Litchfield Bears men and Northern Sharks women score wins in NRL NT Round 12
Litchfield Bears’ young guns starred with a 17-year-old scoring four tries against last year’s grand finalists, while the Northern Sharks women staked their title claim. Catch up on the latest NRL NT action.
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Litchfield Bears young gun Eligh Pomroy raced through for four tries against last year’s grand finalists, while the Sharks women once again proved themselves a real threat.
Pomroy made his A-Grade debut for the Bears in the previous match against Sharks scoring twice then, and the 17-year-old doubled that this time around for the minor premiership favourites.
His four tries included an incredible intercept when the Sharks were threatening the line that allowed him to race downfield and score a crucial score in Litchfield’s 46-6 victory.
He wasn’t the only young gun to shine for the Bears with Harry Heath great on the kick receiver and Fletcher Tomes a constant weapon on the charge.
Pomroy’s first two came from great interplay from the usual Litchfield standouts such as captain Trent Wedding and Matthew Woolmington getting the ball to the winger and letting his explosive pace finish the job.
There was plenty of niggle in the occasion with an extensive push and shove midway through the half resulting in the sin binning of Sharks’ Adam Hall and Litchfield’s James Beckett.
It was then Sharks were able to get on the board with a brilliant offload from Vilimoni Matainadrago setting up his captain Jacob Collie for the score.
Jack Newman and Hall, once he returned from the sin bin, were other bright sparks for the side that has made the past four grand finals, but Litchfield’s ability to work their defence paid dividends.
Nathan Dixon broke the run of Pomroy scores with an intercept in the midfield and from there was able to waltz past multiple defenders on his way to the try line.
The Bears did start the second half a man down after Brodie Morcom was sent to the bin for a dangerous tip tackle, but still had the run of possession in that period.
Pomroy’s runaway intercept got the side on the board early and then a great support run to latch onto a Heath offload gave him his fourth for the match.
Heath continued to have an influence from fullback as the Bears kept coming with Archie Hall scoring a late game brace and Patrick Manktelow exposing a knock on to score himself.
“It’s awesome, this is my second game of A-Grade and being 17 playing up a few grades is just a special feeling,” Pomroy said.
“That was my first runaway intercept of my life, it was amazing running the full field, I thought I would get caught easily by their fast boys but I got through.
“Could had a few more but had a couple mistakes, but playing alongside some club legends, such as Luke Mahood, is unreal with their experience to learn from.
“There’s some real good talent coming up from the Bears age grades, there’s so much talent growing at the club that no one’s seen yet but the next couple of years are going to be amazing.
“The energy of this group is special, everyone loves each other and you see that every training session, we’re like a big family that just gets around each other.
“We’ve just got to keep playing like we have, we’ve been unreal across the grades this year, just got to stay positive, keep the energy and make sure we don’t fall off.”
Meanwhile, the Palmerston Raiders kept their ambitions of a playing the major semi-final alive beating Nightcliff 48-4, with braces to Jared Isaac and captain Brad Hansen.
The Brothers ran riot against a depleted South Darwin winning 60-0 before the game was called off at half time with Elijah Coombes scoring twice and Dallas Caulton accurate off the tee.
The Northern Sharks women have proven themselves a real threat come finals time with a strong 44-0 win against Litchfield, who were down a few in numbers.
The Sharks have experienced a huge boost in numbers in the women’s competition this season and have solidified their spot in second behind the reigning premiers Darwin Brothers.
Cecilia Misob started proceedings showing her pace and ability to get over the try line for the opening try setting the tone for a five try first half.
Skye Cash scored a brace running strong lines from the centre, while Jaymee Park again showed her ability as the most explosive player in the competition bursting downfield to score.
Her second effort was just as impressive getting free of the defence halfway down the field and leaving the Litchfield full back on her back with a fend off to score her second try.
Captain Mayo Watson-Compton went over as well in the second half exposing a defensive gap and diving over to the huge support of her teammates.
Min Heo and Tanayah Harley were the other try scorers for the Sharks before Litchfield called time on the match due to low numbers.
“It’s amazing, our girls have been working really hard to be where we are,” Watson-Compton said.
“The results have come down to hard work and dedication from our coach and the whole group, we’ve been putting in the hard yards since preseason.
“Everyone’s been putting in and since we have a lot of girls and strong numbers it’s meant everyone has worked harder to get their name on the team list.
“We have a lot of girls that have moved up here that’s helped build this group and results that we’ve had come down to an all-round team effort.
“Now we just want to push on to finals, and we definitely want to be there on grand final day.”
Meanwhile, the Darwin Brothers got a week off after South Darwin forfeited and Palmerston were challenged in a close 16-8 win against Nightcliff in which Tiana Storey scored a brace.
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