South Fremantle's link with Northern Territory football can be traced back to 1972 when a young Sebastian Rioli made the long trek from Darwin to Perth to play his trade in the Australian game.
"Sibby'' Rioli was only 18 when he pulled on the traditional red and white Bulldogs jumper after his formative years with Tiwi Island Football League giants Imalu and St Mary's in the Darwin competition.
His great skills with hand and foot and explosive foot speed made him an instant hit with Souths fans in the west and his presence in Perth encouraged younger brother Maurice to move south.
Maurice had made a big impression at NTFL club St Mary's and wanted to expand his career interstate alongside his older brother.
South Fremantle became a football home away from home for the Riolis from that moment on, a tradition that continues to this day with Ben Rioli the 12th member of his family to wear the Souths jumper following in the footsteps of his father, uncles, brothers and cousins.
South Fremantle celebrates a 50-year on-field association with Territory football on Saturday night when the two sides meet for a third time in an interstate game.
The men's game precedes a much-anticipated women's representative clash between the NTFL and reigning WAFLW premier Claremont on Sunday.
South Fremantle won the inaugural men's clash at Gardens Oval in 1973 by 80 points and repeated the dose 25 years later at TIO Stadium in 1998 when they beat the NT by 25 points.
In a twist, former South Fremantle on-baller Mark Motlop is the chairman of selectors of the 2023 Territory Buffaloes after coaching them against the Bulldogs in '98.
South Fremantle were in Darwin that year because of a week's bye in the WAFL competition and coach John Todd was keen to continue the weekly process of playing matches.
Motlop had coached Southern Districts to their first senior men's flag two months earlier and was an obvious choice to take charge of the rep side.
"We got overrun in the last three quarters after kicking three goals to their none in the first quarter,'' Motlop recalled.
"We had a pretty good side with Southern Districts premiership players Adrian Collard, Kelvin Maher, Gerard Atkins, Jason Cockatoo and Bruce Jarmyn in the team and Russell Jeffrey, Chris Williams, Aaron Perry and Dylan Hale there as well.
''But Souths were ready to go after playing three matches in the WAFL season.''
South Fremantle had a strong list that night, former West Coast full forward Peter Sumich booted three goals, Peter Worsfold kicked five and Marty Atkins, Stephen Pears and Simon Taylor were in dominant form.
The WAFL Bulldogs decided to take their league side north in 1973 after finishing a game out of the finals under coach Mal Atwell.
Bulldog stars like Brian Ciccotosto, Sibby Rioli, big marking spearhead Peter Troode, captain Peter Seinor, 257-game veteran Tom Grljusich and a young Stan Magro were part of the Souths side that landed in Darwin in mid October.
Troode led the NTFL defence a merry dance, finishing with 11 goals in in a marking and kicking display that stunned the home fans.
At least three of those goals resulted from some brilliant foot passing from Rioli, who kicked two goals himself in Souths' big win.
The 1973-74 NTFL competition had just kicked off the previous week, with selectors picking a side with several big names, including Darwin Buffaloes sharpshooter Norm Hagen, who had booted a league record 24 goals in a club game earlier that year.
Wanderers midfielder Eddie Fry, later to make his name at SANFL club South Adelaide, former Melbourne footballer Bob McKenzie, Nightcliff defender Tony Dragun and Nichols medallists John "Bubba'' Tye and Pat Murphy were also in the team.
Wanderers rover Darryl Window was included in the Territory side in his first season in Darwin.
"I roved with Pat Murphy that day and kicked two out of our 10 for the match, but South Fremantle kicked seven goals to one in the first quarter on their way to beating us by about 13 goals,'' Window recalled.
"For me personally it was great to play for the Territory after only eight games with Wanderers, so I didn't know much about Territory footy back then, but Souths were very good.''
Then coach Tony Shaw recalls a mood of devastation in the rooms after the Territory's 23.10 (148) to 10.8 (68) loss.
"I was pretty shattered after the game, we were belted that day after some pretty high expectations pre-match,'' he said.
"Souths hit the ground running and never let up, we chased a lot of red and white jumpers that day.''
1973: South Fremantle 23.10 (148) d NTFL 10.8 (68).
1998: South Fremantle 15.10 (100) d NTFL 11.9 (75).