The North Sydney Bears are in rarefied air for 2023, celebrating Minor Premierships in NSWRL’s elite men’s and women’s competitions – The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup and Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership – in the same season.
Although there are two rounds left in NSW Cup, the Bears are on 36 points and five clear of second-placed Warriors on the competition ladder.
It was a much closer affair in the NSW Women’s Premiership with the Bears finishing on 18 points after the club season ended in late April, just a win clear of the Illawarra Steelers.
Chief Executive Gareth Holmes said the minor premiership double was an honour for the club.
“We have a very staunch and strong supporter base that has remained bolted onto the Bears through thick and thin,” Holmes told nswrl.com.au
“So to be able to celebrate two remarkable seasons in both the men’s and women’s is a great accolade for us.
“We made a decision this year as a club to put the focus on our recruitment across all our grades, but especially in the NSW Cup.
“We knew we were coming to the end of our five-year deal with the Sydney Roosters so we wanted to know we could still be successful by putting a competitive team on the field.”
The feeder club arrangement with the Roosters ends this year, and for 2024 and 2025 the Bears have signed on with the Melbourne Storm as their affiliate club.
Coach Jason Taylor paid tribute to head of recruitment Patrick Weisner for bringing players like winger Fetalaiga Pauga (20 tries and 20 line-breaks in 2023), centre Tuipulotu Katoa (third in NSW Cup for post-contact metres) and lock Zach Dockar-Clay (30 offloads and top five for tackles) to the club.
“We had to go hard and get a few more players in as the Roosters put their own NSW Cup side in this year’s competition,” Taylor told nswrl.com.au
“In the end less guys coming in and out has been a positive for us. But we did recruit well – Pat did a superb job.”
Pauga was at Western Suburbs Magpies and the Wests Tigers, while Katoa came from Mounties and Dockar-Clay from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, where he played 14 NRL games in 2022.
“It’s amazing how the season has played out in the last couple of months... we lost four games in a row in the middle of the season (Rounds 13-16), but everyone did us a favour by beating each other.
“So we didn’t slip far behind on the ladder, where we could have dropped down a fair bit.”
But the Bears are not resting with just two rounds to go before NSW Cup finals. They meet defending Premiers Penrith Panthers on Sunday 20 August, and Canberra Raiders on 27 August.
“We’re playing a couple of teams, who are pretty desperate to get themselves in the top five,” Taylor said.
“And that’s really good for us to be in some tough games for the next couple of weeks to help prepare us.”
