Litchfield Bears’ women side shows their hard work is paying off with win over South Darwin

LITCHFIELD women showed their pre-season hard work is paying off after a 34-4 win over a South Darwin side down players in Round 3 of the NRL NT Women’s Premiership

Litchfield captain Shari Togo looking to pass down the line. Picture: Che Chorley

LITCHFIELD women showed their pre-season hard work is paying off after a 34-4 win over a South Darwin side down players in Round 3 of the NRL NT Women’s Premiership.

The Bunnies were quick out of the blocks, punching a hole in their opposition’s defence in the opening minutes to see Machaelia Roberts over for the first try.

But that would be the last time the undermanned side would find its way on to the scoreboard, despite some promising spurts of offensive play in the first half.

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Litchfield was quick to respond, adding one of its own through Courtney Byrne in the side’s first of many visits into the Rabbitohs’ end of the field. The Bears continued to punch through, but the Souths defence did hold them back for a while at one stage holding off a four-on-one overlap.

But Litchfield soon found its way across with winger Ashlee Gilder finding her way across the line before the half.

The second half continued in Litchfield’s favour with a big run from Bianca Abrahams, setting up a try for Kiyanah Toy, who is starting to build an impressive early-season try tally.

Tahlia Waters, Meoldy Wehipehana and Tiarna Hansen also found themselves crossing the white line in the second half, before the depleted player numbers forced South Darwin to concede.

Litchfield captain Shari Togo was pleased with the result, crediting her side’s hard preparations ahead of the season for its progression in the early rounds of the 2021 tournament.

“I’m really proud. We worked really hard over our preseason and every week and to see the girls progressing and enjoying their footy is great,” Togo told the NT News.

“It was all about ball security and putting more work in when we were on the defence and playing our footy from there.

“At half time we had a good talk saying that just because Souths were lacking players we couldn’t drop our ball game and we came out and it was good to put some points on the board.

“Going forward it’s just looking for more of the same. Building our confidence and sticking together as a team.”