How on earth does a team that has lost six games in a row manage to beat a team that has won the same number in succession?
That’s the perplexing
question
to be posed after
Those who know the Bears’ history will put it down to the wondrous unpredictability of the club. Those who actually saw it will apportion it to good old-fashioned guts and application.
The players claimed it
also owed
much to a friendly rivalry with the club’s smartly-performing Jersey
Flegg Cup
under-20s unit, who consolidated their top eight berth in the
curtain-raiser
with a 44-6 crunching of
Stand-in skipper Ben Fisher said: “The intensity and will to win was there. It was a tremendous team performance.
“The Jersey Flegg boys have been going great this year and leading the way for the club, whereas the senior team has felt like we’ve let the sup porters and coaching staff down. It was time for us to stand up and be counted.”
Back in early May, the
Bluebags
belted the Bears by 22 points at
Manly star Craig Field. But with their chief playmaker back and Norths missing theirs in regular leader Ben Black, another hiding seemed likely.
By scoring first, the Bears found themselves on the front foot for a change. With three quick tries in a devastating 10-minute spell just before the break, the game was in their grasp at 26-8.
Although the Bears could add only a penalty goal in the second term, Fisher felt it was a more concerted effort than the first half because of the massive pressure they faced. Despite having what seemed like an exclusive license on possession, the Jets cracked Norths’ line only twice.
For the first time since April 24, Coach Gary Larson was smiling broadly after their third win of the year.
“When we put it together, we’re a good football team,” Fisher said.
“We’ve always known we can match it with the bigger sides but we’ve just gone away from our game plan too often or only played well in patches. This time, we put two solid halves together and it came off.
“The last few weeks
since the
bye have been very disappointing, so it’s good to know that the slump
that
started against
Norths will be aiming
for
similar success against an other of the competition’s foundation clubs
when
Balmain heads across to
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