What a day we had on Sunday for Bears Legends Day!Β The clouds briefly parted as seventy Old Bears entered the hallowed grounds of North Sydney Oval, for some it had been decades since they had been back to Bear Park. The vibe on field was so humbling as the Old Bears gathered to form the guard of honour, alongside our young 2024 Development Squad Players and Coaches, clapping on the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup team as they took to the field ahead of their clash with the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles.
Bears were pumped, focused and on fire from the first whistle. Bears Legend Billy Moore had addressed the team prior to kick off, all engrossed as that iconic voice resonated around the room. Moore spoke of grit, unity, doing your job on the field and to make the most of this specialΒ time, right now right here.Β Just after ten minutes, big Joe Chan (Melbourne Storm) accepted a short ball from Jake Toby, found the gap and powered over the try line right in front of the Old Bears who leapt to their feet in cheers.Β Kieran Hayman converted, and the Bears led 6 – 0. Bears continued to attack the line and fiercely defended their try line for the next twenty minutes with no points awarded either way. Just over 30 minutes down and Bears point to the white posts after an opposition penalty error, Hayman expertly adds the two points. Only moments later, and to the crowds delight, the Allan Fitzgibbon show began! Off a beautiful grubber from Reimis Smith, Fitzgibbon chases the line of ball and grounds it in the corner, again right in front of the Mollie DiveΒ crowd of red & black fans. Hayman converts and the Bears hit the sheds up 14 – 0.
The second half started with some early points to the opposition and some deep breaths by the red & black fans in attendance, score 14 – 6. The home team regrouped and once again were on the attack, sweeping the ball to the hill side, Hayman offloads to full paced Fitzgibbon who slides across to add the four points. The kick was waived away and the lead extended to 18 – 6. Sea Eagles, desperate to holt the onslaught, made another error within the 10mtrs handing Bears the two-point penalty kick to push the scoreline out to 20 – 6 with 25 minutes to go. Less than 5 minutes later, Fitzgibbon goes up for a catch off a high ball right on our try line, comes up with the ball and bolts it coast to coast to nab his third try of the match. Again, the kick goes unconverted, and the score stands at 24 – 6. Only moments later, Blacktown retaliates to add an unconverted try to the scoreboard, 24 -10. Bears continue to fervently defend their lead with Jayden Yates knocking up a massive 36 tackles followed closely by our skipper, KDL with 34Β tackles for the game. With only 3 minutes left on the clock once again, Fitzgibbon jogs it over the line to bag his fourth try and secure the win for the club finishing at 28 – 10. The crowd goes wild and the Bears Legends rejoice at a brilliant victory over our old foes the Sea Eagles.
“Another win that was set up with some superb defence and keeping the Sea Eagles to nil in the first half set up the win. They led us 18nil after 20 mins a month ago and the boys were determined not to let that happen again in front of the Bears legends and our home crowd.” commented a proud Pat Weisner, Head Coach. he continued “Our attack was also good in patches, but we did make 15 errors which kept the game alive for longer than it should have been”.Β Putting the errors aside, Weisner boasted “We have gone 4 games in a row where we have kept the opposition to zero for a half of footy and that’s why we are winning”. Looking ahead to round 19, “We have last year’s Premiers away this week and they beat us at Coogee last year so it won’t be easy going there on Sunday. But if we can cut out the errors and maintain our defence we will continue to be hard to beat”.
