Northern Sharks beat Darwin Brothers in Round 5 of NRL NT

The Northern Sharks showed they’re up for the battle with an important win, while Nightcliff came out on top in one of the matches of the season. Catch up on all the NRL NT action.

The Northern Sharks bounced back against early pressure from the Darwin Brothers to put themselves back in touching distance of the top four.

The reigning premiers have not had the start to the season they would have wanted with a host of players out and early losses.

And when they went down 10-0 early on against the Brethren it was looking as if another loss was on the way, but the side stuck it out and used their big runners to turn the game into a 24-16 win.

It was all Brothers early on, dominating territory with Isaac Seden-Kurnoth and Aaron Kurnoth poking the holes they needed to.

And they quickly got their rewards with Kurnoth going over first, before a well-worked passage of play saw Dan Wilde go over.

However, Sharks stayed in the contest with Samuel Pearson and Bailey Zaro constantly dangerous on the run, while Jared Colling and Brody Bordina found their marks from the halves.

Bailey Zaro of the Northern Sharks. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Simaika Salaa was the first to cross for the premiers and soon after the ever-dangerous Jacob McCarthy bulldozed his way over to put his side ahead at the half.

It was a run the Brethren didn’t have a real answer for finding their own attacks dispelled, while Sharks held them in their own half for long periods.

Thomas Laban and Thomas Gunn extended the score line in Sharks’ favour, and though Brothers scored late through Antonio James they couldn’t claw back the deficit.

“It was a bit scrappy from our side with a few players coming back this week, but we’re slowly getting to where we need to be,” Colling said.

“We started pretty slow, it wasn’t what we were after to begin with, but then it sort of got away from us a bit after their first that was a little bit lucky.

“But then we got back into the grind and back into what we know to do and finally started to get back on top from there.”

Earlier, Nightcliff were the victors in one of the games of the year against a hearty Litchfield outfit, winning 34-26 to confirm their spot on top of the table.

There was no real splitting the sides until the second half when the Dragons pulled ahead, despite being down to 12 with an Emosi Vula send off for the majority of the second half.

Trey Crowley was a multiple try scorer for the side, while the accuracy of Robbie Butcher helped keep the scoreboard ticking.

South Darwin looked the business early against Palmerston, but fitness showed for the Raiders late as they came back from an early gap to win 28-24.

Tries to Dustin Briscoe and Kanae Gimini saw the Rabbitohs lead early, but bit by bit Palmerston came back and eventually a brace for Kaylem Greenwood had them go up.

Originally published as Northern Sharks beat Darwin Brothers in Round 5 of NRL NT