Raiders grind out win over Litchfield to win back Mitchell Russell Shield and mark early victory over their biggest rivals

PALMERSTON have regained the Mitchell Russell Shield and laid an early title claim after beating bitter rival and reigning premier Litchfield in the NRL NT Men’s A-grade premiership

Palmerston Raiders player Alex Johnson starred in his side’s win over Litchfield Bears.

PALMERSTON regained the Mitchell Russell Shield and laid an early title claim after beating bitter rival and reigning premier Litchfield 32-28 at Webber Park in Round 3 of the NRL NT Men’s A-grade premiership.

It was the Raiders who scored first in the constantly tight encounter through a Will Smith try.

But Litchfield would not allow any early advantage countering with David Jacobson’s first of three tries directly after the opening score.

Several plays later Palmerston’s hooker Brad Hansen was sin binned for foul play and Bears made use of the overlap, scoring in quick succession and almost lifting the match from Palmerston’s grasp.

Hansen’s return reignited the Palmerston offence and they battled, with Will Smith instrumental in a Jake Rainger try, with another score following soon after for Hansen.

The second half returned to a back-and-forth battle.

Tries from Clifford Timms and Will Beers for Palmerston were met with Litchfield four-pointers from Matt Goodfellow and Tyrone Jennings.

But it was the final Raiders’ try to Alex Johnson, rewarding numerous strong efforts on counter-attack, that lifted the Palmerston supporters from their seats.

A follow-up try from the Bears was not enough to upset the party or retain the shield.

Johnson was elated with his teammates’ efforts, feeling everyone had bought into the importance of the contest.

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“It’s unreal. We just wanted to come and play our style of footy where we’ve been giving into them the past couple of years but today we just played disciplined footy,” Johnson told the NT News.

“The leadership group in general just stood up and even our younger guys bought into how much this game means to us and we played a bloody good game.

“Mitchell Russell is one of our good mates, we knew him for a long time and we miss him so to have it back in Raiders’ possession means a lot.”

Raider’s coach Daniel Keelan was equally pleased to see the shield return to Palmerston after its year absence.

“It’s great to have won. Bears won last year and took the shield home for a year but now it’s back where it should be,” Keelan said.

“It’s probably good to knock them off a bit early with neither of us being at full strength yet. Our grind really got us through grinding away with what wasn’t the best footy but enough.”

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Meanwhile, Sharks opened their winning account with a massive 78-6 win over the hapless South Darwin.

Fullback Cooper Segeyaro scored four tries with halfback Samuel Pearson scoring three in a dominant onesided affair.

Captain Tian Nichols was the lone try scored for the Rabbitohs.

Nightcliff and Brothers face off on Saturday night.