Nightcliff and PINT made big gains on the Men's Premier League ladder after percentage boosting wins in Round 13 of the 2023/24 TIO NTFL Season.
Finals bound Waratah and Southern Districts had convincing wins, the Crocodiles beating the unpredictable Darwin Buffaloes by 103 points at Fred's Pass to reboot a season that stumbled in a close loss to St Mary's a week ago.
Waratah outplayed an enthusiastic Tiwi Bombers side at Gardens Oval when they booted eight goals to two after half-time to win by 63 points.
But there was no sacked coach syndrome at the Magpies following senior coach Josh Heath's departure midweek.
Nightcliff kicked 13 goals in a fruitful last quarter to beat the home side by 203 points, boosting their percentage by 32 points in the process.
And PINT thrashed a listless Wanderers at Tracy Village Oval, all but sealing a berth in their first finals series with a 111-point win.
Nightcliff's ruthless demolition of a disappointing Palmerston had all the hallmarks of the club's premiership threepeat from 2019-21 when they did what they like on the wide expanses of Cazaly's Arena.
Victorian recruit Lachlan Tardrew was Nightcliff's best player with four goals in a midfield, half forward role, combining with long kicking teammate Brodie Filo to destroy the Magpies.
Young gun Adrian Scott continues to inspire with a four-goal cameo, most of them the result of an in-built ability to read the play and make the maximum use of his opportunities.
Nightcliff coach Leigh Crossman, who coached the Tiwi Bombers to a win over the Tigers in the 2011-12 grand final, told his players at three quarter-time he wanted the scoreboard to read more goals than behinds.
"The fact we kicked 13 goals to finish the game shows we did play four quarters when it would have been easy to take our feet off the pedal in that last quarter,'' he said.
"Unfortunately for Palmy, percentage is going to be critical coming into the end of the season, so you have to make maximum use of every scoring opportunity.''
PINT coach Shannon Motlop praised his players' positive attitude after their 18.13 (121) to 1.4 (10) win over a struggling Wanderers.
"I was happy everyone played a solid game of footy on a day when you could have been forgiven for not wanting to be there,'' Motlop said.
"An easy game and terrible weather didn't make a lot of positives, but the players didn't lapse at any stage, which is a good sign when we're trying to lock up a finals spot.''
Midfield trio Sam Kalbfell, Elliott Chalmers and Luke Partington were prominent on a night when
10 Greenant players shared the goalkicking duties.
Waratah bounced back from their loss to PINT last week with an impressive 63-point win over the Tiwi Bombers in Saturday night's match at Gardens Oval.
Tahs had all the bases covered with their 16.19 (115) to 8.4 (52) win, running away from the fleet footed Bombers in the second half after the Bombers crept to within 13 points late in the second quarter.
Edward Morris through the middle and half forward was good offensively and defensively for the red and whites, while lionhearted ruckman Arnold Kirby and five-goal spearhead Jayden Magro were serious threats all night for the Bombers.
Tahs coach Ryan Ayres said the win over a confident Tiwi outfit coming off three successive wins was a big positive with five rounds left to play before the finals.
"We knew we were in for a tough match, but the boys were able to see it out early and get on top in the second half,'' he added.
"We use the ball well but there are also times when we rush it too much, even if we were able to take control of the game with the skills we have in the side.''
Southern Districts showed the ferocious side their Crocodile logo indicates when they thrashed a lacklustre Darwin Buffalo opposition by 17 goals at Norbuilt Oval.
The Crocodiles were hungry, committed and ruthless as they hunted in packs and used the football cleverly in a 21.13 (139) to 4.12 (36) win that lifted them to within a game of top spot.
Matthew Dennis was supreme in the ruck, Nakia Cockatoo and Jed Anderson used their strength and skill to win a series of clearances and twin forward targets Jarrod Brander and Jonathon Ross kicked 10 goals between them.
Dennis said the side had learned a lot from last week's loss to St Mary's when they found goal scoring a difficult assignment against the disciplined Saints defence.
"We put some different structures in place and adapted to the wet conditions a lot better by putting our bodies over the footy and we had a good day,'' he said.
"You've got to be clean in these conditions and if you're not you'll be shown up, so it's really tough out there and tends to show who the good players are.''