Deadly Cup Carnival streamed live and exclusive on KommunityTV
The Indigenous All Stars showed their passion across the grades, while Gove fended off a late Darwin Barbarians fight back in the 2025 edition of the Deadly Cup. Re-live all the action in our replays.
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The Indigenous All Stars showed their passion with dominant results in the senior grades, while Gove fended off a late Darwin Barbarians fight back in the sixth edition of the Deadly Cup.
The Indigenous and Territory All Stars outfits were made up of players from across the NRL NT competition for a day combining Indigenous culture and rugby league.
To make the day bigger was the introduction of a face-off between a Gove Invitational side and the Darwin Barbarians bolstering the Territory connections of the competition.
Gove showed their talent and hard running style born from some big ball carriers, but were made to work in defence when Darwin surged late leaving the visitors with a narrow 26-20 win.
Wilson Lotu burst through for the side’s opening try early in the piece and the visitors showed their excitement with some huge celebrations.
Sitiveni Loko was another huge presence breaking the line while Paddy Corrie was a nimbler threat and got his reward taking advantage of a failed intercept to score himself.
The Barbarians came back late and had an inspired run that put real pressure on the visiting team, but the work rate of the likes of Etu Afeaki kept Gove with their noses ahead long enough to see out.
Captain Jock Tohu said it was a great experience for the side to show what they can do in front of a Darwin crowd at the Deadly Cup.
“It’s awesome, I’m super happy with the boys and what we’ve achieved, it’s been four months in the making and to finally get out on the field was amazing,” he said.
“It was a very intense game and there was plenty of aggression, they came back at us but we held on.
“This is very important for us, we’re only a new club trying to start out and to get this chance of exposure at the Deadly Cup is the best thing for our brand.
“We’re aiming to keep coming back and hopefully produce the same result while getting around this Carnival because it’s such an awesome thing for NAIDOC week.”
The Indigenous All Stars women’s side started strong and didn’t look back in a dominant 26-6 victory over the Territory team.
Cecelia Misob was a standout setting her side up with strong running lines while Zoe Kurnoth made plenty of huge tackles to create mistakes in the Territory side.
The Territory had their moment when Northern Sharks’ try scoring weapon Jaymee Park was put in open space with a typically powerful run down the wing.
However, the Indigenous side had plenty of weapons of their own with Rekeisha Humes charging through for a brace of tries.
Indigenous All Stars vice-captain Yasmin Isaac said it was great to be able to represent her culture in a sport she loves.
“It was so good, we only just came together but gelled well, it was so much fun to play in this atmosphere against the Territory ladies,” she said.
“I love my heritage being Indigenous and I love rugby league so to have it combined is so special and makes for an amazing day, this is my third time playing and I’m proud to be a part of it.
“Coming together is awkward at first because we’re usually playing against each other, but then to come here and build these friendships is great for us and makes the rest of the comp friendlier.
“These games are just played in such great spirits and for us we just want to do this more often.”
The Indigenous All Stars had an outing to remember in the men’s match up too with a dominant 32-0 defeat of the Territory.
There was passion aplenty in the match and it was clear early on that the Indigenous side had the better of the running early on eager to back up their 2024 victory.
Naiama Mau set up the opener with a slick pass to winger Bailey Zaro who went over and it was a moment that turned any rust from not playing together often to real momentum.
Tame Tupou, in the midst of a strong season for the Brothers, was powerful on the carry and it was one of his runs that gave Anthony Busch a huge opportunity off dummy half for try number two.
Tupou would get a score of his own in the second half cracking through the defensive line, while his club teammate Dallas Caulton kept the pressure up with his accurate kicking.
Timothy Muhammad exposed late game defensive frailties waltzing through a gap to slide over for, while Jack Sagigi burst through in the dying moments to score on the siren.
Indigenous All Stars captain David Tabuai was a proud winner of a side that has now gone back to back in the Deadly Cup, but for him it was the chance to represent his identity that made it special.
“What an honour to represent my identity, culture and people, the emotions started high and stayed that way,” he said.
“We capitalised with a good win, we didn’t start pretty but the guys found their feet and then we got into it as it sunk in.
“As an individual you represent a lot of people, our family and friends, our last name and those who can’t be with us, and this year for us has been about creating a legacy for those who are coming up.
“Footy is just a small part of it but what a way to kick off NAIDOC week, because the celebrations will flow on from here and we hope our mob come out and celebrate through the week as one.”
PREVIEW
The Deadly Cup Carnival returns bigger and deadlier than ever before to kick-start NAIDOC week using rugby league as a vehicle to celebrate community and culture.
The carnival is in now in its sixth edition with more than 3000 attendees expected to step through the gates at TRL Stadium on Sunday for all the excitement.
And for those who can’t make it all the senior matches will be streamed live and exclusive on KommunityTV, including a first match between the visiting Gove team and Darwin Barbarians.
The traditional Indigenous All Stars and Territory All Stars will be in action as well with players from across the NRL NT competition shedding club colours to come together for the day.
The NT News will stream four matches from 2.50pm including the under-17s girls, senior women and the two senior men’s games.
The Deadly Cup offers itself to fast pace footy and it’s the buy in from players that has founder and director of Deadly Vision Centre Shaun Tatipata proud of what it has become.
“Rugby league is a big part of this community so to be able to host this event and mobilise this support is always great for us,” he said.
“People talk about the Deadly Cup being what they look forward to in NAIDOC week and for me it’s that continued buy in, juniors or ball kids from the first carnival are now senior leaders.
“That pride really comes through in these players because it’s celebrating everything great about our community, not just Aboriginal players but our allies who are there playing and supporting with us.
“It gives me immense pride how much this has grown, I really enjoy how the Deadly Cup sets the tone for NAIDOC week because we’ve got everyone feeling proud and celebrating.
“Then we go into the rest of the week with the health services family day and the march, which is really powerful for us and to see juniors wearing their Deadly Cup jerseys then fills my cup.”
Off field is the Deadly Health Expo with more than 20 exhibitors all working to connect community with health service providers, enlarged by the introduction of the Deadly Walkabout activity.
A lot of the education centres on food that’s a big part of the culture with cooking demonstrations of dishes such as curried goose, while a bush tucker cook up using a ground oven will include kangaroo, crocodile, barramundi, buffalo and bush vegetables.
“Then we’ve got the painting and weaving as well as different reptiles, which he uses as an educational piece about caring for country and totems,” Tatipata said.
NRL NT general manager Tony Crowe said he was particularly excited to see Gove be involved and was hoping to include other regional areas in the future.
“This is a great celebration for our rugby league community acknowledging NAIDOC week and what it means,” he said.
“Breaking down the club silos and people coming together to play and represent their people and culture is great to see and in line with the inclusiveness and diversity we strive for.
“We’re excited to see continued involvement from Gove and looking to invite and include other regional areas in the future.”
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Originally published as Deadly Cup Carnival streamed live and exclusive on KommunityTV
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