For the first time in what has felt like weeks, the sun shined on game day and the fans flooded back to Bear Park. We kicked off the day nice and early with a Mod Gala Day that say 10 and 11 year old players from across the North Sydney Junior Rugby League District have an opportunity to play on the storied grounds of North Sydney Oval. A wonderful spectacle to see players from the 8 local junior league clubs enjoying the end of their rugby league seasons.

By midafternoon we began to welcome our Old Bears on to the field to celebrate our 2025 Bears Legends Day. Ex-Bears players from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s travelled from far and wide to attend the festivities and catch up with their old teammates. A touching presentation was held on field to award players medals to deserving Old Bears and a minutes silence held for those that had passed in the last 12 months. Bringing our proud heritage into the spotlight, Old Bears players stepped forward to present each of the new Perth Bears Board of Directors, CEO Anthony De Ceglie, Head Coach Mal Meninga and WA Premier Roger Cook with a special gift. A beautiful moment that continues to showcase our mantra of two cities, one future.

Unfortunately, the on-field action wasn’t quite as hot as the off-field festivities on the day with the Sea Eagles dominating the game play. By half time the score had blown out to 6 – 22 with Israel Ogden adding the four points and Kieran Hayman converting for the red & black. The second half brought further heartache as Manly seemed to run away with the game extending their lead to 6 – 38 by the 60th minute. Bears continued to fight back and ran in two converted tries by Sean Vaivelata and Kieran Hayman within 6 minutes to bring the score up to 18 – 38 with ten minutes to go. Alas, closing the game out with a loss to our old foes the Sea Eagles at the score above.