Indigenous All Stars show plenty of passion in 2021 Deadly Cup win over Territory All Stars

THE Indigenous All Stars played with passion and intensity to beat their Territory All Stars opponents 24-12 in the senior men’s 2021 Deadly Cup

Caleb Niki as the Indigenous All Stars take on the Territory All Stars in the senior men's rugby league Deadly Cup matchup. Picture:Glenn Campbell

THE Indigenous All Stars played with passion and intensity to beat their Territory All Stars opponents 24-12 in the senior men’s 2021 Deadly Cup.

The Deadly Cup is a celebration of Indigenous and Top End culture through rugby league, and the players from across the NRL NT clubs played with the passion and respect deserving of the occasion.

Brothers’ fullback Isaac Seden-Kurnoth set the tone early, bursting through the defensive line to claim the opening try for the Indigenous side.

The Indigenous unit kept the pressure up from there, pushing forth at every opportunity with plenty of creativity coming from the combinations of Adrian Corrie, Thomas Clarke and Tyrone Nona.

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That flair saw the side stack up pressure through a passing game alongside some crafty footwork, with Clifford Timms notching his first score.

The Indigenous side continued to control the run of the ball, stretching the Territory defence, giving Seden-Kurnoth the chance to bolt through for his second try.

The Territory team finally found its way into the scoring in the second half, with Robbie Butcher showing his own ball-running flair to open a gap for Nightcliff teammate Jayden Jones.

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But the Indigenous outfit was quick to strike back with Timms bolting 60m down the left wing to dot down his second try.

A Butcher dummy gave the five-eighth room to go himself, storming through the line to notch his side’s second try.

They looked on for a third when Dillan Vanderberg made a run but a strong defensive effort from the Indigenous All Stars kept the Litchfield forward at bay.

“Winning this game meant a fair bit to everyone that played, particularly our boys coming together from different clubs on NAIDOC Week,” Corrie said.

“The boys were just up and about for the occasion. They love this sort of stuff. They came out and played for each other, which showed.

“We all have that one mate on other teams that we want to play with so for me it was great to play with everyone such as the Niki boys, and Thomas Clarke from Brothers or Joel Turaga from Palmerston.

“The Deadly Cup is awesome. Every other state and territory throughout Australia has an Indigenous carnival so for us to have something like this is pretty awesome.”