Palmerston Raiders send warning to 2021 competition after beating Darwin Brothers at Goodline Park

PALMERSTON Raiders have sent a warning to the rest of the 2021 NRL NT competition after claiming a 36-10 win over reigning premiers Darwin Brothers

Blake Fletcher was among the try scorers for Palmerston Raiders against Darwin Brothers. Picture: Glenn Campbell

PALMERSTON Raiders have sent a warning to the rest of the 2021 NRL NT competition after claiming a 36-10 win over reigning premiers Darwin Brothers.

Raiders utilised their physicality early on driving the ball hard through the big bodies of David Paull and former Queensland Cup star Tom Murphy on the way to the Brothers’ line.

Though Brethren withstood that early assault and were quick to go on the charge themselves with a strong carry from Caleb Niki leading to an opening try from Leon Rotumah.

Palmerston didn’t let that set back faze them continuing to drive up the middle and forcing Brothers on the defence.

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The Brothers line held for some time forcing errors in the Raiders’ offence but soon the team in green found an overlap for wing Tevita Kanalangi to run in a score.

And they were quick to back up their opening score with a 50m charge from Joel Turaga setting up an eventual try from Paull.

Brothers regained their defensive edge for the remainder of the half though lack of ball deprived the reigning premiers of scoring chances.

And unfortunately for Brothers they found themselves playing much of the second half without a bench through injury.

Some hard running lines that Brothers had previously resisted found their way through gifting Will Beers a try on the right wing.

The Raiders looked untouchable from there with Kanalangi dotting down a second while Tyrone Nona also found himself a try under the posts against his former club.

Another bulldozing run from the big body of Turaga assisted a try for Blake Fletcher putting Palmerston in complete control.

The Brethren eventually found themselves back in the scoring with a high tackle on Jarrod Stokes earning the side a penalty with the ensuing passage leading to a try for Alex TK.

But it was Raiders who had the last laugh with a final evasive run from Kanalangi adding another to his tally.

Palmerston coach Merg Mikaelian was proud of the result though felt his side still had much to improve on particularly around ball control.

“We’re grateful to get away with the win against a really good Brothers side that probably played the last 20 minutes without a bench,” Mikaelian told the Sunday Territorian.

“Although the score line was large it was a lot closer than it what the score showed and we still have a lot of improvement in ourselves around ball control with being an issue two weeks in a row.

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“To Brothers credit they were physical in defence and we dropped the ball but when we did complete sets we found it a lot easier to go through the middle.

“And when we were able to get through with our bigger forwards we were able to captalise.”