was Kim Kantilla
a blitz favourite a year or two ago for mid season draft or SSP?
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Was at TIO watching the bombers today. Can confirm that Kim Kantillia is a bonified gun. Some of the stuff he was doing was electric
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Can only be good news some renewed focus on support of Tiwi Bombers. Would love to see a few grads from up north get a shot at our VFL/VFLW programmes over next few years and unearth a new Longy or Tippa. Munkara one who I hope weâve not heard the last of either.
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The men and women games were spread over two days âlast yearâ (Jan 2023).
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This is great!
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Weâd back him in as a project player that needs time to adaptâŚâŚ to then delist him within 12 months.
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This should have been done years ago. In fact, we had been talking about it for years.
Hopefully Munkara comes back to play VFL for usâŚ. To give himself another opportunity.
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Thats good news hopefully makes us competitive for that match, but probably allows for further time to find VFL recruits before season start.
Short video at link:
Essendon welcomed coaches from the Tiwi Bombers football program to the NEC Hangar for their Tiwi Coaching Exchange through the month of May.
Tiwi Bombers Womenâs Coach Leonie (Lilly) Carpenter and Aunty Mary Dunn were able to work closely with AFLW Senior Coach Natalie Wood and AFL Assistant Coach Daniel Giansiracusa over the course of a week, shadowing training sessions and seeing the inner day-to-day workings of our football department.
The program has been run in collaboration with Coles, whose support of the clubâs initiatives in the Tiwi Islands has been integral over the past five years, providing opportunities in the health and nutrition space for the community.
The two-way exchange has strengthened Essendonâs long-standing relationship with football programs in the NT, following on from the clubâs VFL and VFLW squads venturing north for practice games and community activations in February this year.
While the Tiwi Coaches acquired skills in talent identification and high performance, Essendonâs football staff also gained an understanding of how to better resource and support Indigenous players transitioning into an AFL environment.
âItâs the collaboration around what hopefully they can learn from us, but more importantly what we can learn going back the other way,â Giansiracusa said.
"The clubâs had a proud history with that connection (to Tiwi), and without Colesâ support and help, it doesnât happen.â
With womenâs football participation rates surging in the NT, the Tiwi Coachesâ immersion in Essendonâs AFLW program will help to develop the next generation of male and female footballers in the community.
Essendon Strategy and Growth Lead Kristen Bull praised the long-term benefits of the programs.
âThe Tiwi Coaches Exchange Program provides fantastic learnings for both parties,â Bull said.
âFrom a football and performance perspective, Lilly and Mary can channel so much of what theyâve learned into the Tiwi football programs and make a real difference in boosting their own teams.
âHaving them both involved in our football department has given us a first-hand look at how we can continue to support our community and pathways programs and weâve taken a lot away from the experience.
âColesâ support of our First Nations programs has been immense. Theyâre playing a massive part in helping both us and the Tiwi Bombers, helping to deliver positive community outcomes.â
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You just know that after we have put time and resources into them and it looks like bearing some fruit the AFL will add a NT team to the comp 
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Documentary about the Tiwis who played in our VFLW team. The general cinema release data is 17th October, but it will feature in a few festivals before then (world premiere tomorrow at MIFF).
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Letâs hope so.
Tiwi Bombers are excited to announce Richmond Premiership Hero Marlion Pickett will join the club this season.
Marlionâs football journey is an amazing story of persistence where he made his AFL debut in the 2019 AFL Grand Final at age 27.
We are fortunate to also welcome his partner Jess Nannup who is a star footballer in her own right and will play for our Womenâs Premier League team.
Jess won the Best & Fairest for Moonee Valley when she played under Womenâs Coach Dean Rioli in Melbourne.
We welcome Marlion and Jess and their beautiful children Marlion Jnr, Latrell, Shaniquae and Levi into our Tiwi Community.
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Two great pick ups for the Tiwi club. Canny recruiting. It is obvious they have been talking to him for a while, very proactive recruiting.
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Do they have extradition from Tiwi to Perth ?
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Hopefully the Tiwi crew are able to impart some knowledge on our coaches to boost their skills
Round 1 of the NTFL:
- Tiwi men win 123-66 to be placed second on the ladder
- Tiwi women win 130-1 (!) and, yes, that places them on top of the ladder
Munkara for the men, as well as Jacob Brown for those with decent VFL memory.
For the women we had Puruntatameri and Moreen playing (5 goals between them, and one week before their movie opens).
Also some other players who have cameo-ed for our VFL(W) teams (e.g. Maria Rioli).
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by Sarah Black
The Superstars players celebrate their win in the Tiwi Islands Grand Final in 2024. Picture: Celina Whan
IN 2019, a group of talented young women from the Tiwi Islands made the move south, to play with Essendonâs VFLW side.
The Tiwi Bombers had yet to create their now-highly successful senior womenâs side (having only junior girlsâ teams at the time), while Arthurina âRinaâ Moreen, Freda Puruntatameri, Jess Stassi and Julianna Kerinaiua were aiming to take their footy as far as possible.
The Tiwi Islands sit 80km off the coast of Darwin, the two main bodies of land being Bathurst and Melville Islands. They can be accessed by a 20-minute flight, or a 2.5-hour boat trip.
The population sits at around 2300, but the Tiwi football talent is immense.
Both the Rioli and Long families â multi-generational football royalty â hail from the Tiwis, as does Geelong favourite Ronnie Burns, Austin Wonaeamirri and most recently, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti.
But now, itâs the womenâs turn.
Jess STASSI kicks the ball during Essendonâs clash against the Southern Saints in round 13 of the 2019 VFLW season. Picture: AFL Photos
The islands have their own league of an astonishing eight menâs football teams, with the relatively new womenâs league â established in 2023 â already sits at seven sides.
Nearly a third of the population play in the Tiwi Islands Football League, played over the winter months.
The Tiwi Bombers field representative sides in the Northern Territory Football League in both the menâs and womenâs competitions through summer.
Moreen and Puruntatameri were part of the national talent pathway prior to 2019, representing the Northern Territory and in the case of ruck/forward Moreen, the Central Allies.
Freda Puruntameri [sic] celebrates for Team Hewett. Picture: AFL Photos
But with the TIFL and Tiwi Bombers still a future dream in 2019, the quartet of women moved south for the 2019 season, staying in Sunbury, not far from the Bombersâ headquarters in Tullamarine.
Itâs safe to say the semi-suburban Sunbury is about as far removed from the idyllic Tiwi Islands as you can get, at least 45km inland from the closest beach at Altona, and far, far colder.
The 2019 Essendon VFLW side â prior to the clubâs introduction to AFLW â was a squad captained by Courtney Ugle, and included Georgia Nanscawen, Alex Morcom, Ruby Svarc, Hayley Bullas, Maddy Collier, Simone Nalder, Marianna Anthony, Alana Barba, Federica Frew and then-under-18s Georgia Patrikios and Krstel Petrevski.
âIt was cold down there. We had to catch a bus every morning to Essendon Football Club from where we lived. We did that every day,â Puruntatameri said.
âThe air was cold, but we got better and fitter down there as well. Theyâre faster and tougher in Melbourne, you need to keep your feet. The hits are not small,â Moreen said.
"It was more structure. You had to learn basic structure, how to play the game properly. And just, most of all, enjoy it. I love footy and enjoy it the way you want to enjoy.â
Now back home, Moreen and Puruntatameri play for the Bombers side in the NTFL, while Stassi can balance other parts of her life with the Tiwi footy league.
âWe started with the under-15s, then under-18s, and then we didnât have a womenâs Bombers side in the NTFL, so we moved to Palmerston for two or three years and played there,â Moreen said.
âNow weâve [also] got a league back home, Iâm forever grateful, and thereâs not much travelling,â Stassi said.
"Iâm a young mother, and itâs much easier for me to just travel from one community to another, instead of catching what, nearly a three-hour ferry to Darwin.â
Superstars captain Kimberley Cunningham embraces her family members after the Tiwi Islands Grand Final in 2024. Picture: Celina Whan
A growing number of the womenâs friends and sisters are now picking up a footy in earnest, progressing from a kick around with friends to an organised competition.
âItâs pretty awesome to see the development growing, and leave the legacy down to our younger generation and far beyond. Itâs going to go a long way,â Moreen said.
The Tiwi Bombers faced off against the Darwin Buffaloes in a curtain-raiser to Saturdayâs AFLW Dreamtime Game at TIO Stadium in Darwin.
Moreen kicked two goals from the ruck, while forward Puruntatameri â who also played for Essendonâs VFLW side in a practice match at the start of the year, when the Bombers came north â was a strong presence with a great sidestep.
Freda Puruntameri [sic] gathers the ball during the 2020 AFLW NAB All-Stars match in September. Picture: AFL Photos
Itâs a team coached by former Essendon player Dean Rioli, and on Saturday also included the likes of Ugle, former AFLW players Sarah DâArcy (who played as a top-up with Melbourne earlier this year), Alana Barba and Mia-Rae Clifford, while 19-year-old Maria Rioli â the daughter of Maurice snr â also starred.
The game style is a mix of open play in space, pushing hard from the stoppages controlled by Moreen (who isnât adverse to tapping the ball clear and running onto it herself), combined with the usual Melbourne switch kicks and lane changes.
With a comfortable 30-point win over Darwin Buffaloes, the Bombers now sit in fourth after the opening month of the season, having finished seventh out of nine teams last year.
âWeâve learned development and the growth of bringing Melbourne style up to our local style. They (teammates) look out for us, whenever theyâre not comfortable,â Puruntatameri said.
"We develop them into what weâve learned from Melbourne.â
To learn more about Arthurina, Freda, Jess and Julianaâs story, watch the new documentary Like My Brother: https://www.likemybrother.com/
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Ugle Alana Clifford and DâArcy played for Tiwi again today, but fell short 33-38 against the undefeated Nightcliff.
I believe the first three, at least, are done with this sojourn up top.
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