Welcome to the

ROUND BY ROUND WRAP UP

The 2008/09 NTFL season has kicked off for the year. The Tigers first round was rewarding against Wanderers, with a 16 point win. Although the boys won the game they came out with an injury. Joel Peckham hurt his knee causing him to miss 4 to 5 games.

Rounds 2 & 3 were not so successful against Southern Districts and St Marys. Although both games were played at home the Tigers were unable to convert the games into wins.

Round 2 against Sth Districts slipped away in the last few minutes. Inaccurate kicking and a couple of silly mistakes cost us the game.

When the Tigers took on the reigning premiers St Marys, there was a bit of pressure to perform. The team tried hard to pull together, but could not produce a win. St Marys, in the end, wanted it more.

Round 4 against Tiwi Bombers, saw Brendan Bailey out with an injury. The Tigers were up until the 4th quarter. In the last 10 minutes Tiwi hit back with easy goals, that won them the game. Nightcliff tried to keep Tiwi at bay, but Tiwi maintained endurance and speed, leaving Nightcliff to contemplate another loss.

Round 5 brings Nightcliff back to a home ground game against Darwin. This is a game that Tigers need to win. It would be an even sweeter victory, if won, as it will be John Bonson's 200th League Game

Round 6 against Waratahs - Gardens oval

A very depleted side performed exceptional up to half time but ran out of legs in the second half and we were eventually comprehensively beaten.

Best players - M. Smith, B. Moody, C. Irwin, S. Andrews, B. Cunningham, G. Althouse

Round 7 versus Palmerston – Southern Cross oval

Finally John Boson played his 200th NTFL League game (197 for Nightcliff). We also welcomed Chris Gibson for his first game back for Nightcliff and also Liam Jarrah and Shaun Cusack form Alice Springs. The game was seesawing and with ten minutes of the game left, we were in front until we missed an easy shot meters out, and Palmerston broke away to win by 9 points. We were very inaccurate again in front of goal with Liam Jarrah kicking 1.6 for the game.

Best players - C. Gibson, J. Bonson, W. Berto, R. Campbell, B. Moody, B. Cunningham

Round 8 versus Tiwi – TIO Stadium

What a turn around!!! Firstly the club welcomed Brett white (ex Glenelg), Matthew Cooper (ex Sturt and son of the great Ron Cooper) and Chris Ladhams (ex Adelaide and North Adelaide). These players were recruited through hard work from the coach Mark Motlop. It was one of those games that everything we touched turned to gold and won by almost 20 goals.

Best players - M. Cooper, L. Jurrah, W. Berto, C. Gibson, S. Andrews, C Ladhams

Round 9 against St Marys – TIO Stadium

Definitely want to forget this game however, we again welcomed another recruit, Jackson Emblem form Brisbane’s Broadbeach club. It was raining at the commencement of the game and St Marys had 6 goals on the board by quarter time to our 2. That set the pattern and we were always chasing the game and although were more competitive for the rest of the game, we made far too many fundamental mistakes and lost by 9 goals. The Michael’s Cup was also played for in this game and the presentations were made back at the St Marys clubrooms.

Best players – J. Kickett, W. Berto, B. Moody, J.Bonson, C. Ladhams,

Round 10 v Southern Districts at Norbuilt Oval Freds Pass
Another loss when we had to win, however there were signs of things to come. We were behind all day and at the beginning of the last quarter the side lifted and kicked 4 goals in a row to be level. Liam Jarrah then missed an easy shot (hit the post0 and from there the last ten minutes of the game belonged to Southern Districts.

It was also the last game for Liam Jarrah who was picked up in the AFL draft by Melbourne.

Scores: Nightcliff 13.8-86 lost to Southern Districts 17.15-117
Goal Kickers: L. Jurrah 5, B. Kay 3, J. Kickett, M. Derksen, A. Corrie, A. Pickett, S. Carr
Best Players: B. Kay, C. Irwin, L. Jurrah, G. Dickson, W. Berto, J. Kickett

Round 11 v Wanderers at TIO Stadium
A very disappointing loss given this was a game that we had to win. In driving rain, we hit the front in the last quarter and faded when it mattered. This has been the team’s Achilles heel all season and once this has been overcome, the NFC will certainly be playing finals football.

Scores: Nightcliff 9.14-68 lost to Wanderers 12.15-87
Goal Kickers: M. Smith 3, B. Kay 2, J. Kickett, A. Pickett, J. Bonson, G. Dickson
Best Players: M. Smith, B. Kay, S. Carr, W. Berto, R. Campbell, A. Pickett

Round 12 v Palmerston at Nightcliff oval
A great day at Nightcliff oval although it was a wet one. The day started with the U18’s winning well with 14 players, and the Reserves also winning by a large margin. This was followed by the League side totally outplaying Palmerston and storming to a 6 goal win. It was a very good team performance and the side was largely unchanged throughout the game except for the ruckmen in off the bench.

Scores: Nightcliff 13.17-95 def Palmerston 9.6-60
Goal Kickers: M. Smith 2, M. Cooper 2, C. Ladhams 2, B. Kay 2, J. Kickett, T. Motlop, C. Irwin, J. Bonson, G. Dickson
Best Players: W. Berto, A. Motlop, M. Cooper, D. Roe, A. Corrie, R. Campbell

Round 13 v Waratahs at TIO Stadium
On a day where we had to begin gaining momentum by winning two in a row was partially disturbed with the news that Matthew Cooper was sick and did not travel from Adelaide and, the first quarter effort by Waratahs to be kick 5 goals to our 2 was not what we were looking for.

However any fears were quickly dispelled at the beginning of the second quarter where we scored a few goals to hit the front and stayed there. This win was achieved by a great effort by all the players. Chris Ladhams kicked 6 goals and was instrumental with the win. It was also a welcome back to Jackson Emblem, who will no doubt turn out to be a very handy player.

Scores: Nightcliff 16.11-107 def Waratah 9.8-62
Nightcliff - Goal Kickers: C. Ladhams 6, M. Smith 4, J. Kickett 2, W. Berto 2, T. Motlop, A. Wilson
Best Players: D. Roe, J. Emblem, M. Smith, J. Coulter, T. Motlop, B. Kay

Round 14 v Southern Districts
A major let down given we had to win to keep pace with the other clubs fighting for the 4th and 5th spot in the ladder. Nightcliff played fairly well however, Southern Districts rose to the occasion and finished us of fin the last few minutes again!! Chris Ladhams had a good haul of 5 goals for the day.

Scores: Nightcliff 9.14 68 lost to Southern Districts 14.6 90
Best players: D. Roe, G. Dickson, A. Motlop, T. Motlop, S. Andrews, B. White

Round 15 v Darwin
A welcome return to some form, we played very well all night and Robbie Campbell finished the night with 7 goals at full forward. Darwin were under strength however, they played out the game.

Scores: Nightcliff 17.16 118 defeated Darwin 8.4 52
Best players: James Murphy, Matt Jackson, Greg Dickson, Robbie Campbell A Motlop

Round 16 v Wanderers
Playing at home for the last time this season, we need to win to be one game behind Wanderers and Palmerston. Unfortunately this was not to be as Wanderers played well enough to stay in front all day at each break. We came at them in the 3rd quarter hitting the lead but could not sustain our momentum. Chris Ladhams kicked another 5 goals.

Our season is now virtually over although mathematically we can still make it providing Palmerston lose both of their remaining games and we win both of ours.

It also see the end of the great players flying from Adelaide (Chris Ladhams, Brett White and matt Cooper), Alice Springs (Shaun Cusack) and Perth (Allistair Pickett). We say a big thank you for your contributions, it was great to see such talent player up in Darwin and in particular with the Nightcliff Football Club.

Scores: Nightcliff 13.16 94 lost to Wanderers 18.11 119
Best players: Adrian Murphy, Shaun Cusack, Thomas Motlop, A Motlop, B Kay

Round 17 v St Marys
St Marys        20.23 (143)
Nightcliff          8.8   (56)
Goal Kickers: J Bonson 2, A Motlop, M Cooper, A Corrie, W Berto, T Rossides,
B White
Best Players: B White, J Bonson, A Motlop, G Dickson, M Cooper, T Rossides

This game is best forgotten. The team looked flat and were totally overrun by
St Marys.

Round 18 v Tiwi Bombers
Tiwi Bombers    19.17 (131)
Nightcliff        16.10 (106)
Goal Kickers: J Emblem 3, A Corrie 2, C Ladhams 2, B Kay 2, D Andrew, J Kickett, M Derksen, S Rhodes, N Baker, G Dickson, S Carr
Best Players: M Derksen, D Roe, J Bonson, T Luck, B Kay, C Ladhams

This was a cracker of a game, the team played extremely well and it was from our mistakes that the Tiwis rebounded with pace that they scored.

We were still in it with 5-10 minutes to go.

FINALS
On Saturday 28 February, our Reserve grade (which was the only one of the senior grades to make the finals) played in the elimination final against Palmerston.

After a tough game, we came out on top and now go into the 1st semi final next week against Wanderers.

Under age teams
Congratulations must go out to the Under 13 team who finished the season undefeated and topped the ladder. Well done all the players, officials, the coaches Peter Stretton and Alastair Scott.

TEAM                         P     W     L    D    B    FF   For     Ag      PC         Pts      
1    Nightcliff                   12    12    0    0    2    0    552    183    301.64    56      
2    Sthn Dist Crocs          13    10    3    0    1    0    547    325    168.31    44      
3    Palmerston               13      9    4    0    1    0    478    301    158.8      40      
4    Darwin                      12      7    5    0    2    0    426    350    121.71    36      
5    St Marys Gold            13      7    6    0    1    1    518    437    118.54    32      
6    Palmerston Magpies   13      5    8    0    1    0    353    465    75.91      24      
7    St Marys Green          12      4    8    0    2    2    303    466    65.02      24      
8    Waratah                   12      2    10   0    2    0    341    559    61          16      
9    Sthn Districts             12      0    12    0   2    0    115    547    21.02       8     

The Under 15’s and 16’s also will play in the final series for their respective grades and congratulations must also go to them.

Please all senior players and supporters get down and support these teams.

Reserves elimination final
Nightcliff           10.5-65
Palmerston        6.10-46
Goal Kickers: S. Scheppard 3, B. Peris 3, D. Andrew, B. Allen-Shaw, S. Rhodes,
L. Drummond
Best Players: G. Althouse, S. Sheppard, B. Peris, N. Knibbs, S. Rhodes,
D. Andrew

So go the Tigers...............!!!