Litchfield Bears expecting tough forwards battle in top of table clash against Palmerston Raiders

LITCHFIELD Bears coach Jake Barnes knows his side will be in for an intense forward battle when they come up against Palmerston Raiders in Round 8 of the NRL NT A-grade Premiership.

Litchfield Bears’ Jason Tomes will be among those hungry for revenge against the undefeated Palmerston Raiders. Picture: FELICITY ELLIOTT

LITCHFIELD Bears coach Jake Barnes knows his side will be in for an intense forward battle when they come up against Palmerston Raiders in Round 8 of the NRL NT A-grade Premiership.

The Bears have gained momentum in recent weeks with massive wins over Nightcliff (66-10) and Brothers (58-14) furthering the sides case for another strong finals run.

Litchfield managed 10 tries against Brothers and kept the Darwin side scoreless through the second half.

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“I’m obviously pretty proud of the efforts of the boys particularly in the second half which was best half all season,” Barnes told the NT News.

“Keeping a fairly offensively strong side like Brothers scoreless in that half shows that we’re getting to where we need to be and picking up in momentum in the back end of the season.”

Next up for the Bears is a top of the table clash against the undefeated Palmerston Raiders.

Raiders earned the win in Round 3 (32-28) to take the Mitchell Russell Shield however Litchfield are looking for revenge to potentially push the side to the top of the table.

The side will once more look to Matt Goodfellow for a strong turnout while strong forward Aaron Barnes makes his return after an injury break.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge of Raiders. They had one over us and now its our chance to get revenge,” Barnes said.

“Palmy have a pretty big forward pack and like to play up the middle so we will be expecting a tight contest around the ruck.

“We will need to match their intensity but also play our game and complete our sets.

“Our big forwards Dillan Vanderburg and Adam Hall are coming off big games and they should both lead us up front to give our smaller guys some room.”

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Meanwhile, Nightcliff take on Darwin Brothers with both sides looking for a big performance following recent results.

While bottom sides Northern Sharks and South Darwin will both want to make a mark against each other with a strong result.