BROTHERS SEND HUGE MESSAGE
ON the back of sturdy defence and at times electric pace Brothers sent a statement to the rest of the NRL NT Agrade with a round 3 30-16 win over Palmerston Raiders.
Palmerston put on all the early pressure, charging straight into Brothers half with captain Alex Johnson and Brad Hansen directing traffic.
The Brethren held firm in defence for long periods and fullback Caleb Niki showed his bomb disposal skills on more than one occasion.
However, the emergence of big Joel Turaga and one of his trademark bulldozing runs made those defensive efforts all the harder.
Soon after the blue and white side were penalised for being offside and Hansen dotted down the opening try for Raiders.
Brothers responded with Sam Ryan-Winn, previously of the Townsville Brothers, showing his tackle-breaking skills to put his side level.
Palmerston was then made to rue a penalty of its own with the call of shepherding 10m out seeing a Michael Blomley try disallowed, letting Brothers off the hook.
Brothers stepped up their offence there on as usual standouts Lachlan Braun and Isaac Seden-Kurnoth showed creativity, allowing RyanWinn to add two more tries either side of halftime.
The Brethren only strengthened their position when Niki took possession of the ball near his 10m line in the lead up to a massive length-ofthe-field solo try.
Raiders kept pushing with wings Will Beers and Tevita Kanalagi making poking runs, allowing Turaga to barge through, while Jacob Rainger also dotted one over the line.
But with a well-deserved try to Brothers’ Braun it was always going to be too little too late.
Earlier, Darwin Sistaz conquered the heat and earned some sweet revenge after beating reigning NRL NT women’s premiers Palmerston Raiders 50-0 in a sizzling encounter.
It was the first time the two sides had met since the 2021 grand final with the Raiders grabbing victory on that allimportant occasion.
Despite missing a couple of players from their 2021 squad, it was Sistaz, eager for revenge, that showed their hand first.
The side full of big bull runners such as Ellie Niki and captain Bianca Scrymgour crashed and bashed their way through the Raiders.
That aggressive start put the side in blue and white in front straight away with Ivana Schober standing strong.
Then the floodgates opened for them with Schober dotting another not five minutes later, Bianca Stokes showed her running ability to score another and Calista Boyd-Niki nabbed the fourth try.