NT Warriors have won the inaugural Indigenous All-Stars match defeating Arnhem Cats by 41 points at TIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Winners are grinners: The NT Warriors celebrate their 41-point win over the Arnhem Cats at TIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
In front of a small but enthusiastic crowd, the opening quarter delivered an entertaining goal-for-goal spectacle with the Warriors leading by 1 point at the first change.
The Cats wrestled back control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors four goals to two to head into the second half with a 10 point advantage.
From here it was all the Warriors unleashing a devastating run of seven unanswered goals to head into the final quarter with a 36 point lead.
Although unable to outscore the Warriors in the final quarter, the Cats did manage to control possession of the ball and put together some great passages of play which led to kicking their first goal since the second quarter.
AFLNT Indigenous Programs Manager Kevin Bruce said that not only did both sides produce some outstanding football on the day but also some outstanding leaders emerged during the week of the Healthy Living Carnival.
"The entire week was a great success and all who participated are able to take some great health, education and leadership message to their local communities," said Bruce.
"We saw some outstanding leadership qualities emerge from several boys during the week and this was taken onto the field where the game was played in great spirit and in a highly sporting manner,"
"We want this to become a permanent part of the NT footy fixture and we look forward to building this important program for many years to come".
Please see below for quarter-by-quarter scores, goal scorers and best player award winners.
NT Warriors 4.3 6.6 13.11 15.13 (103)
Arnhem Cats 4.2 8.4 8.5 9.8 (62)
Goal Scorers
NT Warriors – Michael Joshua 3, Gerald Longmuir, Billy Huddleston, Ray Dummoo, Aaron Sharpe 2, Cedrick Robertson, Geoffrey Parerolutja, Patrick Abbott
Arnhem Cats – Sylvester Olsen 4, Delwyn Byrnes, Jerimah James 2, Hezekiah Lawrence
NT Warriors Best on Ground – Basil Barra (Groote Eylandt)
Arnhem Cats Best on Ground – Geoffrey Parerolutja (Hermannsburg)
Healthy Living Carnival Leadership Awards
NT Warriors – Rowan Bonson (Ngukurr)
Arnhem Cats – Hezekiah Lawrenece (Ramingining)