As the retro crowd wondered into Henson Park, the final of the 2025 Frank Hyde Shield got underway. With the Jets NRL pathway team, Cronulla Sharks, enjoying a bye round our opposition was nicely stacked and ready to rumble, we knew we had a tough game on our hands. Bluebags got off to a cracking start finding the line within two minutes off kick off and converting from the sideline to take the lead 6 – 0. It didn’t take long for Bears to retaliate with Jake Toby charging down the attacking Jets, coming up with the ball to sprint full field to get the Bears on the Board. Kieran Hayman neatly converted from outside and the score was equalised. over the next twenty minutes, the Jets ran in two more converted tries extending their lead to 18 – 6. Just as the teams were preparing to head to the sheds, the boys in blue made a mistake that saw the ball pass into the hands of the defending Bears. Izzy Ogden knew what to do and took the ball to the line adding the four points. The try went unconverted and the team headed to the sheds down 18 – 10.

The second half started much like the first with Jets getting an early try within five minutes of kick off and followed ten minutes later. Jets sharpshooter was on fire, nailing 5 out of 6 conversions on the day. the next eighteen minutes saw both sides knuckle down on defence and no points were awarded. Finally, as the game went into the last ten minutes, the Bears hit their stride with Moses Leo pouncing on a dropped ball and in lightning speed running near on the length of the field to ground the ball under the posts. Hayman converted and the score showed at 30 – 16. Only minutes later Harradyn Wilson made a break, chipped the ball up and recouped it to take the four points. Hayman again converted from in front and the score narrowed to 30 – 22. The red & black were gunning to make the last minutes count but in the end the Jets found the path forward to add one last converted try taking out the Frank Hyde Shield, 36 – 22. the silverware remains in Newtown for another season.