Northern Sharks captain Jacob Collie says improved culture behind win over Litchfield Bears
NORTHERN Sharks captain Jacob Collie credits a renewed club culture and competition for spots for his side’s big scalp of Litchfield in Round 2 of the 2021 NRL NT premiership.
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NORTHERN Sharks captain Jacob Collie credits a renewed club culture and competition for spots for his side’s big scalp of Litchfield in Round 2 of the 2021 NRL NT premiership.
Since winning the title in 2017, Sharks have struggled to find wins against teams outside of South Darwin. In contrast Litchfield have found plenty of success in the A-grade competition in the same period winning two premierships and making the grand final in 2020.
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Both sides have gone through plenty of change in the off-season, with a new look Bears’ unit following a changing of the guard in some key positions. But the 36-20 win at Webber Park comes as a significant sign of growth for Sharks and marks them as a side to watch this season.
Perhaps most pleasing for the side was that they now have depth with seven probable starters out of the side that scored seven tries against Litchfield. Lachie Wright in the centres was one of the standouts finding plenty of room to move and show off his footwork.
And his centre partner Robbie Franklin also did plenty to impress in both defence and offence particularly around the kick chase.
“It’s massive for us. It’s our first real win in the past three seasons with us only really beating Souths in that time,” Collie told the NT News.
“But we were confident coming in. We knew we had the ability to get the win and worked hard after what we thought was a disappointing loss to Nightcliff in Round 1.
“We watched that first game back and knew what we needed to do to correct our system and everything came off for us against Bears.
“That mainly came down to building better around the ruck and match them from the start and with working we were able to carry the momentum for the whole game.”
Sharks next play on May 8 against reigning premiers Darwin Brothers who will be fired up after losing 36-10 against Palmerston Raiders in Round 2. But Collie feels that there’s no reason that his side can’t match the Brethren after their confidence boosting win.
“Getting to this stage has taken a lot of work by the committee building a club culture that’s sustainable where there’s a strong competition for spots in the squad,” Collie said.
“And though we were missing about seven players against Bears those players will have to earn their spots back from these guys that performed.
“We will be looking for similar against Brothers who will come out firing not wanting to drop two games in a row after losing to Raiders.
“We will have to match their early intensity and find our rhythm from there. There’s no reason we can’t beat them.”
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