Saints’ young guns fire

ONE of the plays of the night in Satints’ stunning 12.9 (81) to 10.9 (69) over Nightcliff couldn’t have been set up by a more unselfish player at TIO Stadium on Saturday night. When new Green Machine skipper Nate Paredes went short to young gun Xavier Vallejo, and he produced a magnificent kick to score from 40m out, it gave the hosts a crucial 10-point lead in the 15th minute of the final term.

And it will be a play long remembered at Saints.

It was Vallejo’s first Premier League goal after stepping up from under-18 level on a night he looked assured in the top grade, alongside other star young NT Thunder Academy products and debutants Kobe Hodges and Isaiah Baldock.