RAIN played havoc on the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) Men’s Premier League Round 7 action, with a match between top three sides St Mary’s and Waratah washed out. The other three matches went ahead, which saw the other top four sides take full advantage of the wash-out, as an AFL legend made his debut in the black and white.

TIWI BOMBERS 1.3 | 2.5 | 5.8 | 7.8 (50)
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS 9.4 | 11.13 | 16.17 | 18.22 (130)

Southern Districts have gained a percentage-boosting victory over the winless Tiwi Bombers to leapfrog Palmerston Magpies into fifth spot on the table. The Crocs headed into the clash with just one win – against the Bombers – a draw – against the second last placed Darwin Buffaloes – and three losses, but came to play from the get-go. Despite the Bombers hoping to produce a more competitive effort than their 73-point drubbing at the hands of the Crocs, it was all over pretty fast. Southern Districts slammed home 9.4 to 1.3 in the opening term to be holding a massive 49-point quarter time lead. Whilst the Bombers were able to be a little more competitive after that – only conceding nine goals for the rest of the match – it was more about the Crocs’ inaccuracy. Southern Districts had 40 scoring shots to 15, booting 18.22 to 7.8 during the huge 80-point shellacking.

Jonathon Ross produced a mammoth eight-goal game for the Crocs, outscoring the Bombers by himself, whilst Leigh Williams teamed up with four majors, and between them produced 12.9 (81). Michael Bowden (28 disposals, seven marks, six clearances, five inside 50s and five rebound 50s), Dean Staunton (25 disposals, four marks, five clearances, five tackles and five inside 50s) and Dom Barry (24 disposals, four marks and seven inside 50s) were all prolific for the winners. Shane Austral had a game-high nine rebound 50s to go with 15 disposals, four marks and three spoils in a hard-fought defensive effort, with Gene Puruntatameri (19 disposals, six marks and four rebound 50s) and Brendan Kantilla (14 disposals, five marks, six tackles, three inside 50s and four rebound 50s).

ST MARY’S 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 (0)
WARATAH 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 (0)

The St Mary’s and Waratah match, touted to be the match of the round with two top three sides doing battled, ended up a non-event. The inconsistent downpours and storms washed out the middle game of the TIO Stadium clash, with the match eventually called off and the points split.

WANDERERS 3.3 | 7.3 | 9.5 | 13.8 (86)
DARWIN BUFFALOES 1.1 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 5.7 (37)

Despite the middle game of the triple header at TIO Stadium being washed out, the last match still surprisingly went ahead, with the Wanderers taking full advantage of their rivals not able to play. Wanderers were in control from the first bounce against Darwin Buffaloes, winning each of the four quarters on their way to a 49-point victory. Darwin was looking for a spark to kick-start its season, sitting in the bottom two just ahead of Tiwi Bombers, and, whilst they did manage to avoid being blown away early, still could not make many inroads throughout the match, Scoring just 3.7 in the first three quarters of action hurt, as they sunk to a 34-point deficit by that stage, and then a four goals to two final term in favour of the eventual winners pushed the final margin to beyond eight goals.

Daniel Clee had a night out for Wanderers, racking up 28 disposals, 10 marks, four clearances, four inside 50s and kicking a goal. Braedon McLean (25 disposals, nine marks, three inside 50s and four rebound 50s) and Marcus Totham (23 disposals, six marks) both found plenty of the ball, and Brodie Newman and Daniel Weetra were outstanding in the back half, taking a combined 19 marks to go with 41 disposals. For the Buffs, Lachlan McKenzie continued his terrific 2021/22 form with 26 disposals, seven marks and six rebound 50s, whilst Jarrod Stokes (19 disposals, three marks, four clearances, four inside 50s and a goal) and Jackson Clark (18 disposals, nine marks and kicking at 100 per cent efficiency) were impressive in the loss.

PALMERSTON MAGPIES 2.2 | 3.2 | 5.3 | 6.6 (42)
NIGHTCLIFF TIGERS 3.5 | 5.9 | 7.12 | 10.16 (76)

Reigning champions Nightcliff also took full advantage of their two nearest rivals – St Mary’s and Waratah – being ruled out of action this weekend, providing the best possible result for the Tigers. Not only did the two sides on the same amount of wins have to split the points two-apiece, but the Tigers went outright top with a commanding 34-point victory over Palmerston Magpies at Cazaly’s Arena. In a tight game for the most part early on, the Tigers lead by nine points at quarter time and 19 points at the half, slowly extending their lead. Inaccuracy stopped Nightcliff really blowing the game apart in the first half with 14 scoring shots to five. They managed to kick away a little in the final term with three goals to one, finishing with 26 scoring shots to 12 and a 10.16 (76) to 6.6 (42) victory.

Daniel Bowles notched up an equal game-high 28 disposals, as well as 11 groundball gets, nine inside 50s and three rebound 50s, running at almost 50 per cent contested. Sam Harper (25 disposals, six marks, three clearances, three inside 50s and four rebound 50s) and Ryan Nyhuis (23 disposals, seven marks, six tackles and four one percenters) were also impressive, as S Wilson slotted three majors in the win. Lennon Marlin was the clear standout for Palmerston in a remarkable effort in defence, creating outstanding run and carry to rack up 28 touches and 15 rebound 50s, running at 70 per cent by foot. The story of the night coming in was Eddie Betts who made his Palmerston debut and slotted 2.2 from eight disposals and three marks, whilst Eric Guthrie (16 disposals, four clearances) and Christopher Williams (18 disposals, four tackles, five inside 50s and a goal) were also among the Magpies’ best.