18°C | Wednesday September 11, 2024 
28 August 2023
Norths Rugby Union: Shute Shield just slips away from Shoremen
Randwick have claimed their first premiership in 20 years after defeating Norths in the Shute Shield Grand Final. This marks another heartbreaking end to the season for the boys in red and black.
Fans packed into Leichhardt Oval to watch the top two teams of 2023 battle it out. Both sides were considered defensive powerhouses, a characterisation they lived up to in the early stages of the game. Randwick opened up the scoring then backed it up by holding Norths off the try line for the first half. At the half time break, Randwick was up 17-3 with a single Jude Gibbs penalty goal all Norths could manage.
Norths managed to flip the script in the second half with Luke Gersekowski crossing the line from a rolling maul before Nathan Russell’s set up Henry O’Donnell who burnt the defense, crossing the line and bringing Norths within 2 points. In the dying moments of the Grand Final, Randwick defense was under serious siege, but with 8 minutes remaining a penalty gave Norths a chance to pull ahead by one point with a goal. It was a difficult angle for kicked Jude Gibbs who unfortunately couldn’t connect with Randwick holding onto to secure the Shute Shield 15-17.
All season, these two sides were a cut above the rest, so this match up and result wasn’t particularly surprising as they produced a thrilling Grand Final.
For Norths, since winning the premiership in 2016, they have been at least in the top 4 teams. Randwick finally broke their premiership drought, last winning it in 2004. The storied club now has 29 titles and is second in all time shield premierships.
The boys from North Sydney Oval can still be proud of their minor premiership winning season and definitely have more success due in the future, especially with Coach Zak Beer committed for next season.
North Shore Bombers: Bombers Boys Grand Final Bound!
After winning the AFL Sydney Premier Division’s Minor Premiership, North Shore advanced directly into the Semi Final after a narrow finals victory over UNSW Bulldogs, who finished second on the ladder and were last season’s premiers.
It was a shaky start for the Bombers with no goals in the first quarter while conceding 14 points in. By the second quarter they were able to narrow the margin to 22-29, booting 3 goals. After the half time break the boys from Gore Hill took over jumping to a 56-35 lead in the third. Josh Rayner led the way, booting 3 goals in the game while William Hopkins knocked in 2. In the final quarter the Bombers tightened up only managing one point, while the Bulldogs scored 20. North Shore were just able to hold on 57-55 to advance through to the Grand Final.
UNSW will have a chance to redeem themselves against Pennant Hills with the winner to face North Shore the week after. This isn’t a huge shock with these three clubs finishing as the top three seeds.
Despite the narrow result, a win is a win as the Bombers attempt to secure their first premiership since 2007. All season they have been the team to beat, only dropping one of their sixteen matches.
Norths Basketball: Bears’ Women win another banner
Although NBL1 season might be over, the NSW Basketball competition had its finals weekend with Norths participating in the Youth League Women’s. Youth League is a under-23s league with plenty of NBL1 players participating.
Norths faced Central Coast in the Semi Final on Saturday, 65-56 to advance through to Sunday’s Grand Final. Standing between them and the title was old foes, derby rivals and minor premiers; Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. This was a rematch of the NBL1 East Grand Final, which the Bears won just two weeks ago.
The Youth League Grand Final started perfectly for Norths going on a 0-16 run. Manly would fight back throughout the second and third quarters. However, thanks to 28 points from Carla Pitman and 19 points from Peggy Schell, the Bears were able to trump the Sea Eagles, 60-74.
With this Norths claimed the championship and delivered the club its third banner of the year; including the NBL1 East Champions, NBL1 National Championship Runner Up and now Waratah Youth League Champions.
Norths can now be considered the best women’s basketball program in NSW and one of the best in Australia.
North Sydney Bears: Sights set on the finals despite stumble
In their final regular season game of the NSW Cup competition, the Bears hosted the Canberra Raiders. With the minor premiership secured, the only thing at stake for Norths was putting on a show for their fans.
Fetalaiga Pauga opened the scoring with his 20th try of the season after a simple right flank raid off a scrum. The next try came from Zach Dockar-Clay who was on the receiving end of a set up from Kurt De Luis. With both tries converted the Bears were 12-0. Canberra would then fight back, matching the two tries and booting a penalty goal. Norths also knocked over a penalty to tie things up 14-14 at halftime. Sadly for the home fans, their side wouldn’t score again as the Raiders ran in three more converted tries plus two more penalty goals, winning 14-36.
Not a huge blow for Norths with their focus firmly on the finals. They will have next week off as due to their table position they have advanced to the Semi Finals where they will face either Canberra or Blacktown.