NRL NT 2024: Litchfield Bears beat Northern Sharks in Round 8

A last gasp try secured the Litchfield Bears victory in a thriller against the Northern Sharks, in a round full of big results. Read the latest NRL NT action.

A late David Jacobson try to complete his hat trick secured a tight, last minute win for the Litchfield Bears against reigning premiers Northern Sharks in Round 8 of the NRL NT premiership season.

There’s plenty of recent history between the sides with the Sharks beating Litchfield in last year’s grand final in dominant fashion.

But the Bears partly got revenge in Round 1 of this season, and despite trailing with three minutes on the clock this time around got the decisive score to see it out 16-14.

Litchfield’s new recruit Jacob Rainger was the instigator taking on the line under incredible pressure, to pop the pass to prolific scorer Jacobson.

And despite Sharks’ defensive strengths they were unable to hold back the winger as he squared up for the line and stole the lead back with just a couple of minutes left to play.

There was very little to split the sides for the entirety of the match with the big bodies of Adam Hall and Jacob McCarthy causing serious damage on the run for the Sharks.

David Jacobson scored the crucial tries for Litchfield against the Northern Sharks. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Their stiff defence was just as potent and the Bears struggled to make inroads out of their half, until a strong passage some 22 minutes into the encounter.

The Bears were able to get some run going and as the ball went through the hands they were able to create an overlap on the right wing for Jacobson to run in his first of three.

However, just as quickly as they broke the overlap, the Sharks responded with a sharp cross field kick from Jared Colling isolating Litchfield’s Julius Appo, and creating a try for Samuel Pearson.

Matters got worse for the Bears as Rainger was sin binned, and then a shot for a penalty at the toll of half time rebounded off the posts denying them some extra lee way.

The Sharks kept coming in the second half using their bigger bodies to hold Litchfield under siege, but dropped balls ultimately left them dry for those efforts.

Rainger had an instant impact on his return to play, taking on the opposition defence and setting Jacobson up for a 50m effort wherein the winger got past four defenders on his way to the line.

For Sharks’ part Tommy Gunn was the instigator from dummy half, and he got his reward for a strong game when he burst through for his side’s second with just 11 minutes left.

Jacob McCarthy was one of the standouts for the Northern Sharks. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Then a huge carry from Thomas Laban got the Sharks within touching distance once again, and a Hall run from that close was an almost certain try, putting the side ahead for the first time.

It was then Litchfield snapped back into the task at hand and managed to make the winning score as Jacobson completed his hat trick.

“We made it hard for ourselves out there, but we got the win so that’s a relief for us,” Jacobson said.

“Scoring those tries came down to the work of Rainger, he set them up and I got the ball and scored over the line, so a lot of credit goes to him.

“We needed that win, brings a bit of confidence to our young fellas particularly against a side like Sharks with all their experienced players.

“We’re a very young team, with a lot of boys out through injury or work so we’re bringing combinations together, but we’re hoping it clicks at the end when it counts.”

Earlier, Nightcliff Dragons broke a lengthy first half deadlock to overcome the Palmerston Raiders to remain top for another week.

Palmerston were the only side to have beaten the Dragons so far this season, all the way back in Round 1, but a change in form since made Nightcliff the favourites this time around.

Co-captain David Tabuai was the first to break the line charging across the line after 28 minutes of hard defence from the Raiders, and then the floodgates opened.

Laitham Shirley added another within a couple of minutes, and though Jonacani Sorowale brought one back for Palmerston the Dragons piled on the points in the second half to run away with it.

The Darwin Brothers shored up their spot in second with a significant 40-6 effort against a South Darwin side that has been fighting of late.

Club leader Aaron Pollard finished off some strong runs with a brace of tries, while Anthony Alley, Caleb Niki and Isaac Seden-Kurnoth were others to get in the tries.

Meanwhile, the Darwin Brothers women’s side well and truly bounced back from what was a rare win in Round 7 to beat South Darwin 70-0.

Darwin Brothers' Womens Liana Niki was among the players to the damage against South Darwin. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Liana Niki and Cassiela Wapau proved themselves potent on the attack, each scoring two tries, while denying the Rabbitohs a chance to strike themselves.

The Bears women continued their winning momentum beating the Northern Sharks 30-18 with a mixture of six scorers including Emma Forsyth and Lavinia Norris doing the damage.

Brothers keen to keep NRL NT winning momentum alive

The Darwin Brothers can shore up their spot in the top two if they continue their current run of form against a South Darwin side out to take their first win of the season.

The Brethren are sitting second after seven rounds of competition and are coming off the back of two important wins against major rivals Palmerston (40-14) and Litchfield (24-18).

Their most recent outing against Litchfield was a true test of their defence with the Bears tying the try scoring four a piece, and almost grabbing victory in the dying minutes.

But it was the Brothers defensive efforts in that fateful second half that secured the win and pleased coach Leon Cleal most.

“It was a very good first half, but I was extremely happy with our defensive efforts in the second half when errors crept into our game,” he said.

“Litchfield had quite a bit of ball on our try line, including in the final 30 seconds of the game, so the defensive showing was what I walked away happiest about.

“The team is just taking the attitude of just worrying about ourselves and not letting anything on the outside influence what we do or how we do it.”

The recent wins came off the back of a three-game losing run for the Brothers, in which they were unable to convert leads into wins.

However, the efforts of the likes of Darcy Holmes and Jonas Niki in recent weeks has helped the side regain their momentum.

Isaac Seden-Kurnoth and Dallas Caulton have brought an excitement factor and have been creating tries out of nothing, with Caleb Niki performing to his high standards despite being a new role.

Isaac Seden-Kurnoth of the Darwin Brothers. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Now they’ve got the South Darwin Rabbitohs, who despite sitting bottom and without a win have been a genuine threat in recent weeks.

The Bunnies have taken it to the likes of Palmerston, Nightcliff and Litchfield and shown they are growing in confidence.

“If you look back at their recent games they’ve been in it for 60-70 minutes and they could have won them, they weren’t far from it,” Cleal said.

“It’s exciting for the competition, and it means all six teams are pretty even and while there might be a blowout every now and then it’s fairly even.

“Our challenge is to not overcomplicate it and to continue just worrying about ourselves, we don’t speak about the opposition much beyond knowing they’re playing good footy, so we need to too.”