Reigning premier Brothers and Litchfield to light up the 2021 NRL NT season with a much anticipated grand final rematch

The 2021 NRL NT Rugby League season is eight days away from launching into a 15-round season with Brothers and Sistaz the reigning premiers in men’s and women’s senior leagues

L to R: South's Tian Nichols, Palmerston’s Alex Johnson, Litchfield’s Luke Mahood, Brothers' Aaron Pollard, Sharks’ Jacob Collie and Nightcliff's Brent Crisp at the 2021 NRL NT season launch at Territory Rugby League Stadium. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A GRAND final rematch, new sides, an influx of rugby union players and new gameplans highlight the first round of the 2021 NRL NT season that kicks off on April 17.

The much anticipated Brothers-Litchfield men’s grand final rematch is set down for 4.30pm on Territory Rugby League Stadium’s No.1 oval.

Last season’s women’s grand finalists, Sistaz and Palmerston, will have to wait until April 24 for their noon rematch at Goodline Park.

Brothers’ premiership captain Aaron Pollard said the 28-26 win over Litchfield almost six months ago still echoed through the club.

“There was a lot of pressure on us that day but we got through it after everyone had written us off from the get go,’’ he said.

“We knew we had a lot of support from within the club but not a lot outside of that and when you hear the sort of stuff other clubs were talking about on the two favoured sides going to be in the grand final, it was really motivating for us.

“But now it’s another season and we’re all on a level playing field where anyone can come out and surprise any other side.

“We’ve got Drew Tobin back in the side, Cameron Stokes is also back to bolster our forward pack and Nick Yarran who played so well in the grand final is back at training.

“I look forward to seeing everyone down there at training with the same attitude we brought last season.’’

Litchfield captain Luke Mahood said the two-point margin in the grand final made it “pretty tough to lose.”

“But in the end Brothers deserved the title by outplaying us and you can’t put your head down too much about that,’’ he said.

We’ve been grand finalists last three years in a row and not been in the finals only once in the last 10 years, so we’ll try our best to stay up there.’’

First year Bears coach Joe Carbone said a number of players had “put their boots away’’ to create a fresh new look with a younger playing list.

Frank Johnson medallist Sam McAuley is at the top of the list after telling the club he had other priorities to look after in the early months of the season.

But Carbone remains hopeful the club’s star hooker will return later in the season.

“The positives are Jake Crawley at second row or lock is a rising junior who plays hard and fast rugby league and Luke Mahood is still captain, so we’re confident we can do well,’’ Carbone said.

“The first game against Brothers will be a good yardstick on where we are, especially with our guys fit and healthy and running well.’’

Another first year coach, Palmerston’s Merg Mikaelian, wants to stamp out a tendency by his club to fade out at finals time.

A straight sets exit in last seasons finals has Mikaelian working hard during the off-season to change that perception.

“The boys don’t go well at the money end of the season, but we’re working on it and while we haven’t spent much money, we’ve recruited very well,’’ he said.

“If you’re looking at three of the more high profile signings, there is obviously Tom Murphy from Sunnycoast Falcons who will stiffen up our forward pack in a hooking or back row role and Ed Murphy and David Ball from Nightcliff Dragons who will play in the front row.’’

The Nightcliff Dragons were narrowly beaten in last season’s elimination final by eventual premier Brothers.

Coach Reg Rose said any improvement meant doing all the little things right .

“With more consistency and the recruiting we’ve done this year we’ll be thereabouts and (former Canterbury Bulldog) Brent Crisp is one of them and Bailey Swift from the defence forces has been outstanding,’’ Rose said.

“We need to improve in our defence and I’ve sat down with Brent to discuss what wins premierships and it’s defence.

“I think we leaked 50-plus points on two or three occasions last season and you can’t win competitions doing that.’’

Crisp, the new Dragons captain, brought a more defence orientated defensive attitude to the club.

“I did a bit of research before I signed and they’ve obviously leaked a few points, so Reg and I have come up with a little plan at training,’’ he said.

“We’ve done a truckload of running in an attempt to get our defensive patterns down pat and hopefully now we can accommodate the bigger sides like Palmerston and Litchfield.

“If you can keep the opposition to three tries you’re half a chance, but if you are leaking five tries a game you’re going to lose 70 per cent of them.’’

The Northern Sharks play the Dragons in a 6.15pm game in Round 1, a date Sharks skipper Jake Collis has marked on his calendar.

“Our main goal is to move forward from last season and even though we didn’t make finals we’re getting better after going from top to bottom,’’ he said.

“We won the comp in 2016 and ‘17 during the Inpex boom, but we went bottom basically after that and now we’re focusing on a steady build of the club.

“That means culture, player numbers and player retention where we are a lot keener at training and with the rugby seasons (union and league) back-to-back now, we’ve moved into an affiliation with the (Palmerston) Crocs.’’

“That has brought back some competition within the group where the players now have to compete for their spots and that can only be good.’’