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Long, McLeod, the Riolis. The production line has never stopped. It has just never had a home.
That sentence is not ours. It is the first thing the Strategic Business Case says about Territory football: the NT produces more elite-level players per capita than any other state or territory. From a population of about 250,000.
Nearly 40,000 participations in 2022, in a Territory of a quarter of a million people. There is no other part of Australia where the game reaches that far into the population, and the Territory also leads the country for women's and girls' participation.
About 28.5% of Territorians are Indigenous, and roughly half of all local league players are. Across the AFL the figure is about 10%, and it is going backwards: 70 men and 21 women identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in 2024, down 17% since 2020. The AFL's own First Nations strategy now sets 10% as a target to climb back to, with a dedicated list spot under consideration. The pathway that produces those players runs through the Territory, and right now every one of those players has to leave to use it.
Source: As the NRL edges into Darwin, does the AFL need to be more proactive in the NT? — The Conversation
Gold Coast's Joel Jeffrey put the problem better than any report: "It's just how do we get them out of communities? They get very homesick, so how do we get the support around them?" Every Territory kid who makes it has to leave to do it. A Territory club is the only version of the pathway where they don't.
Every VFL, AFL and AFLW player we could find who was born in the Territory, grew up here, or played their early football here, from Elkin Reilly's debut in 1962 to this season's first-gamers.
players
on AFL and AFLW lists now
senior games
120 players
Port Adelaide, Hawthorn · 2002–2021
407 games · 302 goals
Born Darwin
4× premiership player · All-Australian
Adelaide · 1995–2010
340 games · 275 goals
Born Darwin · Darwin Buffaloes
2× premiership player · 2× Norm Smith Medal · 5× All-Australian · Hall of Fame · Indigenous Team of the Century
Brisbane Bears, Collingwood · 1993–2007
280 games · 284 goals
Grew up Darwin · Southern Districts
Brownlow Medal · Norm Smith Medal · 7× All-Australian · Rising Star · Hall of Fame
Brisbane Bears, Brisbane · 1992–2005
268 games · 165 goals
Born Alice Springs · Pioneer (CAFL)
3× premiership player · All-Australian · Indigenous Team of the Century
Richmond · 1996–2009
265 games · 174 goals
Grew up Alice Springs · West Alice Springs (CAFL)
2× All-Australian
Gold Coast, Melbourne · 2011–2025
251 games · 24 goals
Born Darwin · Southern Districts
Premiership player · 2× All-Australian
Richmond, Geelong · 1998–2011
245 games · 261 goals
Grew up Katherine
3× premiership player · All-Australian
Port Adelaide · 1997–2009
240 games · 193 goals
Grew up Darwin · St Marys
Premiership player · Indigenous Team of the Century
Richmond, Gold Coast · 2016–
223 games · 119 goals
Grew up Tiwi Islands · St Marys
3× premiership player
Geelong, Essendon · 2006–2016
200 games · 209 goals
Born Darwin · Palmerston Magpies
2× premiership player
Brisbane · 2018–
192 games · 220 goals
Born Darwin · Southern Districts
3× premiership player · 2× All-Australian
Essendon · 1989–2001
190 games · 143 goals
Born Tiwi Islands · St Marys
2× premiership player · Norm Smith Medal · 2× All-Australian · Hall of Fame
Hawthorn · 2008–2018
189 games · 275 goals
Born Tiwi Islands · St Marys
4× premiership player · Norm Smith Medal · 3× All-Australian
Footscray, Brisbane Bears, Brisbane · 1983–1997
183 games · 40 goals
Born Darwin · Nightcliff Tigers
Geelong, Brisbane · 2011–2019
133 games · 114 goals
Darwin · St Marys
Premiership player
Essendon · 2016–2023
133 games · 157 goals
Grew up Tiwi Islands · Tiwi Bombers
Geelong · 2017–2024
130 games · 48 goals
Born Darwin · Nightcliff Tigers
Premiership player
Richmond · 1982–1987
118 games · 80 goals
Born Tiwi Islands · St Marys
Norm Smith Medal · 3× All-Australian · Hall of Fame
St Kilda, Brisbane Bears · 1991–1996
111 games · 89 goals
Born Alice Springs · Southern Districts
Melbourne, Brisbane Bears, Port Adelaide · 1991–2001
109 games · 61 goals
Born Darwin · Southern Districts
West Coast, Port Adelaide · 2018–2025
109 games · 151 goals
Grew up Tiwi Islands
Premiership player
Hawthorn, North Melbourne · 2013–2022
99 games · 32 goals
Born Katherine · Darwin Buffaloes
Adelaide · 2017–2025
97 AFLW games · 27 goals
Darwin · Wanderers
3× premiership player · All-Australian
Adelaide · 2019–
86 AFLW games · 91 goals
Born Darwin · St Marys
2× premiership player · All-Australian
Western Bulldogs, Richmond · 2001–2007
75 games · 70 goals
Grew up Alice Springs · Rovers (CAFL)
Adelaide, Port Adelaide · 2017–2024
73 AFLW games · 6 goals
Darwin · Waratah
2× premiership player
Brisbane, Port Adelaide · 2000–2006
68 games · 16 goals
Grew up Darwin
Premiership player
North Melbourne, Melbourne · 1999–2006
64 games · 36 goals
Born Tiwi Islands · Wanderers
Adelaide, Gold Coast · 2017–2021
23 AFLW games · 4 goals
Grew up Darwin · Tracy Village
Premiership player
West Coast, Fitzroy, Brisbane Bears · 1988–1990
18 games · 18 goals
Darwin · Darwin Buffaloes
Adelaide, Gold Coast · 2018–2022
16 AFLW games · 3 goals
Darwin · St Marys
Premiership player
Melbourne, Gold Coast · 2019–2021
9 AFLW games · 1 goals
Grew up Alice Springs · NT Thunder
Mattea Breed
Hawthorn · 2023
9 AFLW games
Grew up Darwin · Darwin Buffaloes
Brisbane Bears, Sydney · 1991–1994
8 games · 1 goals
Born Alice Springs · Darwin Buffaloes
Gold Coast, Hawthorn · 2021–2023
4 AFLW games · 0 goals
Grew up Arnhem Land · Palmerston Magpies
Annabel Kievit
Gold Coast · 2024
1 AFLW games
Grew up Darwin · Waratah
Ricky Mentha
Melbourne
Yet to debut
Alice Springs · Pioneer (CAFL)
Built from public records: Wikipedia, AFL Tables, and club and draft coverage. Men's games and goals are VFL/AFL games including finals, to the end of 2026, from AFL Tables; AFLW figures come from Wikipedia. Missed someone, or got a detail wrong? Tell us on the forum.
Player photos are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images, used under the licences shown. Players without a freely licensed photo show their initials.
A stadium on Garramilla Boulevard, under ten minutes' walk from Cavenagh Street.
Eleven home games a year, in the dry season, in a city built on visitors.
Darwin in July is Brisbane in March, when the AFL already plays there, with cooler nights and almost no rain.
An $18.9m annual gap, or $6.9m if the Territory is backed the way the AFL backs Gold Coast and GWS.
Tasmania makes 19. The Territory makes 20. And the NRL is already playing at TIO Stadium.