Things are heating up in the 2023/24 TIO NTFL Women’s Premier League competition with just a fortnight to go until finals football.
To kick off the round, St Marys host Palmerston tomorrow at 10:15AM at TIO Stadium. The star-studded Saints team will enter as favourites having not tasted defeat since November.
Jemma Iacono is coming off a best-on-ground performance while AFLW star Danielle Ponter, Jo Miller and Janet Baird are also in strong form. Many argue that the Saints are the best team in the competition, so they should be too good for the Magpies in this one. But Palmerston are a young and exciting team and two consecutive wins will give them confidence heading into this match.
The Darwin Buffettes take on Waratah in what shapes as an entertaining battle tomorrow at 12:30PM at TIO Stadium.
If the double blues can cause an upset here, they will leapfrog Palmerston into fifth place and will likely be able to secure a finals berth with the Magpies facing PINT in the final round. The Buffettes are riding a high after snapping an eight-game losing streak with last weekend’s 73-point thrashing of Wanderers.
Amber Wunungmurra, Grace Doughty and Molly Althouse were the stars against the Eagles. However, Waratah were far too good the last time these two teams met – claiming a 64-point victory back in Round 8 and will be keen to make amends for last week’s loss to St Marys.
The Warriors enter favourites, but anything can happen with a hungry Buffettes team.
Undefeated PINT are in excellent form and will almost certainly be too strong for the Tiwi Bombers at TIO Stadium tomorrow night. The Bombers lost to Southern Districts last weekend, but were excellent a fortnight ago in the big win over Darwin.
One of the competition’s superstars in Jasmyn Hewett played her first game in a fortnight and was, unsurprisingly, named the Queenants’ best player.
Stella Ajani, Reni Hicks, Kate Atkins and Steph Lawrence also produced very strong performances in a big win against fourth-placed Nightcliff. The Bombers have been much improved after Christmas and have already posted two wins. Maria Rioli and Jaime Lee Puautjimi have been in strong form while Laelia Dunn is always dangerous up forward.
In the final game of the round, Nightcliff host Southern Districts at 7PM at Nightcliff Oval. The Tigers will be comfortable favourites, but the Crocs have plenty to play for and will be out to improve on their performance the last time these two teams met.
Districts had a strong win over Tiwi Bombers last week, but you would expect the Tigers to come out roaring and secure a victory in this one. A win here for the Tigers is vital to to keep the pace with the top-three teams.
