Bears fall at final hurdle

1 October 2024

The North Sydney Bears suffered a heart wrenching loss to the Newtown Jets at the NSWRL Grand Final on Sunday.

After topping the leaderboard at the conclusion of the regular season, the Bears were roaring for a chance at victory in their second consecutive Grand Final appearance in this year’s Knock On Effect Cup. 

They secured a direct pathway into Sunday’s game following a tight 18 to 16 win against the Newtown Jets in the Major Semis on September 15.

Unfortunately, the Jets came back firing – taking home the trophy 28 to 22 and extending the Bear’s 31 year title drought.

It was the first time the two foundation clubs faced off in a grand final since 1943.

Over 10,300 fans at Commbank Stadium were treated to a nail biting night with scores locked up four times with four tries apiece as the game headed into its final 15 minutes.

Jets front rower Braden Hamlin-Uele broke the tie in the 64th minute pulling the Henson Park team ahead for the win.

“We tried really hard but there was a couple of areas where we weren’t good enough, we didn’t complete well and they did,” Bears coach Kieran Dempsey told NSWRL.

“I thought we were coming home well using our speed through the middle. But it wasn’t to be.”

He added: “I’m very proud of this group. They’ve been through a lot and the resolve they showed today and all year was remarkable.”

The Bears finished with more run metres, more tackle busts, more offloads and less missed tackles than the Jets – as well as 17 errors to 11. 

Newtown’s No.7 Niwhai Puru was crowned Player of the Match with a try assist, a linebreak assist, 120 metres and four conversions from five attempts under his belt. 

“This is 10 months worth of work that has gone into this,” Jets captain Billy Burns said.

“I just couldn’t be more proud … we said we could do it, we earmarked the day and we finally did it.”

Jets coach George Ndaira said post-match: “We knew we were going to be in for a tough game, the Bears just kept turning up.”

“We had that understanding going into the game and we prepared for it.”