ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT IN BEARS WIN

17th April 2010 | by Steve Little | Back to Full List of Articles | PDF Media Release

The North Sydney Bears have produced an unpolished performance to win 40-30 against the Central Coast Centurions on Saturday at Energy Australia Stadium.

“The monkey was nearly still on our back” claimed Bears Coach Wayne Lambkin who saw good and bad in his teams first win of the season.

“We allowed the opposition to stay in the game by making mistakes with our kicking game. When it came to running the ball, I thought we were stronger this week than we had been, just a little bit disappointed with the way we struggled through the game when I know we’re so much better”.

The Centurions were the first to score in the first minute of action, through one of two tries to Teason Fa’avae-Eli. With the conversion by halfback Joel Burraston the Coast were in front 6-0.

Bears hooker Brock Molan got his team on the board in the 11th minute with a try right of field to make it 6-4 still to the Coast.

Good movement of the ball across field and a determined run from Bears winger Curtis Johnston allowed him to score in the left corner. With a great conversion kick by Eddie Paea, after 17 minutes play the Bears moved to 10-6.

Deon Apps’ try at the 26 minute mark was an outstanding one, hitting the hole at pace and touching down under the posts. Eddie Paea again converted for a 16-6 lead.

The Bears next try was all Eddie Paea. It was a freakish individual effort running directly from the scrum play, fending off and swerving to miss a number of opponents to score right of field. Eddie also converted to make it 22-6.

However the Bears were under attack in the later stage of the first half and the Centurions scored 2 more converted tries (including a second to Teason Fa’avae-Eli) to close the gap 22-18.

A penalty in the second minute of the second half lead to an easy try by Bears centre Andre Itula. Eddie Paea’s conversion was successful and North Sydney remained in front 28-18.

Central Coast were next to score closing the gap 28-24, before North Sydney Halfback Jarryd Hogan fooled the Central Coast defense with swerving and dummy passes to score. Eddie Paea added the 2 points for a 34-24 lead.

The final try for the Bears at the 66th minute went to Mark Talanoa running in to the right corner. Eddie Paea’s boot brought the score to 40-24 and the Bears appeared to have some breathing space. But a try to the Centurions in the 71st minute lead the Bears to a sustained attack by the Coast which the Bears withstood to complete the match 40-30 in front.

“I thought a couple of the tries we put on were neatly executed plays we practiced, but we need to do more than that. Whether we score off them or not we just need to keep doing it and building pressure on our opposition” explained the North Sydney Coach.

“I thought Joey [Williams] was extremely good, a class player! He’s going to force his way back into this team I have no doubt. He likes to have the footy, he likes to steer things and that is necessary in a footy team.”

A win is a win and Lambkin couldn’t deny the positives that come with the two points. “Maybe a win is what we need to build on what we have done. It’s hard to build off losses, you seem to work on the negative side of things rather than the positives so there’s a few positives there today to work on.”

“We had no senior players from Souths, we did it all with a group of guys from Norths and we still have our own injuries like John Kaifoto.” Backrow forward James Nightingale has been tolling away in the front row since the first round and both he and Coach Lambkin are looking forward to Johnny coming back and giving much needed support.

NORTH SYDNEY 40 (Brock Molan, Curtis Johnston, Deon Apps, Eddie Paea, Andre Itula, Jarryd Hogan, Mark Talanoa, tries, Eddie Paea 6 goals) defeated CENTRAL COAST 30 (5 tries, 5 goals) Halftime 22-18 North Sydney.

The Bears will be back at North Sydney Oval for their round 7 clash with the Western Suburbs Magpies on Saturday 24 April at 3:00 p.m.