AFLNT today released the TIO NTFL Women’s Premier League fixture and all other senior division fixtures along with the U18 Boys and U18 Girls fixtures for the 2016/17 TIO NTFL Season starting Saturday 8 October.
Games will move back to TIO Stadium from Round 2, with the oval’s maintenance progressing faster than expected.
This change has also impacted Round 2 of the Men’s Premier League. An updated draw is attached.
Another change to the Men’s Premier League, from when the fixture was first released two weeks ago, sees a swap of Round 17 matches with Round 18. This change was made in order to support City of Darwin’s Bombing of Darwin Day scheduled for Round 18.
In exciting news, the U18 Girls division looks set to welcome three new teams with Big River Hawks, PINT, and Tiwi (still to be confirmed) beginning their campaign for the first time.
All female divisions will see teams competing with 16-a-side, which will bring the local competition in-line with the expected setup to be adopted by the AFL Women’s competition in 2017.
AFLNT Football Operations Manager Joel Bowden said he was extremely pleased with the growth in the competition.
“We are very excited to hopefully have an equal number of teams between the girls’ under-18 competition and the boys’ under-18 competition.
“We are pleased to release the fixture today after consulting with each club and look forward to the start of the 2016/17 TIO NTFL season.
The Women’s Premier League Grand Final replay between the Waratah Football Club and the Wanderers Football Club will be played during Round 2 in a Saturday evening match at TIO Stadium.
It is a special season for three clubs with the Waratah Football Club, Wanderers, and the Darwin Buffaloes celebrating 100 years of football.
Bowden said the fixture was constructed with the primary aim to enable those in the Top End to access the game in strong numbers, as well as to continue to build the NTFL as the number one code in the Territory.
With junior matches not kicking off until Friday 14 October, the fixture for the junior grades (U16 divisions and below) will be available early next week.
Please visit this NTFL website to the 2016/17 TIO NTFL fixture for all Senior and U18 divisions.
KEY DATES:
‧ Round 2 – Women’s Premier League Grand Final Replay (Wanderers v Waratah)
‧ Round 3 – Umpire’s Round
‧ Round 7 – TIO Get Ready Round
‧ Round 7 – Division 2 Grand Final Replay (Waratah v Nightcliff Spartans)
‧ Round 8 – Women’s Round
‧ Round 12 – Division 1 Grand Final Replay (Tracy Village v PINT)
‧ Round 15 – Heritage Round
‧ Round 18 – Bombing of Darwin Day
GRAND FINAL DATES:
‧ Saturday 11 March – Women’s Premier League Grand Final
‧ Saturday 18 March – Division 1 Grand Final
‧ Saturday 18 March – Division 2 Grand Final