Litchfield Bears send a message to finals rivals with big win over Nightcliff Dragons in NRL NT

LITCHFIELD Bears made their intentions known heading into finals with a assured 56-10 win over Nightcliff Dragons in the final round of the 2020 NRL NT A-grade competition.

Bears’ Clint Chettle scored within the first minute of his side’s win over Nightcliff. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

LITCHFIELD Bears made their intentions known heading into finals with a assured 56-10 win over Nightcliff Dragons in the final round of the 2020 NRL NT A-grade competition.

Litchfield showed intent right from kick off with a strong from Aaron Barnes leading to a first minute try for Clint Chettle on the right wing.

The Dragons struck back almost immediately with Anthony Busch showing great vision rushing from the back of the ruck himself to find the gap and put his side momentarily ahead.

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The match continued to seesaw through the half with Jason Tomes next to score for Litchfield followed by a dummy pass try for Nightcliff’s Simiaika Salaa.

Though an explosive run from Sam McAuley off the back of the ruck saw his side go in ahead at the half.

Bears entered the second half with similar intensity to the first with Adam Hall being the benefactor from a strong post kick-off offence.

The Fred’s Pass side showed much more control in the second half with Dillian Vanderburg giving his side plenty of room.

His contributions allowed the floodgates to open with captain Luke Mahood, Robert Campbell, McAuley, Jack Willis, Matt Goodfellow and Brody Race all scoring and sending a message to their fellow finalists.

“It was really good. The Nightcliff boy made us work for it but that makes it all the more sweeter to get a win like that over tough competition,” Mahood told the Sunday Territorian.

“We planned to come out with lots of fire and worked hard all the way to the end and we had to sticking to our game plan with forwards giving plenty of room for our backs.

“They really stuck it to us in defence so credit to them but in the end we just had the legs. For us that’s just passion and being there for each other.

“We have Palmy next week so there is still plenty to work on and we will be hoping to bring that same intensity against them.”

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Litchfield face the unbeaten Palmerston Raiders in the major semi-final next week with the winner booking a spot in the grand final.

Meanwhile, Nightcliff will move into the minor semi-final where they will face the Darwin Brothers who had the better of the match-up last time around.