PINT has reaffirmed its premiership potential with a commanding 36-point win over Darwin Buffaloes to maintain its place at the top of the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) Women’s Premier division ladder. The Queen Ants have only lost one game all season and are 12 points clear of their biggest flag threat, Waratah, boasting a ridiculous percentage of 578.31. That only grew from the weekend after their 6.5 (41) to 0.5 (5) Round 15 victory over the reigning premiers.

From the opening bounce, PINT was set on stepping up to another level, kicking four straight goals in the opening term, while restricting the Buffs from scoring. The match tightened up over the next two quarters, as the defences of both sides really shone. Darwin outscored PINT in the second term but only just, 0.3 to 0.1, before the Queen Ants added four consecutive behinds in the third.

Heading into the last stanza, PINT held a 26-point lead, and made the most of its opportunities. Though both sides had two scoring shots in the final term, PINT kicked 2.0 to Darwin’s 0.2 to pick up the six-goal win. Steph Lawrence slotted two goals upon return from the NTFL Women’s All-Star game, while Amy Chittick, Sarah Ingram, Rhiana Newberry and Katie Streader also hit the scoreboard.

Ingram was named best-on in the Queen Ant’s victory, with Anna Traill and Reni Hicks also among the better players on the day. The other goalkickers and Bec Pryer featured in the more prominent players for Darwin. Defender Elisa Nikki was named best-on in the loss, with her and star talents Molly Althouse and Kylie Duggan all unsurprisingly doing their best to stand up against the PINT dominance. Freyja Pearce and ex-Eagle Imahra Cameron also tried hard in defeat.

Fellow contenders Waratah completely destroyed the winless Wanderers, having a whopping 47 scoring shots to zero in a 29.18 (192) to 0.0 (0) victory. It was party time for the Tahs as Naomi Celebre, Steph O’Brien and Lauren O’Shea all kicked four goals. Top-age AFLW Draft hopes Annabel Kievit (three goals) and Kierra Zerafa (two) were among 11 individual goal kickers for the victors. Waratah maintained a four-point gap on St Mary’s, albeit with the Saints having a game in hand.

St Mary’s did pick up a comfortable win however, taking care of Nightcliff by 50 points at TIO Stadium on Saturday morning. St Mary’s made the most of nine scoring shots to seven in the first half as they lead by 32 points and the Tigers could only kick the seven behinds. Though Nightcliff was more accurate in the second half, St Mary’s continued it’s strong performance and came away 11.5 (71) to 2.9 (21) winners. Adelaide gun forward Danielle Ponter kicked a couple of goals in the win, as did Macie Brown and Kaitlyn Armstrong.

In the other match, Tiwi Bombers kept their hopes of finals alive with a grinding four-point victory over Southern Districts. The Crocs have only beaten the Wanderers this season and sit in eighth, but with the Bombers in sixth – and able to overtake Palmerston who had the bye – Tiwi still has an opportunity to squeeze into the post-season series. The Bombers won 6.12 (48) to 7.2 (44) despite an inspired five-goal effort from Crocs young gun Sophie Berry.