Northern Sharks beat Litchfield Bears in Round 8 of the 2023 NRL NT
The red hot Northern Sharks have ruined Litchfield Bears’ unbeaten run after an arm wrestle of a top-of-the-table clash. Read the latest action from the NRL NT here.
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Northern Sharks’ forward power and intensity in defence snapped Litchfield’s unbeaten run in an exciting and at times scrappy top-of-the-table NRL NT clash.
The Sharks were in red-hot form coming into the encounter leaving both Palmerston and Nightcliff scoreless in the weeks prior.
And while Bears had been the most consistent side ahead of the top-of-the-table match, Sharks’ defence and forward power saw them through to a 32-24 Round 8 win.
Sharks’ big forwards showed their power early on with Jacob McCarthy among others bashing their way through Litchfield’s defence.
It didn’t take long until their upfield grind resulted in a try as dummy half Jayden Sneddon broke free to put the ball over the line.
However as soon as they scored they seemed to let off the pressure and found themselves trapped in their own half against an eager Bears unit.
Litchfield captain Trent Wedding was the key link-up man all night orchestrating attack after attack, though the Sharks’ defence largely held strong.
It was Wedding who laid the foundation for Bears rushing towards the goalposts ahead of a blistering offload from Billy Burn which allowed Corey Gregory to find the line.
Sharks, however, struck back almost immediately with Bears unable to stop the ball-carrying threat of Robert Temeamea-Rotaru close to the line.
Halves Mitch Burke and Brent Crisp were essential in setting up Sharks’ attack and it wasn’t long before they had another through the lively David Munro.
The game wasn’t without niggle with both sides at each other’s throats as Sharks’ big threats of Jacob McCarthy and Adam Hall were never afraid to show their power.
However an overzealous tackle had Hall sent to the bin and Litchfield were quick to capitalise with a great Nathan Dixon offload sending Bailey Priestley through for a try.
Another of Sharks’ big men, Alex Maniju, made his presence known on the carry sending David Jacobson flying backwards on his way to the try line early in the second half.
Clint Chettle was also busy hunting the ball off the back of his halves and eventually got his reward for many line breaking runs with a try of his own.
It provided another uphill battle for Bears who had plenty of the ball themselves, but often found themselves getting thwarted by Sharks’ defence.
But there were times when their passing game came out on top giving Jacobson and Dixon both a chance to show off their elusiveness on the run to score.
However, it wasn’t enough to completely turn the tide and a late penalty kick from Crisp to whittle down the clock was what Sharks needed to secure the win.
“Everyone’s upbeat after that one, we came out there with the intention of creating energy around the team,” Munro said.
“It all came down to attitude and playing for one another.
“Being on top is hard and I feel for Bears because everyone wants to know where they’re at against you in that position.
“We came out there with a point to prove and wanted to show how much we want this competition and that’s what we did.”
Meanwhile Darwin Brothers found their way to a 40-10 win over South Darwin with Christian Meo and Caleb Niki scoring two tries each.
Matthew Johnson and Jacob Rainger were multi-try scorers for Palmerston Raiders who burst free in the second half to beat Nightcliff 58-26.
In the women’s comp Latoniya Norris scored three tries to help the high-flying Darwin Brothers to a 52-0 win over South Darwin.
And Sharks jumped to third with a close-run 24-18 win against Litchfield Bears who fought back from a first half deficit.
Undefeated Bears brace for greatest NRL NT challenge yet
Litchfield may still be undefeated after seven rounds of the 2023 NRL NT season, but their upcoming face-off against a Sharks side in elite form will be their greatest challenge yet.
The Bears’ fitness and depth has been the foundation behind their success this season with plenty of their players including captain Trent Wedding, Dillan Vanderburg and Nathan Dixon among the league’s standouts.
Their most recent wins include a 26-16 triumph over danger-side Brothers and 40-16 defeat of South Darwin to maintain their top spot.
Coach Jake Barnes was more than impressed with the way things are progressing for the outfit.
“Things are going well, the boys are enjoying their footy and we’ve been able to get the results,” Barnes said.
“There’s still a few ins and outs this week which hasn’t been ideal, but things are starting to come together so it’s a really exciting time.”
The Bears will be bolstered further this week with Brody Race and Billy Burn returning from injury.
Declan MacGillivray has been one to impress stepping up in Burn’s absence while club stalwart Luke Mahood has turned back the clock contributing each and every week.
Despite all the positive results Bears will not be taking Sharks lightly who have scored a collective 166-0 over their past two matches against Palmerston and Nightcliff.
Litchfield had the better of this encounter in Round 3 coming back to win 16-14 at their home ground, but now on at TRL Stadium matters may go the others.
Brent Crisp and Mitch Burke are two of the best halves in the competition, while Sharks have scoring options to spare across the park.
It’s a challenge Barnes said his side were licking their lips at knowing they were heading into a real tester.
“We’re really looking forward to it, you always want to play these games,” he said.
“You always want to play teams that are in form when they are in form because it gives you a really good understanding of where you’re at.
“They’re a really good, ultra-attacking team and have been the benchmark for the past two year so we’re pretty excited to see how we match up with them.
“We’ve been playing some pretty good attacking footy. We’ve just got to hold on to the ball and get into good positions to score a few points and from there it will come down to fitness.
“We’re probably a bit quicker out wide than what we have been in the past few years and the boys just have that mentality that they need to work hard for each other to get the results.
“We know we’re going to be up against it against Sharks, they like to get the momentum and throw the ball around, and so we need to be ready for them.”
Elsewhere, Brothers will be hoping to bounce back from consecutive defeats when they come against South Darwin, and Palmerston will be hoping to secure a top four spot against Nightcliff.
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