contributed to her on-field partnership with Amy Chittick.
Forward star Lawrence (41 goals) and former NT Thunder and Waratah ace Chittick (24) have slotted 65 six-pointers between them in the 2022-23 season so far, equating to more than a third of the team’s total points.
And they ran amok again in Round 14, combining for 12 majors as PINT thrashed Wanderers 27.12 (174) to no score as Lawrence bagged a career-best eight.
It beat her previous best of six against the Western Bulldogs for Carlton in the 2022 VFLW season in late May, her last match for the Blues before she travelled north for a fresh start and to visit a friend.
“Living in Melbourne through Covid, my mental health was a bit down in the dumps, so I quit my job last April and went travelling,” Lawrence said, who will represent the Territory against Claremont in the representative match on Sunday.
However, after getting work in Darwin as a radiographer and hearing the Women’s Premier League was about to start, she contacted PINT, on the recommendation of fellow Victorian recruit and Blue, Sarah Ingram.
Lawrence has embraced the Top End experience and is now tempted to stay permanently.
“I’m absolutely loving the lifestyle, I was thinking I was only going to play the football season for six months but now I’m considering staying up here,” she said.
She will return to Melbourne later in the month for a week, and will train with Carlton to see how she feels about another VFLW campaign.
However, the 28-year-old, who was previously a train-on player with the Blues’ AFLW team, admitted her motivation levels to aspire for higher honours had taken a hit.
“I want to just have fun playing footy and PINT has definitely brought that back,” she said.
“Last year at Carlton was a bit of a hard season, we were losing a lot of games.”
In stark contrast, the Queenants have enjoyed another dominant season in 22-23, with Lawrence, playing as a deeper forward in recent rounds, forming a great double act with Chittick.
“The team is basically hitting their stride again,” she said.
“It all just kind of clicked, it was really nice and refreshing to play on a team with such skilled players who can deliver the ball inside 50 to the right spots.
“It gives me the freedom to play to my strengths.”
She said she and Chittick had become firm friends and complemented each other on field.
“She’s really good at things I might be lacking,” she said.
“’Chitty’ is hard at the ball whereas I’m more of an outsider ... getting a quick boot to the ball.”
Waratah mates top the NTFL’s goalkicking list
Topping the chart is Western Australian recruit Lewis Stanton, who made his way to Gardens Oval last season.
After a solid 13 goals from six games in MPL Reserves last season, Stanton has slotted 44 from 11 games in 2022-23, including two bags of nine and a haul of six.
“I’ve always had good years up forward but I haven’t been the main target,” Stanton said.
“I’ve always been forward pocket or forward flank, crumbing off the taller blokes.
“This year I’m playing more of a tall target even though I’m not that tall.”
Curiously, his mate, fellow Waratah forward Jayden Magro, is second with 41 in Men’s Premier League this year.
“I’d just had enough of Perth so I thought I’d try something different,” he said of his move up north.
“I actually know ‘Maggsy’ (well), we played state representative football when we were 18, 19.
“He’s a great bloke.
“We chat pretty much every day on the phone. We always speak about how the game went, stuff like that.”
The NTFL’s top goalkickers of 2022-23
1.
Lewis Stanton (Waratah) 42 goals Men’s Premier League Reserves 10 games
2.
Jayden Magro (Waratah) 41 goals MPL 12 games
3.
Jackson Calder (St Mary’s) 35 goals MPL 12 games
4.
Steph Lawrence (PINT) 30 goals Women’s Premier League 9 games
5.
Anthony DePasquale (Nightcliff) 24 goals MPL Reserves 11 games
6.
Darcy Hope (Waratah) 23 goals MPL 12 games
7.
Oscar Willding (Nightcliff) 22 goals MPL Reserves 10 games
Cassie McWilliam (Nighctliff) 22 goals WPL 9 games
Kaitlyn Armstrong (St Mary’s) 22 goals WPL 6 games
Drae Bamford (Southern Districts) 22 goals Under 14 Gundersen 10 games
8.
Sam Dunstan (Southern Districts) 21 goals MPL 8 games
Warrick Campbell (Palmerston) 21 goals Under 18s Boys 10 games
9.
Brett Kennedy (Banks) 20 goals MPL Reserves 11 games
Eddie Betts (Palmerston) 20 goals MPL 6 games
Zac Withers (Nightcliff) 20 goals Under 14 Gundersen 10 games
Andrew Mead-Harding (PINT) 20 goals MPL Reserves 6 games
Steven Motlop (Wanderers) 20 goals MPL 11 games
10.
Luke Smith (Southern Districts) 19 goals MPL 10 games
Davis White (Wanderers) 19 goals Under 16 Leverence 8 games
Travis Carroll (Southern Districts) 19 goals MPL Reserves 8 matches
Jermal Daly (Southern Districts) 19 goals MPL Reserves 8 matches
11.
Tatyana Perry (Palmerston) 18 goals WPL 11 games
Brodrick Winmar (Tracy Village) 18 goals Division One Men 8 games
Amy Chittick (PINT) 18 goals WPL 11 games
Tom Demamiel (Southern Districts) 18 goals MPL Reserves 11 games
Jenna Singh (Waratah) 18 goals WPL 4 games
Jett Trotter (PINT) 18 goals MPL 11 games
12.
Harmony Lacey (Palmerston) 17 goals Under 14 Girls 9 games
Tyrese Raymond (Darwin Buffaloes) 17 goals Under 18s boys 9 games
Byron Ah Mat (St Mary’s) 17 goals Under 18s boys 8 games
Sophie Berry (Southern Districts) 17 goals WPL 11 games
Dwayne Kerinaiua (Waratah) 17 goals Under 18s boys 3 games
Casey Morris (PINT) 17 goals WPL 10 games
Jordan Clyne (Palmerston) 17 goals Under 16 Hickman 9 games
13.
Connor Gallacher (Nightcliff) 16 goals Under 16 Hickman 10 games
William Keck (Nightcliff) 16 goals MPL Reserves 8 games
Shakaila Gardiner-Dunn 16 goals Under 16 girls 8 games
Marika Carlton (Palmerston) 16 goals Under 16 girls 7 games
Kaylani Duggan-Cole (Darwin Buffaloes) 16 goals Under 16 girls 7 games
Peggy Rock (Nightclif) 16 goals Under 14s Girls 9 games
William Keck (Nightcliff) 16 goals MPL Reserves 8 games
Rick Ooms (Tracy Village) 16 goals Division One Men 10 games
14.
Sebastian Cunningham (Nightcliff) 15 goals Under 12 Atkinson 9 games
Breanna Mason (Palmerston) 15 goals Under 14s Girls 9 games
Xavier Blitner 15 goals Under 18s Boys 10 games.
Sam Cipriani (Nightcliff) 15 goals Reserves 11 games
Kierra Zerafa (Waartah) 15 goals WPL 12 games
15.
Jaedon Hocking (Nightcliff) 14 goals Under 16 Hickman 10 games
Marquell Albert (Darwin Buffaloes) 14 goals Under 14 Gundersen 10 games
Peter Wolbers (St Mary’s) 14 goals Division Two Men 6 games
Aaron Knapman (Banks) 14 goals Division One Men 8 games
Parker Fawcett (St Mary’s) 14 goals Under 18s Boys 6 games
Annabel Kievit (Waratah) 14 goals WPL 7 games
Victoria O’Brien (Wanderers) 14 goals Under 12 Girls 8 games
Brandyn Grenfell (St Mary’s) 14 goals MPL 8 games
16.
William Munkara (Darwin Buffaloes) 13 goals Under 18s Boys 7 games
Dane McGennisken (Southern Districts) 13 goals Division 2 Men 3 games
Mickayla Ward (Nightcliff) 13 goals WPL 10 games
Owen Campbell 13 goals Under 14s 10 games
17.
Coby McCarthy 12 goals (Nightcliff) MPL Reserves 10 matches
Sarah Hawkes (PINT) 12 goals Women’s Division 7 games
Peter Burgess (PINT) 12 goals Division 2 Men 8 games.
Max Trigwell (Nightcliff) 12 goals Under 16 Hickman 10 games
Benjamin Lock (Southern Districts) 12 goals Division 2 Men, Crocs 4 games
Silver Yousif (PINT) 12 goals MPL 10 games
18.
Jordan Venturin (Waratah) 11 goals Division One Men 8 games
Sean Kavanagh (Nightcliff) 11 goals Division One Men 8 games
Kingston Naborlhborlh (Jabiru Bombers) 11 goals Division One Men 7 games
Ryan Shiers (Southern Districts) 11 goals Under 18s Boys 10 games
Gabriel Mulholland (Palmerston) 11 goals Under 18s Boys 10 games
John Orsto (Darwin Buffaloes) 11 goals Under 18s Boys 7 games
Sarah Singh (PINT) 11 goals Women’s Division One 10 games
Liam Holt-Fitz (Darwin Buffaloes) 11 goals MPL 10 games
Richard Baldock (Banks) 11 goals MPL Reserves 11 games
Rhiarna Myatt (PINT) 11 goals WPL 19 games
Tyrell Fredricks (Darwin Buffaloes) 11 goals 8 games
John Butcher (Nightcliff) 11 goals MPL 3 games
Rhania Hewitt (Southern Districts) 11 goals WPL 12 games
Toby Liddelow (Palmerston) 11 goals Under 16 Hickman 10 games
19.
Michael Watson (Palmerston) 10 goals Under 16 Hickman 3 games
Jamie Smith (Waratah) 10 goals Division One Men 9 games
Leshane Woods (Waratah) 10 goals Division One 9 games
Hayden Duczek (Tracy Village) 10 goals Division 1 Men 8 games.
Anthony Gardiner (St Mary’s) 10 goals Division 2 Men 7 games
Anna Brodie (PINT) 10 goals Women’s Division One 5 games
Michael Mummery (Nightcliff) 10 goals MPL 7 games
Stephanie Marshall (Banks) 10 goals Division Two Women 9 games
Stanley Tipiloura (Tiwi Bombers) 10 goals MPL 11 games
Jemma Reid (Southern Districts) 10 goals Under 14s Girls 8 games
Darcy Liebelt (Southern Districts) 10 goals Under 14s Girls 8 games
Mitchell Gallagher (Southern Districts) 10 goals Under 18s Boys 11 games.
Jag McInerney (Waratah) 10 goals Under 18s Boys 8 games
Chris Nield (PINT) 10 goals MPL 6 games
Matt Shannon (Southern Districts) 10 goals MPL 12 games
Bonnie Brown (Southern Districts) 10 goals Under 18s Girls 11 games
Jack Russell (Banks) 10 goals MPL Reserves 11 games
Wade Donnan (Nightcliff) 10 goals MPL Reserves 10 games
Anthony Hale (St Mary’s) 10 goals MPL Reserves 8 games
Justin Taylor (Palmerston) 10 goals MPL Reserves 8 games
Kyle Winter-Irving (PINT) 10 goals MPL 7 games
Isaac Peris (Nightlciff) 10 goals Under 14 Gundersen 9 games
Cohen South (Southern Districts) 10 goals Under 14 Gundersen 6 games
Maya Wauchope (Nightcliff) 10 goals Under 16 Girls 8 games
Darren Roberts (Wanderers) 10 goals Under 16 Leveremce 7 games
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Originally published as The top goalkickers from the NTFL season from Under 12s to Premier League
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