By MARK CASHMAN

Northern Suburbs centre Nathan Russell scored two tries in a dominating display that underlined his increasing confidence at Shute Shield level as the Shoremen beat the Hunter Wildfires 50-10 on Saturday.

Russell has been in and around the first grade group at North Sydney Oval for a number of seasons but really made a major statement of his ability with a great all round effort in what was a hugely physical game.

Norths scored seven tries to one but that was far from being an indicator of how the game played out.

As his centre partner Harry Burey said after the game, much like the effort against Penrith in Round Two, the scoreline was far from being a true indication of what happened between the white lines for the 80 minutes.

The Wildfires really took it to the home side on Saturday but it was their connectivity in defence and just the general hustle that saw the scoreline for the home side keep ticking over.

Russell was all over the ground, carrying tough ball off his own tryline, pulling off big hits in the middle of the field and got a cheeky strip from a kick chase that led to his second try.

Norths coach Earl Va’a said he thought his side had played the Wildfires at the right time.

“I spoke with their coach Scotty Coleman in our rooms after the game and mentioned to him that I had been looking at them since Round One and that they had improved each week,” Va’a said.

“They are going to get some results as the season goes on and that at the end of the day is going to be good for the game up there in Newcastle.

“We’ll take that sort of win any day of the week and the fact that the stats showed that possession was pretty much 50-50 says something about the way we took our chances and defended.

“There is still a lot to get right before we head to Woollahra Oval to play Eastern Suburbs so it’s back to work.”

There was some grief for Norths with skipper Nick Palmer blue carded after a collision just after the halftime break and the hamstring injury that prop Isaac Cavu sustained in a clean out situation.

Both will be missing next week with Cavu likely to spend a few more weeks on the sideline.

Wildfires coach Scott Coleman said the outings was brutal at times but he saw some more growth in his group.

“They strangled us in the first 20 minutes. We couldn’t get out of our own end,” Coleman observed.

“I can’t be too harsh because we competed for 80 minutes. Down 50-10, a lot of teams would give up when you are defending your own line, but we held them out for 10 phases.”

NORTHERN SUBURBS 50 (James Margan 2, Brad Hemopo, Angus Sinclair, Nathan Russell 2, Max Burey tries; Sinclair 6 conversions, 1 pen goal) d HUNTER WILDFIRES 10 (George Noa try; Michael Moloney 1 conversion, 1 pen goal)

IMAGE: STEWART HAZELL