Palmerston and Litchfield face their sternest tests yet in a third round grand final rematch at Fred’s Pass

THE combined incentives of a grand final rematch and the Mitchell Russell Shield will be on the minds of both Palmerston and Litchfield as they face off at Fred’s Pass from 7pm Saturday

Luke Mahood returns to captain the Bears tonight, and star halfback Matt Goodfellow has been in impressive form. Picture: Michael Franchi

THE combined incentives of a grand final rematch and the Mitchell Russell Shield will be on the minds of both Palmerston and Litchfield as they face off at Fred’s Pass from 7pm tonight.

Both sides come into the match-up undefeated after two rounds in the NRL NT 2020 Quitline A-grade premiership, and they will look to set an early marker against each other.

And it will be Palmerston looking to upset the Bears’ home party, with the Litchfield side having lifted both the Shield and premiership title the past two seasons.

Mitchell Russell played for both sides in a promising league career which was tragically ended by a road accident in 2014.

The Raiders held the shield from 2014-2018 and coach Daniel Keelan said his side was highly motivated to win it back after a 46-22 win over the Northern Sharks last week.

“It’s a grand final rematch, but also the Mitchell Russell Shield, which would be great to win back after last year years,” Keelan told the NT News.

“We expect them to bring their basic, disciplined game to the contest, where they do all the small things right.

“We like defence and will look to hold the ball. It was a good win for us last week and the likes of Clifford Timms and Will Smith really showed up.”

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As for Litchfield, it will look to replicate its unbeaten regular season from last season as it sees the return of captain Luke Mahood, who suffered an injury in the opening round.

Star halfback Matt Goodfellow will also be expected to continue his fine form from the past two rounds.

Coach Jake Barnes acknowledged the threats the Raiders posed, particularly in the forwards.

“Palmerston are our biggest rivals at the moment and always lift their game against us,” Barnes said.

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“We will expect a pretty physical game through.”

In other Round 3 action, South Darwin and Sharks will each be looking to get their opening win of the season when the face off at Rugby League Stadium at 7pm. Unbeaten Nightcliff will face off against Brothers next week in a lone fixture.