MIDWEEK texts from mum for meal requests, a close-quarters rivalry, and 100 per cent humidity. God, the humidity.

These were the little things that made up the sleepover club in Darwin over the summer, as a quartet of former AFLW players flew north each weekend to play in the Northern Territory Football League.

Former Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs midfielder Dom Carbone was the ringleader. As a native of Darwin and stalwart of the NTFL, it was Carbone's family home where mum Rosie, dad Joe, and sister Sarah still live that hosted the sleepover club.

Based in Melbourne now, Carbone captains Collingwood's VFLW side, but has always returned home during the summer to play for her first ever club; the Darwin Buffettes.

As a fervent advocate for NT footy, Carbone convinced her then-Pies teammates Amelia Peck, Tahlia Fellows, and Molly Eastman to give it a crack over the 2025-2026 season. 

So, on Friday they would finish the working week, then pile onto the 9pm flight from Melbourne to Darwin and set in for the four-hour journey, comforted in the knowledge they would be staying at 'Hotel Carbone' upon arrival.

"We ended up having a sleepover club with Molly Eastman, Tahlia Fellows, 'Pecky', and myself… and my parents absolutely loved it, especially my mum. She would get the house ready; we'd get in at midnight, and she would have meals ready," Carbone said.

Rosie would survey the travellers throughout the week via text, checking if there were any meal requests and finding out what each player preferred to eat for breakfast before a game.

Once landing in Darwin, the quartet would be picked up by a Carbone, whether it was Rosie, Joe, or Sarah, and driven to the family home. Entering the house, they were greeted by a full grocery haul with all their favourites, and the last member of the clan, dog Kujo.

"There was a soft rule from Joe that (Kujo) wasn't allowed in the rooms or on the couch, but then (Joe) would be the one that had him on the couch, and I’d sneak him into my room for cuddles," Fellows laughed.

Although Peck and Eastman played for the 'Buffs' because of their link to Carbone, Fellows was initially drawn to the NTFL via her former Hawthorn teammate Janet Baird, and therefore played for rival club St Mary's.

"The enemy in Tahlia Fellows was also with us, but she played at St Mary's and I think Dom's family only just let her stay, because that is the enemy to the Carbone family," Peck laughed.

Fellows, however, was sure that her personality made her the household favourite despite her allegiance to the Saints. So welcome was Fellows, that she spent Christmas with the Carbones last year, exchanging gifts and exploring Darwin.

Meanwhile Eastman, who works with the AFL's youth mental health program Ahead of the Game, used Hotel Carbone to help deliver the program in the top end between games for the Buffs.

"There were times that some of us were there, and Dom wasn't. I was able to spend two weeks up there, work out of the AFLNT office, get some Ahead of the Game implementation started up there, and then also play some footy," Eastman said.

"They were looking after me, and it was actually the weekend that they had (Cyclone Narelle), so my family were very grateful that I was under the roof of some locals who knew what they were doing."

For Eastman, it was the creature comforts of egg and bacon rolls for breakfast, and chicken noodle soup before games that she recalls fondly. Fellows' favourite was Rosie's special black bean rice, "and an unlimited supply of mangoes".

By Saturday, it would be time for breakfast together, then heading out to the footy to catch the games before their own or being sure to stick around for the fixture after, because that's what NT footy is all about: community.

"Everyone's very much dedicated to their team, and there's big loyalty with families, it's generational. So, there's a lot of passion… the girls have been playing together for such a long time because there's such little movement, and a lot of them have kids, too," Eastman said.

"They often have the games scheduled back-to-back so there'll be maybe a men's reserves game beforehand, and then the women's game, and then a men's seniors' game afterwards, so you stick around and watch all of the teams all day."

The love for footy is palpable.

"People up there just love footy because it's footy. It's so much more than just kicking a ball around the field… it has definitely sparked that joy in footy for me," Peck said.

And this is the reason Carbone has continued to fly home every summer to be part of the NTFL between her AFLW and now VFLW commitments. Working full time as a youth worker, Carbone knows the late-night flight and time difference well.

Four hours in a small plane seat after a long working week can seem arduous, but it's all worth it, with the NTFL providing a sense of community not found anywhere else.

"It is that community club feel, but a high standard of footy," Carbone said.

Such is her dedication to where her footy journey started, Carbone is a big advocate for talent development in the Northern Territory, and is essentially a volunteer salesperson for the NTFL, encouraging Victorian talent to fly north and get involved.

Recruiting 'fly-ins' ensures the NTFL remains at that high standard despite a smaller population than other state leagues around the country, allowing the local talent to compete at a high level and draw eyes to their performances.

Carbone felt the benefits of this amalgamated kind of league as a junior and wants to ensure such benefits remain to those who come after her.

"I had some really high calibre players from opposition teams actually help me out in regards to pushing myself at a high standard… I think more engagement the better, and I think the more people we can get playing footy, the better for the community," Carbone said. 

"I know that there were some tough selection calls and things like that, but I think as long as the fly ins and people that are buying into this are doing it in the right way, and really investing in NT footy, that's what is most important."

The sleepover club, for Carbone, was one way for her to contribute to this ongoing mission to help support girl's and women's footy in the NT, but it also gave the quartet something they never thought they would experience again. It was a chance to experience the highs of school camps and childhood sleepovers once more.

"There were a few times where we were like 'Never, ever are we going to get an opportunity to do this again, with good people at the age of, like, 23'," Carbone said.

It also prepared the quartet physically to attack the coming VFLW season with vigour, after the start date was pushed back to May 16, a month later than the 2025 season. The Darwin heat and humidity is a different beast to what the players experience throughout the winter VFLW season, and while that was challenging, it proved an effective form of conditioning.

"We were playing at 12pm in the middle of the day, 2pm when the sun's at its hottest. And if it wasn't that, it was pouring rain, so you kind of faced everything… There are no considerations, we're not really using the cool rooms there, none of the locals use them," Eastman said.

"They're not really fazed by it, so that was definitely an adjustment. The first couple of games I remember 'Pecky' getting some pretty gnarly sunburns, so you learn quickly that you've got to keep reapplying the sunscreen."

Above all, it brings footy back to its purest form.

"If you've lost your love for footy, go and play up there," Carbone said.

And that makes the Sunday red eye flight home, rolling into a Monday back at work all worthwhile.