Litchfield Bears looking to reclaim winning momentum when they take on Northern Sharks in Round 9

LITCHFIELD Bears will be looking to bounce back into the winning circle when they take on a Northern Sharks side hungry for an upset in Round 9 of the NRL NT A-grade premiership

Bears Sam McAuley has been in great form in recent weeks. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

LITCHFIELD Bears will be looking to bounce back into the winning circle when they take on a Northern Sharks side hungry for an upset in Round 9 of the NRL NT A-grade premiership.

Bears suffered their second loss of the season to the unbeaten Palmerston in Round 8 with the Raiders coming from behind to steal the game 20-16.

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Litchfield coach Jake Barnes conceded the reigning premiers had made a few uncharacteristic errors in their losing effort but felt they could refind that winning momentum.

“We were pretty disappointed as we thought we had done enough but we took our feet off and let them back in the game in the last ten minutes,” Barnes told the NT News.

“We didn’t complete our sets as we normally do and played a little uncharacteristically so we will be looking to shape up this week.”

Sharks come into the encounter following a high-scoring 50-34 win over South Darwin setting the stage for more offensive play in their games to come ahead of finals.

Levi Nichaloff scored three tries for the blue outfit against Souths while centre Mark Williams also acquitted himself well in the scoring department with two tries.

Barnes picked out Matt Goodfellow to have a big game after a quieter performance by his standards against Palmerston.

Sam McAuley is another set to standout against the Sharks if he maintains his strong run of form which saw the hooker cross for a try last week.

“We obviously want to get the ball moving once again. Nobody likes losing and we want to get that winning momentum back heading into finals,” Barnes said.

“Sharks play an attacking brand up footy. They love to throw the ball around and shift you around park to make you work more on defence so that’s what we will be looking out for.

“We will be aiming to get our completion rates up. We will need to get our big guys fronting up through the middle and then move the ball out wide so we can captalise on opportunities.”

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Meanwhile, Brothers will be hoping to bust into the top three when they take on South Darwin, and Palmerston will look to maintain their unbeaten run once again when they meet Nightcliff.

On the women’s side of the draw Nightcliff and Palmerston will face off in a battle of second and third.