On a cold and wet day at North Sydney Oval we celebrated our inaugural Danny Met Sally inclusivity round, rolling out the red carpet for people living with disabilities to enjoy a Bears home game day experience. The rain did not dampen the smiles on the faces of the participants but did keep many of the red & black fans at home. An absolute highlight of the day was welcoming the Chance2Dance crew on to the main field at half time. The dancers are part of Newcastle’s only inclusive dance school for kids, teens & young adults with disabilities and special needs to learn dance & perform. They did a fantastic job to great cheers from the crowd.

The Bears NSW Cup team donned a very special jersey to commemorate the 115 years of calling North Sydney Oval our home. We first played at the ground in round 1 of 1910 taking on and defeating Glebe in front of a crowd of 3000. Since that date we have called the iconic venue our home. The collectors jersey is all printed in sleek red & black and features a watermark of the North Sydney Oval, a special emblem on the chest that represents the Moreton Bag Fig Tree and a walking bear, while the back features the names of all the stands of the oval. Members and fans can also purchase this jersey HERE

It wasn’t a great start to the day losing Jake Toby in the pre-game warm up and calling up Zac Makelim at the nth hour.

On field, Bears were quick to open the scoring in their match up against the Dragons with Matt Stimson barreling his way over and Harradyn Wilson converting from near on in front within five minutes from kick off. Only moments later, the red V broke the Bears defence with a fast-paced ball movement to the wing. Twenty-siz minutes gone and we lose our second fullback to injury, seeing Zac Makelim hobble off the field and a team restructure occurs on field as Coby Thomas drops to fullback and young Gabe Satrick comes on field. Coby Thomas normally enjoys a #13 jersey but had been called up to the #6 position for the game and finished off round 11 playing in a #1 position. Not ideal but in true Bears spirit the team rallied together. The score sat at 6 – 4 for an extended period of over 25 minutes until Bronson Garlick backed himself to light up the scoreboard with a cracker of a try in the corner and sent the team to the sheds up 12 – 4 at half time.

Unfortunately, the Dragon awoke in the second half that saw Ben Rumble notch up three converted tries and take the game lead at 12 – 22. With 12 minutes on the clock, the red and black fought back with big prop forward Ben Talty exploding out of the line off a beautiful chip by Jayden Yates and Wilson converted to bring the game within four points. Dragons showed why they are currently in second place in the competition, denying the Bears attempts to regain the lead and putting the final blow in with only two minutes to go to take the win 18 – 28. Bears now sit in 9th position on the comp ladder, with 15 rounds to go.