A brave NT Thunder has lost its final game of the NEAFL season by 33 points to Aspley in Round 21, losing 17.16 (118) to 12.13 (85).

It has been an up and down season for NT Thunder this year but they will be happy to disappoint Melbourne University just before they leave the 2019 VFLW season.

“We’ve been able to blood a lot of our young, talented guys throughout our system and it’s been awesome watching them develop and really take the game on and get better as players and become pretty handy senior footballers,” said Abe Ankers.

“We’ve been training hard and we just need to put it on the field, we need to improve more on our skills because we want to finish off strong,” said Shantel Miskin-Ripia.

“He just always told me to have a go really, go out there and don’t leave anything behind” – Brandon Rusca talks about his experiences with the senior Thunder team so far.

This weekend’s Round 19 will be Thunder’s first opportunity to back up its strong performance in the Red Centre.

After three weeks of horror, Thunder has the chance to save it’s VFLW season and it starts this Sunday in Geelong.

“Hopefully we get some senior guys back this week and we can put in a good performance at our home down in Alice Springs against Redland, and hopefully we can get a win there” – said Thunder co-captain Shannon Rioli who is watching on from the sidelines with injury.

With just four games left for Thunder, their chances of making finals are in their hands but standing in the way this weekend is a strong Western Bulldogs team.

One of Thunder’s best last weekend was Brodie Carroll, who said the team was keen to crack in for the remaining games of the season, starting with Canberra on Saturday.

This will be Thunder’s last game playing in the Territory, only this time, they will be performing at the home of the Pinktails Football Club, TIO Traeger Park.

The Weetra family is another of those Darwin families with a long history of footy success in the NT and Daniel is aware that his place in the Thunder squad continues that unfinished story.

“You can never take any game lightly,” Rhiannon Busch said.

Thunder gets the perfect opportunity to back up last week’s strong performance up at home on TIO Stadium in Darwin against third-placed Sydney in Round 14 on Saturday night

This weekend, NT Thunder will face Carlton for the second time this season.