For those of you who missed it, the NT will field a team in the AFL Queensland State League in 2009.
All the full details are still to be announced, but I’m looking forward to catching up with the boys when they come into town.
It will be a great opportunity for all the young players in the Territory, not just in Darwin.
From what I’m hearing, young kids from Alice and out in the remote communities will all have the chance to play in the team.
It will be a great opportunity for them to get used to traveling, and to different cities, without having to get homesick.
Austin Wonaeamirri comes from the remote islands, and there’s thousands of blokes like him up there – really skilful and really fast players who can do special things.
There’s some talk that it will be an under 23 team instead of open, but I hope they don’t go that way.
Every team needs older, more experienced blokes to help show the younger guys the way out on the field.
You always need big, experienced bodies to help out the younger kids.
Just as important, the team needs experienced role models who are committed and do the right things off the ground as well.
If all goes well, maybe the team could join the AFL in 10 years time or so.
I did a radio interview with a station in Darwin last week and the bloke was saying that the team would be joining a third rate competition, but I set him straight on that one pretty quickly.
In the six years that I’ve been here, the AFLQ State League has improved dramatically most of the clubs are very even.
Redland Bay is the only one off the pace a bit, but they are blooding young kids all the time and they’ll be alright by doing that.
Footy is very free flowing up in Darwin, where it is more one-on-one in the AFLQ. It is tougher here. That’s another reason why they need to have some experienced blokes in the NT team.
You only have to look at the number of our Lions guys who have stepped up from AFLQ into the AFL without missing a beat to see that it is a pretty good competition.
I’m sure the players who make it into the NT team will be close, just like a lot of us are who have gone on to play AFL.
I grew up playing footy and rugby league with and against Jared Brennan and against Jason Roe, and we are all really tight at Lions.
Jared and I grew up in a regional part of Darwin and Jason grew up in Katherine before coming to Darwin.
Jared had this great step in rugby league and was a really good player. He could have gone to play in the NRL if the NT was a League state and not an AFL State.
Jason was a really good full-back and was a great kicker – he could kick a place-kick miles.
I still keep in touch with Aaron and Alwyn Davey, Raph and Xavier Clarke, and Daniel Motlop and Tom Logan.
I’m rapt for Tommy that he has gone on to get a spot at Port Adelaide - he could be a key player for them.
Matt Campbell is another Territory fella, coming from Alice Springs, and he and Lindsay Thomas are going alright for North Melbourne.
It’s pretty amazing when you look around the AFL now and almost all the small forwards are Indigenous boys.
We’ll have to keep a close eye on Matt and Lindsay, although we held them pretty well last time earlier in the year. Ash McGrath in particular did a good job on Matt.
This is a big game with a lot riding on it for both sides, and our group is in a good frame of mind despite our loss to Richmond last weekend.
We’re still playing some good footy and we’re all bubbling at the moment.
We’re still an improving team – we were relentless and ruthless against teams like Adelaide but have dropped away a bit since then, and we’re looking forward to picking that back up again against a really good opponent like North on Saturday night.
