Last weekend , rejoiced in celebration as they scored victory of their final game of the season.
It was the first official win of the 2016/17 season, beating the Southern Districts crocodiles by 14 points, 15.13 (103) to 13.11 (89).
Tiwi Bombers coach, Wayne Worden told NITV that it’s really good to finish the season on a high note, especially when it’s done playing the ‘Tiwi syle’ of football.
“Our style is different, because most of our players are small and fast. So, we’re not kicking the ball long and high, directly at the goal – for us, it’s about running with it, kicking it short and hitting targets. We don’t have the big guys, so we get easily sucked in when the ball is kicked high.”
“Our style is different, because most of our players are small and fast. So, we’re not kicking the ball long and high, directly at the goal – for us, it’s about running with it, kicking it short and hitting targets."
The Tiwi style of football was en pointe on Saturday, 19 February, made with the help of a few star players,
“We had Jason Puruntatameri playing his 100th game, he was a sensational full back and kicked a goal in the third-term,” Worden said.
“Also, Ross Tungatalum who scored five goals, he’s a terrific mid-field forward. As well as, a really really good young player, Jack Munkara. And Michael Dunn running off half back.”
Coach Worden said that it has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Tiwi Bomber’s premiership team and is looking forward to bigger and better things next season.
“To end on the victory on the wseekned, on the kind of game we’ve been trying to play all year, it’s been the most rewarding victory over everything that’s happened over the last year. I’m proud to say that our team is made-up of 90 per cent Tiwi Islander players and I’ve been trying to say to these guys, our style of football holds up against anybody, if we work together and last weekend’s game showed that.”
The match was also significant, in that it landed on the weekend of the anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. Tiwi player, ‘Rocco’ was awarded the Bombing of Darwin commemorative football as the best player on the ground with five match-winning goals.
However, unlike previous Tiwi games played at on the significant anniversary the Tiwi club did not bring over their entourage of traditional dancers and singers to perform the Island’s famous ‘Bombing of Darwin’ dance.
The dance commemorates the 1942 Japanese attack on the city of Darwin, which flew over Bathurst Island in Tiwi and dropped fatal bombs on the metropolis. It is performed with the men dancing with their arms outstretched, representing the planes; and the women sit and depict looking through binoculars and shooting the planes down. The dancers falling on the ground like the planes crashing.
This was the first year in a run of many, where the Tiwi Bombers Football Club did not accommodate a performance at TIO stadium.
Mary Dunn, Vice-President of the club, told NITV that given everything the club has been though in the past months – owing a debt of $10,000 to the NTFL and subsequently having points deducted because of late payment – caused them to ‘drop the ball’, so to speak, on their annual performance.
“Usually we do get our traditional dancers and singers on the ground, but we’ve been so preoccupied with what we’ve been going through with the AFL and the NTFL, and organising our presentation, it slipped our mind,” Dunn said.
“It is disappointing, and we apologise for that.”
While the Bombing of Darwin dance wasn’t performed, coach Wardon assured NITV that there was a lot of dancing happening in the locker rooms, as the players celebrated winning the last game of the season.
Watch Tiwi Bombers vs. Southern Districts 18 Feb match tonight on tonight, 21 Feb at 10pm AEST on NITV Ch. 34.
