Northern Sharks and Palmerston Raiders women earn direct entry into NRL NT big dance
Northern Sharks and the Palmerston Raiders women have earned direct entry into the NRL NT grand final in a thrilling series of senior semi-finals. Read the latest action.
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The Northern Sharks have earned direct entry into the A-Grade grand final on the back of a massive defensive shift against Litchfield, while Brothers knocked out the reigning premiers.
Litchfield dominated possession throughout the match, but were unable to find a way through Sharks’ rock solid defence and instead it was the minor premiers who won 28-4.
Brody Race and Dillan Vanderburg put in the big carries for the Bears early on charging up the ground and making metres.
It was their work rate which allowed Nathan Dixon, returning from injury, to get some life out of his backs, but however much they tried they couldn’t get through the wall of Sharks.
Instead after surviving 25 minutes of pressure without conceding from attack after attack the Sharks took their chance to go on the counter.
Brody Bordina raced down the right win only to kick inside where the ball found Samuel Pearson who unleashed his captain Mitch Burke into space to score the game’s opener.
It was a move which brought the Sharks’ playmakers to the fore with Kieran Danovaro and Brent Crisp creating attacking opportunities one after another.
And they burst into the second half with all the ascendancy creating issues for the Bears’ defence through the middle and around the fringes.
They found their chance out on the left wing where winger Clint Chettle went crashing through for his side’s second try.
Bears looked like they finally had their chance when Dixon sent off a long ball to Clancy Court who looked like he had planted in the corner, only for Caleb Smith to have tackled him into touch.
Instead again the Sharks were back down the other side getting the ball through the hands until it found Robert Temeamea-Rotaru who had run a brilliant line to score.
And from there Sharks didn’t look back with Crisp kicking through to the try zone to set up Cooper Segeyaro, while Bradley Sneddon had it far too easy running out of the scrum to score.
The pressure was back on the Sharks in the final ten minutes when Jayden Sneddon was sin binned for a dangerous tackle, with David Munro also got his marching orders for running in.
But even when they went down to 10 men soon after, with Crisp also binned, their defence held mostly firm only conceding in the very last minute to Clancy Court.
Burke said the match was a testament to his side’s defence, particularly early on, and that though they were now in the grand final their job was not done.
“The first half was a bit back and forth, and we got a bit of a spray from coach PD (Downes) but we came back and played our game in the second half,” Burke said.
“I can’t fault our efforts in defence, we only conceded one try when we were down to 10 men, and that’s an area we’re proud of.
“Defence has been our backbone all year and we will defend all night if we have to, we don’t panic down there and build our tactics off of it.
“This is the third year in a row we’re in a grand final so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves and know we still have work to do.”
Meanwhile, the Darwin Brothers showed defensive grit of their own as they knocked out reigning premiers Palmerston 28-6 in the minor semi-final.
The Raiders came out hard in the opening 15 minutes constantly looking for overlaps around the fringes, but the Brothers weathered the storm before attacking themselves.
Front rowers Drew Tobin, Trent Kurnoth and Thomas Laban were busy on the defence and their efforts eventually led to the unleashing of the ever-dangerous Caleb Niki.
Laban was the first to cross the line with electric wing Xavier Grant also darting over to put the pressure all on Palmerston.
But it didn’t let up with captain Aaron Pollard also crossing the white paint, while Niki exposed defensive fragilities late in the piece to get one of his own.
The Brethren did lose Jekope Kauvere to the sin bin late on, and it was only then with the man advantage where Palmerston had a try through Zane Smith.
It was a performance which pleased coach Leon Cleal who said it was his side’s “best game of the year”.
“Raiders came at us hard in the first 15 minutes, but the boys weathered the storm and showed their patience so I’m really happy with how we played,” Cleal said.
“I’m pretty confident with the side and our fitness, both sides were creaking near the end in the heat, but our front row was really impressive, I got a lot of minutes out of them.
“Our focus is still on ourselves, we can only control what we can do and that’s what we need to keep on top of, along with injury management, ahead of next week.”
Palmerston, Litchfield win women’s semi-finals
The Palmerston Raiders’ women have ended Brothers unbeaten run and earned direct entry into the NRL NT grand final, while Litchfield once again showed they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Coming into the encounter the Brothers had gone unbeaten since the beginning of the 2022 season, but a passionate Palmerston side brought their A game to win 18-10.
The Brothers’ women were missing four of their best players captain Bianca Scrymgour, Ivana Schober, Latoniya Norris and Ellie Niki for the match, and the Raiders capitalised.
The Palmerston side, who only lost by a last-minute try in the sides’ last meeting, brought the pressure early on with big runners Lucy Aigea and Rose-Maree Goninon making ground.
Brothers defence held strong early on and as they’re known for doing very quickly turned pressure into opportunity.
Prolific try-scorer Jacinda Summers was the first to take her chance racing towards the left wing to get the first points on the board for the Brethren.
However, it was not a lead which lasted long with Palmerston’s Deanna Peckham able to burst through a gap and score while wrestling off three defenders.
And the accurate boot of Victoria Alley put Palmerston ahead, a lead they managed to maintain for the remainder of the half.
It was a big forwards’ effort that saw the Raiders pull off their second try on the other side of half time with Samantha Lafaele Selio piling over the line to extend the margin.
Aigea was a constant line breaker for her side constantly punching holes through the defence, as she has all season.
Her carries allowed fullback Kagui Gimini to show off her skills in broken play and she ran in a try on the right wing, where Alley again showed her accuracy from the sideline.
Brothers did find themselves with space at times, but they lacked accuracy in the final passes and soon it became clear the result would not be theirs.
But they pushed on regardless and despite the steadfast Palmerston defence they had their score through Courtney Tamati at the death.
Palmerston captain Briannon Ross said the result was a true credit to her side who had backed each other against the league’s best side.
“We’ve had a challenging few weeks but we came back together this week and just backed each other, kept to our structure and fought for everything,” Ross said.
“When mistakes were made we got back up and kept going, it’s a lesson we learned from our last game against them where they beat us the final minute of both halves. Just keep fighting.
“It’s a great feeling to beat them, but the job is not done yet, we still have one more game to go and we know we can’t get complacent.”
Meanwhile, the Litchfield Bears continued their impressive progress with a 22-8 win against rivals Northern Sharks to ensure their survival into the preliminary final.
It was initially a back and forth encounter with a Litchfield try through Luzena Chevalier-Roberts traded for a Sharks’ try from Rekeisha Humes.
However, in the second half the Bears took control off the back of the pace of 2021 Gaynor Maggs medal winner Rhiannon Fecht.
Her work rate, alongside the 2022 best and fairest winner Kiyanah Toy, put the Bears on the front foot and they found themselves with more dominant possession as a result.
Nicola Hickman and Fecht both had themselves tries and Chevalier-Roberts scored her second in a half where the Sharks were held try-less.
Coach Richard Hill said he couldn’t be prouder of his squad particularly on how much they had progressed in the past year.
“I was impressed with the second half, not so much the first where silly penalties cost us in what I thought would be a close game,” Hill said.
“But the second half they played the way I wanted the girls to, they really raised their intensity and got off the line.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the ladies if you compare where we were last year to where we are now, we’ve got really depth with how the juniors are playing, I couldn’t ask for a better side to coach.
“(Fecht) is just outstanding, I have no words for her, between her Kiyanah and our front rower Chloe (Mollross) I couldn’t be prouder of these players.”
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