What a result we had on Sunday when we thrashed the Newcastle Knights 60 – 4 at the home of the Bears, North Sydney Oval. The sun was shining and the Bears were on fire! The day started off nicely with local North Sydney district club Asquith Magpies defeating Ryde Eastwood Hawks and followed by hundreds of junior league kids descending on Bear Park. The young players had a great day hanging out with the Bears and the venue was flush with colour, movement and big smiles all-round. Over 1700 people through the gates for the second weekend in a row was simply awesome to see.

Bears looked strong from the kick off and remained strong until the final whistle blew at the 80th minute. 11 tries all up to the Red & Black with Oliver Gildart pocketing five of them in his debut for the Bears and Adam Keighran converting a whopping eight. Gildart was recently with Wigan Warriors in Super League, came out to play with Wests Tigers and is currently on loan to the Sydney Roosters. Following Gildart across the white line was Fletcher Baker who nabbed a double on the day, first one after a nice off load from Sandon Smith that saw him push under the posts. 28 minutes in Adam Keighran legged it for 70 mtrs after sweetly taking a bomb and palming off a charging Knight, twice, to put the ball down in the corner. With only 5 minutes left in the half, Gildart found the line again to send the boys to the sheds up 28 – 0.

Second half kicked off and nothing was slowing down our Bears. Drew Hutchison looked good in Red & Black and played a vital role in controlling the play throughout the game with swift thinking and some very neat passes with one putting Josh Bergamin through a hole in the first 4 minutes. Baker found his second try of the game after nice ball from dummy half Ben Marshcke. The Knights then saw their first and only points of the game after nearly 60 minutes of play to which the Bears quickly retaliated with another Gildart special in the corner after a long ball from Hutchison. The carnage continued with Bergamin stepping his way under the posts to secure his double and only four minutes later big prop forward Regan Hughes broke through the Knights defence and ran in a beauty. Just to sweeten the win for the fans, Gildart finishes off the game with his fifth try and the scoreboard lit up 60 – 4. This score rivals the Bears biggest win in the NRL back in 1998 defeating the Cowboys 62 – 0 also at North Sydney Oval.

The feeling in the change rooms at full time was electric with Bears royalty Billy Moore, David Fairleigh, John Gray, Greg Florimo and Jason Taylor all there to sing the victory song along with the players. Brilliant day, and one we were so happy to share with so many Members, Fans and junior league players at our home ground.