Kicking off the Knock On Effect NSW Cup on Friday, Bears took on the Penrith Panthers on their home soil. After almost twenty minutes of strong defensive play, first try of the 2023 season went to Bears player, Jesse Marschke, as the ball shifted from centre and he jogged it over the white line. Marschke went on to convert his own try and put the Bears in the lead 6 – 0 up. It wasn’t long before Panthers found their turbo speed with two long range fast tries that ended up seeing them going to the sheds up 12 – 6. The second half was another hotly contested forty minutes and although Panthers got the first points with a soft try, Bears kept them scoreless from there on in. The Red & Black held their defensive line as they tried to push forward, finally finding the next points in the last five minutes of the game when Zach Dockar-Clay busted across under the posts after a swift pass from Ben Marschke. Jesse converted and the score ended 18 – 12 with the black cats taking the win. A solid effort against the 2022 premiers, lots to be tightened and fine-tuned at training this week but a great place to move forward for this weekend’s game against the Raiders. Watch the game highlights HERE

On the hottest day of the year so far, our Harvey Norman Women’s team went up against the Bulldogs last night at NSWRL Centre of Excellence under heat play rules, meaning they have water breaks at the quarter time mark. Bears were under the pump from the kickoff, defending four sets in a row at the dogs attacked their try line. After some questionable refereeing, the blue and white found the white line and took an early lead. It didn’t take long for Bears to get the ball to the other end and Sarah Togatuki pushed her way over from a sneaky inside pass, Kirra Dibb converted and the score was equalised. However, the relentlessness of those first 10 minutes of defending took a toll and our team just couldn’t recover, heading to the sheds down 18 – 6. Although the Bulldogs came out firing and extended their lead with an early try and the first of two penalty goals, the Bears dominated this half and really worked to close the score gap. Fifteen minutes in, Togatuki again backed herself driving forward to ground the ball under the posts, giving Dibb an easy conversion. To finish off the Bears points, the ball shifted from centre to Dibb who dummied and shimmied across the line and again converted her own try taking the score to 26 – 18. Bears were on a roll but another penalty goal in the last minutes of the game sealed the win for the opposition. Lot’s to learn from this game and review in today’s training session, bringing out a stronger Bears side this weekend. Watch the game highlights HERE

Finally, our junior reps teams had home games at Hills Grammar last Saturday. Tarsha Gale Cup were up first and, although gave it their all, were not up for the challenge against top of the table Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy. It was a heartbreaker in the Harold Matts game with the win snatched from the team’s hands in the last minute of the game, going down by only 2 points to the Central Coast Roosters. Last to kick off were the SG Ball boys who bagged their second win of the season with a convincing victory over Melbourne Storm and got to sing the team song in the sheds post game.