Northern Sharks outlast Palmerston Raiders in NRL NT A-grade extra time thriller to take home premiership glory

It was an NRL NT A-grade grand final that won’t soon be forgotten with Northern Sharks beating Palmerston Raiders in an extra time thriller to pull themselves out of the wilderness to title glory.

NORTHERN Sharks well and truly pulled themselves out of the wilderness after beating Palmerston Raiders 14-8 in an extra time thriller to take home the NRL NT A-grade premiership.

It had been a long time coming for the Sharks who after winning in 2017 had failed to make finals but in 2021 the title was once again theirs.

There was little to separate the sides early on with both attacks pressing to find a hole in their opposition’s defence.

And it was Sharks who found that gap first with Jacob Collie and Mitch Burke choosing strike runners left and right and eventually putting Bradley Sneddon through for the opener.

The Raiders kept poking themselves but crucial errors when on the offence prevented them from scoring for large parts of the opening half.

But they didn’t go into half time empty handed as the hard yards of Joel Turaga and Tom Murphy began to take hold and eventually Matthew Johnson found himself over the line on the right wing.

That gave the side in green the momentum coming into the second half and the side made full use of it coming out of the blocks with intent.

The Raiders’ forward pushed up metre after metre eventually breaking through the strong Sharks defence to put Will Beers through for a score and hit the front.

It was Sharks turn then to stage a comeback and they did putting attack after attack in to break the rock solid Palmerston.

A few chances went begging for the side namely one where full back Anthony Castro looked to have scored only to be denied.

But their efforts soon paid off in a try for Cooper Segeyaro.

Sharks now had control in the dying minutes and went for a field goal to seal the occasion only to be denied by the posts sending the game into extra time.

Northern Sharks celebrating their NRL NT A-grade premiership Picture: Patch Clapp

Sharks were the first side to push forth and once again their ascendency showed as Tommy Gunn, later named best on ground, broke through to score.

They didn’t know it then but that turned out to be the match winner with Palmerston unable to score in the second half of extra time.

Sharks captain Jacob Collie was overjoyed afterward claiming the win came down to the side’s total commitment to one another.

“We had one on the bench in the final 20, boys were cramping up and we still turned up,” Collie said.

“I’ve said it all year. I told this group at half time that I’ve never played with a better bunch of lads. Everyone I look at they’re the blokes you want to play with.

“We turn up for the hard stuff. We put ourselves in some hard positions but as this game showed we just want it more.”

Northern Sharks captain Jacob Collie was overjoyed with the result. Picture: Che Chorley

Coach PD Downes shared the same sentiment as his captain pointing to his side’s heart on the field.

“It’s blessed right now. We had no eyes set on this. We just wanted to play finals and once that happened we turned to this maybe happening,” Downes said.

“And these boys have just poured their hearts out. They’ve given their blood, sweat and tears and the result is now history.

“You can have all the plans and everything but if you don’t have anything in your ticker you’re going to make things hard for yourself.”

Palmerston coach Merg Mikaelian credited Sharks for their win in what had been one of the great grand finals.

“To Sharks credit they turned up to play. They were just too good on the night and hopefully we can turn it around,” Mikaelian said.

“We lost Anthony Orrell early on which didn’t help our rotations. We still turned around and gave it a real crack and both sides were pretty busted going into extra time.”

EARLIER TITANIC battle of forward power will be on show when Palmerston Raiders and Northern Sharks face-off in the 2021 NRL NT A-grade final.

Both sides come into the grand final on the back of strong wins over minor premiers Nightcliff Dragons but all their focus is now squarely on one last game.

Palmerston will be looking to commemorate their 60th anniversary as a club with their first premiership win since 2013, despite a number of near-misses in the intervening years.

And with talismanic coach Merg Mikaelian, who coached the club to the 2011 title 10 years ago, at the helm and a finals spike in form, they have all the reason to believe they can.

Halves Blake Fletcher and Tyrone Nona have been at the forefront of every move for the side, directing their strong pack around the ground.

Palmerston’s Alex Johnson and Sharks’ Jacob Collie ahead of the NRL NT A-grade Grand Final for 2021. Picture Glenn Campbell

And that direction has given backs such as Alex Johnson, Matthew Johnson, Tevita Kanalagi and the bulldozing Joel Turaga room to move.

Co-captain Ed Murphy lauded his side for its hard work throughout the year, claiming it had gone to another level in the back end of the season.

“It means a lot. We’ve worked really hard. All the boys got involved and bought into the culture change brought along by Merg,” Murphy said.

“Even though a few things went against us, everyone just bought in and that team-first mentality has been paying off ever since.

“Both us and Sharks have got big forward packs but if we can dominate them through the middle with our forward pack it will go a long way.

“It also gives us another chance to go out wide and use our guys like Tevita and Alex to grab a bit of space and hopefully put some points on.

“We started the season strong and then had the form slump as well as the points taken away for the Covid breach which really put a rocket up everybody to work harder.

“That backs-against-the wall mentality was something we embraced knowing we had to win every game and from there.”

But Palmerston will face a more than reasonable challenge in a Sharks outfit that is finally seeing the fruits of some long years of labour.

Sharks may have won the premiership as recently as 2017 but have not made finals since that time, and have taken the long road back to the top.

Fullback Anthony De Castro has been among the best at Sharks, putting in effort to save tries time after time and that effort has inspired the rest of his side’s unit.

Cooper Segeyaro, Simaika Salaa and Robertson Franklin add plenty of options in attack off the back of another strong forward pack.

Captain Jacob Collie said it had been a massive year for his side who had made the big jump from also-rans to genuine contenders to grand finalists.

“It’s massive. In recent years we’ve started with high hopes and had that fade so I didn’t get my hopes up too much, but for it to come out the way it has is amazing,” Collie said.

“It all comes down to everyone getting on really well. We all just bought it and there’s not one bloke on the field that you would be worried to be next to.

“Everyone puts in 100 percent. Everyone has each other’s backs.”

“Whenever we have to dig in we’re all up for it. It’s all positive footy.

“We need to eliminate those small errors that we have let in throughout the year. We do something good like scoring a try and then we have a lapse and drop the ball in our half.

“We’ve been working on it all year and haven’t got quite there yet. We have rock solid defence and we can handle those situations but it’s just so much better if we’re not in those situations.”