NRL NT 2024: Darwin Brothers sides into grand final
Darwin Brothers had a night to remember with their senior men and women leaping into the grand final, while an extra time thriller was marred by injury. Read the latest NRL NT action.
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The Darwin Brothers have launched themselves into the NRL NT grand final after beating Nightcliff, while an extra time thriller in the minor semi was marred with injury.
Just a week before, it was Nightcliff who ran in a couple of late tries to seal the minor premiership against the Brethren.
However, this time around, with the return of some key players, it was the Brothers who sealed the deal 24-20 despite late threats of yet another Dragons fightback.
The match started almost 40 minutes late due to an injury in extra time in the prior knockout semi between Litchfield and Sharks, in which the Sharks ultimately won 29-24 after a field switch.
The Brethren scored the opener in less than a minute, after returning veteran Leon Rotumah booted the ball from deep for Connor Williams to run on.
Nightcliff kept their heads and the likes of Robbie Butcher, Trey Crowley and Stylianos Vrontos made the crucial carries on the way to get their try in reply through Waisale Sekitoga.
The heat of the occasion at times got to the sides and at one stage both captains David Tabuai and Jonas Niki were sinbinned for a scuffle.
That moment was surrounded by a flurry of tries for the Brethren with Xavier Grant diving over in the corner, while Antonio James showed off his pace and skill with a brace.
Equally as impressive from Brothers though was their defensive efforts that time after time stopped the Dragons in their tracks.
It wasn’t until late in the half that Nightcliff got themselves back on the board with a series of strike runs leading up to a try for the ever-busy Tabuai.
However, the try was quickly cancelled out when Jarrod Northam went charging through off an Isaac Seden-Kurnoth to add another score for the Brethren.
Nightcliff fought on and big runs from Crowley and Seremaia Tuisorisori looked likely chances, but it was Warwick Williams who eventually found the gap to score.
The Dragons brought all the pressure late constantly on the attack and when Butcher slipped through for a score another steal at the death looked on.
But this time the Brothers held strong and kept their composure in the dying seconds to seal the win.
“It’s been a roller coaster season, we’ve had our ups and downs and have faced a lot of hardships like every other team,” Jonas Niki said.
“This is what we play for, that winning feeling, we’ve got one more game to go now so whoever we face in that game we know it’s going to be a tough one.
“It came down to our attitude defence, fixing our one percenters, our line speed and tacking and that’s been our main focus all year, we moved away from it at times but brought it back.
“Last week was still fresh in our heads, you can’t but think ‘who’s going to make the break?’, they have a lot of attacking players but we trusted our defence and backed each other.”
Meanwhile, the reigning premiers Sharks ended Litchfield’s season deep into an elongated extra time, in a fixture featuring both of 2023’s grand finalists.
The Sharks took control of the game almost instantly with Izaiah Waters winning a kick chase for the opener.
Simaika Salaa and Robert Temeamea-Rotaru, as well as Mohamed Salih and Jared Colling, were others to feed off their side’s power game and led Sharks to a dominant position.
However, a Dillan Vanderburg hatrick and another from Jake Flanagan recovered Litchfield’s chances of staying in the finals fight.
The final of Vanderburg’s effort came shortly after Sharks’ Lachlan Natapu was sin binned and levelled the ledger with time gone on the clock.
However, despite Bears efforts they could not make the most of the man advantage during extra time, twice going over and twice having their scores disallowed for errors.
They were on the charge once more, however a contested kick would bring the game to a standstill when Julius Appo ran into a Sharks players legs while they were mid-air.
The Sharks’ player stayed down after hitting the ground badly and almost 30 minutes later what was only two minutes left of play was resumed on field two, with Appo sent off.
The man advantage was too much to overcome for the Bears and when Salaa went over in the final seconds the Sharks had won their chance to stay alive another week.
Brothers women fight way into grand final
The Darwin Brothers women showed their grit pulling back the win in the final 10 minutes to see off minor premiers Palmerston and claim their spot in the NRL NT grand final.
It’s been the major rivalry in the women’s competition for the past few years, and this season has been no difference with the top ladder spots once again held by the two clubs.
Palmerston finished this season as minor premiers and led for the majority of the fixture off the back of their powerful forwards.
The Brothers, despite being down some crucial leaders such as Bianca Scrymgour and Ellie Niki, surged deep into the second half to reel back the score and win 32-16.
Brothers kicked off the match with some big carries before Janna Ransome went over for the opener, but that was about the only time in the first half they were ahead.
Palmerston brought their pressure game from there, busting through defensive lines when moving forward and forcing Brothers into mistakes when on the defence.
And it was after forcing Brothers to exit that Kagui Gimini, who finished the regular season as the top try scorer, found the space to score, and with the extras from Victoria Alley they were ahead.
It wasn’t long before they solidified the lead punching through the Brothers defence and a run down the line from Freda Wosomo was supported well by Jaymie Russell for another pre-half time score.
Brothers kicked off the second half exactly as they needed with Kelam Nona slipping through a gap to go under the posts and once more get the scoring on level footing.
However, another one two punch from the Palmerston forwards was again too much for the Brothers to handle and it was Lucy Aigea who burst over to back up her season’s form.
It took efforts such as a brilliant 40m recovery job from captain Latoniya Norris after almost being caught behind her try line that inspired some fight back.
Back-to-back penalties went the way of the 2023 premiers and they once more tied the scoring through Cassiela Wapau with just 12 minutes left to play.
This time they didn’t take their foot off the gas with Bianca Stokes diving over shortly after, while veteran Leeanne Allia finished off a strong set to take the game beyond a single score.
And finally, despite Palmerston’s best efforts to hold her out, Norris cut through again, this time feeding off to Mele Tupou to put the match beyond doubt, and send the Brothers to the grand final.
“The girls are thrilled with that outcome, we’ve been getting it a bit tough in training in the lead up so I’m glad we pushed through and finished it on a good note,” Norris said.
“We’re thrilled and we’ll soak this win, but it is back to the drawing board now for the next one.
“We showed grit, but we also played to our game and didn’t let the first half get to us, when we went down we went back to playing basics and went on from there.
“We have heaps of talent in our squad, there was no doubt we could do it, and while missing Bianca and Ellie’s voices showed in the first half we had them running water so their voices were still there.
“There’s definitely a confidence boost from getting the job done though, and we’re keen to have them both back come the grand final.”
Meanwhile, the Litchfield Bears will face off against Palmerston in the prelim final for the right of playing in the grand final after beating the Northern Sharks 16-0.
The Bears lost to their opposition last time out, but with renewed squad strength and an eagerness to go all the way they shut down every attacking opportunity the Sharks brought.
Laura Luchetti was the first to cross the line for the Bears, and as the margin suggests the scoring was all theirs from there.
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Originally published as NRL NT 2024: Darwin Brothers sides into grand final
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