HEADED FOR A THREE-PEAT? BEARS’ MAULING OF DRAGONS
Bears show their NRL NT class once again
LITCHFIELD Bears showed how lethal they can be when they kick into gear, thrashing Nightcliff 66-10 in Round 5 of the NRL NT A-grade premiership last night.
The tries came fast for the champions, laying on five before Nightcliff responded.
That answer came from Jayden Jones following a chance grubber kick, but Litchfield’s Matt Goodfellow then quickly negated the score.
The second half started slower for Litchfield but it would still find room for six further tries, including a massive bulldozing effort from Dillan Vanderburg.
Jack Willis, David Jacobson, Luke Beatty and Sam McAuley all scored twice for the Bears, while Clinton Cheattle and Jeromie Edwards also crossed the white paint.
Nightcliff added a second through Thomas Handy.
Goodfellow was pleased with the win, crediting his big forwards and his side’s ability to just have fun.
“It was good fun and I’m happy with how we’ve managed to play over the past couple of weeks, just scoring tries and enjoying playing,” Goodfellow told the NT News.
“That’s what we’ve been doing in training and that’s what we’ve been doing on the field. Our forwards were massive out there. They hit hard, run hard and train their guts out. The forwards are fitter than the backs at Litchfield.
Nightcliff coach Reg Rose felt his side failed to hold itself accountable at crucial times.
“I’m pretty numb. As a club we are not going to accept that. There’s plenty we need to work on, particularly when it comes to accountability,” Rose said.
“We’ve gone through every team once and we now know where we are going to stand and what we need to work on. I know we’re better than that performance, we weren’t good enough.
“We may be a bit disjointed at the moment but if we don’t hold ourselves accountable then big scores will be put on us.”
In another blowout score, Palmerston Raiders continued their unbeaten run with a 76-6 win over South Darwin.
Beau Black and Brad Hansen scored three tries each for the Palmerston outfit, which was looking to whitewash Souths until a late try put the Bunnies on the board.