The hurt driving Kurt De Luis

North Sydney Bears captain Kurt De Luis hasn’t watched a replay of the 2023 Grand Final of The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup as the memories of losing to South Sydney in the dying minutes are still too painful.

But that loss has been driving the 91-game prop forward and his teammates throughout 2024 as the Bears find themselves back in the Grand Final, seeking their ninth NSW Cup title and their first since 1993.

The Bears take on the Newtown Jets at CommBank Stadium this Sunday.

“I haven’t watched (last year’s) match myself. It was such a good game to be a part of and only one or two plays that didn’t go our way … not sure I want to put myself through it,” De Luis told nswrl.com.au (pictured above, Photo: Bryden Sharp)

“But it was just those little effort areas and that we’ve worked on cleaning up all this year.

“It was a hard way to learn our lesson … just four-and-a-half minutes to go .. but it is what is. We’ve moved on and we get another crack at it with two Grand Finals in a row.

“Our weapon this year has been turning up for each other so we can’t lose sight of that on Sunday.”

The Bears have had a stellar season since they lost the bulk of their personnel following the transition to Melbourne Storm, from the Sydney Roosters, as their NRL feeder club. Only three players remain from the 2023 line-up – De Luis is one of them – and yet the club makes a second consecutive Grand Final.

“We’ve spoken about this all year, it doesn’t matter who joins us the Bears skeleton remains the same,” De Luis said.

“It’s in our DNA in North Sydney that we’re a tough, gritty team who wants to play for one another.

“There were times during the year we were stretched and went through adversity and different circumstances, but nonetheless we’ve come back, we’re here now and we haven’t done it the easy way.

“Obviously last year being part of the Roosters that attracted players to go to the ‘Chooks’ and they’ve kicked on like Zach (Dockar-Clay), Junior Pauga, Terrell May and Fletcher Baker – it’s just the nature of the beast.

“Now we’re with Melbourne and we did some really good recruitment there too so players just keep moving around when you’re at this level.

“The Storm have been so good as a football team for years. They instil hard work, do the little things right, and don’t over-complicate their job. Me as captain and our leadership group try to do exactly that each week too – keep the game simple – so they can come in and do their bit.

“We’ve had really good blokes like Tepai Moeroa, Bronson Garlick, Joey Chan, and Sualauvi Faalogo. Who just make people around them better players.”

There are seven NRL players, mainly Stormers, in the Bears side – De Luis played over a dozen games with Manly Warringah (2021-2022), and centre Tuipulotu Katoa had 10 games with the Bulldogs. 

It all could come down to a conversion, penalty goal, or even a two-point field goal … the Bears Kieran Hayman has the only one in NSW Cup this year (Round 20). He is also the leading points scorer (208) and goal-kicker (85).

But Jets halfback Niwhai Puru is not far behind: third for total points (166) and goals (72).

“When you get into a finals game and you’re going up by six, not four points, it makes such a big difference,” De Luis said.

“Kieran has had one hell of a year and deserves all the accolades. He kicked that two-point field goal against Canberra …. absolutely nailed it off two steps. We’ve won a lot of games with the accuracy off his boot.”