Today AFLNT released the TIO NTFL Women’s Premier League fixture and all other remaining senior and junior division fixtures for the 2017/18 TIO NTFL Season starting Friday 6 October.
The Men’s Division 1 competition will start with a bang, with last year’s grand final rematch between Waratah and the St Mary’s Football Club scheduled for the first Sunday of the season.
Meanwhile, the Men’s Division 2 competition welcomes a new team, the St Mary’s Sharks, following yesterday’s announcement of the partnership between the St Mary’s Football Club and the Mindil Sharks.
After taking into account overwhelming club feedback and consensus on club priorities, the league has aligned club fixtures across the different divisions in back to back time slots where possible and has also scheduled fewer late night starts on Saturdays.
As a result, some junior games have been reallocated a slightly earlier start than last season, and some divisions will play at different time slots week to week to cater for the club priorities.
AFLNT CEO Michael Solomon said a lot of hard work had been put into giving the clubs what they saw as important.
“In addition to an extra home game and more Friday nights, the clubs asked for less Saturday nights and more back to back club fixtures and given the machinations imposed on us by restricted ground use I am extremely satisfied that in the main we have been able to deliver against their requests.
“Releasing the entire fixture across all divisions will hopefully allow for clubs, volunteers, players and families to plan,” he said.
Some limitations made scheduling this season harder than usual, including night games being unplayable on TIO Stadium until the upgrade to the light towers is completed.
Further, both TIO Stadium and TIO 1 are unavailable during Rounds 6 and 7 when the Rugby League World Cup comes to Darwin, while Gardens Oval is off-limits when it undergoes ground maintenance in the first five rounds.
Solomon said with 104 teams to fit into the weekly fixture it’s impossible to satisfy every request and it was likely some adjustments would be required.
“As we get into the season we have extra teams put their hands up, some others fall away, and the younger divisions undergo regrading. Sometimes forces of nature upset our grounds and render surfaces unplayable, while some other external events will undo even our best-laid plans. What we are releasing today is pretty solid, but we always expect some changes to occur.
“The biggest highlight for me is that we’re backing up regular Friday evening junior fixtures with 13 Friday night Men’s Premier League games, allowing families to watch their heroes play under lights,” he said.
The TIO Women’s Premier League Grand Final replay between the Darwin Buffettes and the Waratah Football Club will be played on a Sunday afternoon when footy returns to Gardens Oval for Round 6.
It will be a big weekend for the Tahs with all teams from the Under 14s through to the Men’s Premier League in action on the same day in what is one of their six home fixtures for the season.
The TIO Men’s Division 2 grand final replay between Banks Football Club and Jabiru Football Club will take place on Saturday afternoon in Round 9.
Please visit the NTFL fixture/results page on the AFLNT website for each TIO NTFL division fixture.
KEY DATES:
- Round 1 – Men’s Division 1 grand final replay – St Mary’s vs Waratah
- Round 2 – Umpires’ Round
- Round 5 – Men's Premier League grand final replay - Wanderers vs St Mary's
- Round 6 – Women’s Premier League grand final replay – Waratah vs Darwin Buffettes
- Round 8 – TIO Get Ready Round
- Round 9 – Men’s Division 2 grand final replay – Jabiru vs Banks
- Round 15 – Heritage Round
- Round 17 – NDIS Round
GRAND FINAL DATES:
- Saturday 10 March – Women’s Premier League Grand Final
- Saturday 17 March – Division 1 Grand Final
- Saturday 17 March – Division 2 Grand Final
