The sun shined down on Bear Park for the club’s inaugural Indigenous Round on Sunday, paying our respects to National Reconciliation Week and aligning to the NRL themed round. We kicked off the day with hundreds of U9s junior league players from across three districts descending on North Sydney Oval for a fun morning of gala games. Followed by the hotly anticipated Bears v Warriors game at 1pm. With the smoking ceremony underway, Adam Byrne and Clarence Bruinsma from Bush to Bowl performed the welcome to country in front a respectful crowd of Bears faithfuls. The North Sydney team showing proud solidarity as they stood arm in arm on the 40 metre mark, proudly wearing the first Bears Indigenous Round Jersey and facing off with the Warriors team prior to kick off.
The game kicked off and within seconds Bears made their first of a series of errors that would see them chasing their tale for 15 minutes of the first half. Warriors took advantage running in two tries in ten minutes and quickly pushing the score out to 0 – 10. As we approached the 20-minute mark, Bears swept the ball to the wing finding man of the moment, Allan Fitzgibbon who outpaced the Warriors defence to light up the scoreboard. The kick went unconverted and the red & black continued to trail 4 – 10. However, momentum was changing and the home team’s persistence with solid defence was paying off. Just over ten minutes later, young Jayden Yates breaks the Wahs line and offloads to a supporting Jake Toby who swan dives under the white posts. Kieran Hayman converts to level the scores at 10 a piece where it remained until the teams headed to the sheds for the half time break.
Although the second half started in the Bears favour it was the boys from across the Tasman that nabbed the early points with a converted try and took the lead 10 – 16. Bears can-do attitude came into force soon after and the team shut down the visitors attack not allowing any further points in the game to be awarded. With 25 minutes remaining on the clock, the red & black attacking line moves swiftly forward, the ball moves to the wing again finding Fitzgibbon who burns the opposing defence to take the ball of the try line as the crowd on the hill erupts in cheers. Hayman converts and the scores are once again locked at 16 all. Only moments later a charged-up Jerry Key annihilates the Wahs when on the attack, flattening Harry Durbin and handing the ball back to the good guys. Red & black charge down the field, a kick goes up to the corner, Tui Katoa expertly knocks it back into the arms of big Joe Chan who rolls it in and Bears takes the lead for the first time in the game. Hayman converts from the sideline and the score board shows up 22 – 16 to the home team. With twenty minutes still left on the clock, the game remained open to either side to steal the points. Bears retained their cool and denied the Wahs any further opportunities, securing the win with some strong defensive action.
“The Warriors hadn’t lost since round 6 and were in great form, so it was a huge win for our boys.” said Head Coach Pat Weisner post game. “It was close to our best defensive effort of the year to go the last 70mins conceding just the 1 try after the Warriors bounced to an early 10 nil lead.”. He went on to comment “We had to defend our errors all game and far too often, but I’m really happy that despite all those errors we found our way to the front at the 60min mark and then defended our way home.”. Finishing off from Weisner “We have a tough 3 game away run, starting with Blacktown, and we will need to cut out the mistakes and improve quickly if we are going hold our position on the ladder.”
Our Knock-On Effect NSW Cup team are currently sitting in second place on the ladder after 12 rounds, although with equal points to both 1st and 3rd. The top 5 spots are hotly contested, and the second half of the season will bring some big moments that will influence the comp ladder. This Sunday we go up against the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles, kicking off at 3pm at HE Laybutt Field. No live stream this weekend, come on out and cheer on the lads. Check out the team named to get the job done >>
After further scans, unfortunately Riley Meyn did suffer an ACL injury in round 11 that will see him out for the season. A massive blow to the up-and-coming star who had been on fire this season since joining the Bears. Our club medical team will be working closely on Meyn’s rehabilitation so he can come back bigger and stronger in 2025.
