Joel Scrivener, our Knock-On Effect NSW Cup Recruiter, Analyst and Assistant Coach, talks us through some of the new key signings for 2025. We welcomed back into the team Jesse Marschke for his fourth season in the red & black. Marschke first came to the Bears in 2021 and was an impact playing in our 2023 Grand Final against South Sydney Rabbitohs. In 2204 Marschke was offered a full-time contract at St George Illawarra Dragons where he made his NRL debuted playing six matches. Returning back to the Bears for 2025, Marschke has taken on the Team Captain roll and commented that he wanted nothing less than a premiership this year.
Scrivener commented that retention from 2024 to 2025 was strong. Out of the twelve Bears contracted players in the 2024 Grand Final game we had nine return for the new season. The three players we did lose, Allan Fitzgibbon, Kurt De Luis and Kieran Hayman, have moved on to seek NRL level opportunities in Queensland. Scrivener takes us through how these three instrumental players were replaced by key signings below.
A big question often asked is who the team kicker will be this season. The squad is blessed to have multiple goalkicking options with Harradyn Wilson, Matt Stimson, Trey Brown and Jesse Marschke. All have been working on honing their craft this preseason. Bring on round 1 to find out who will step up!
With the loss of Allan Fitzgibbon, we had a spot open up for a winger. In our offense, the outside backs are the engine that drives us forward (our forwards are generally quicker footwork guys, rather than bruisers), so we were looking for a power back. For this reason, Compton fit the bill. In limited opportunities last year for the Warriors, he showed himself to be a bit of a post-contact monster, including leading all outside backs for post-contact metres in our match against them at North Sydney Oval.
Zac’s a guy who we did a lot of film on last year ahead of playing Souths, due to his Fitzgibbon-esque speed and elite tackle-breaking abilities. Zac is one of the most gifted ball-runners in NSW Cup, sitting in the Top 15% of the league for tackle bust rates across both the last two seasons, while playing at hooker and lock. With his speed and versatility, we’re viewing him as an option at both those slots, as well as fullback and potentially in the halves. He’s a guy who’s so electric that he can be useful just about anywhere; the challenge for us will be figuring how best to fit him into the team.
With the loss of Kurt De Luis (our 2024 Captain) we needed to recruit another middle, while also replacing KDL’s leadership. Chase ticks both of these boxes, having captained Souths’ NSW Cup side, as well as NSW Universities last year. He’s younger and has plenty of room to grow compared to KDL, brings a real enthusiasm and eagerness to learn that rubs off on everyone else in the squad.
The past two seasons we’ve used four different hookers across the course of the year, so we’ve been careful to make sure we’ve got plenty of depth at the position heading into 2025. Along with Nate Roache, Jayden Yates and Zac Makelim; Trey rounds out what’s statistically the most stacked hooking rotation in the league. He’s slightly different to the other three in that he’s not a massive tackle breaker, instead relying on craftiness and deception to produce points. However, his productivity is comparable to that of the rest of the group, and he’s also shown an ability to jump into lock during the pre-season. He’s really filled a lot of the void in talk and communication within the group without KDL, and he visibly raises the standard of training when he’s on the pitch.
