No Burden To Bear
By DAVID ROWLANDS
NORTH SHORE TIMES - 8/9/2004

After two years of having his “confidence battered from pillar to post”, Gary Larson became a free man again on Sunday.

His tenure as North Sydney Premier League coach ended in a manner that had become all too familiar when they were dissected 76-18 by Cronulla at North Sydney Oval in the last home-and-away round.

“It’s been a long season,” he told the North Shore Times. “It’ll be good not to have to think about playing a game this weekend.”

Norths’ focus is now on the Jersey Flegg Cup side (under 20s), who will appear in the club’s first finals series since they were demoted from the NRL at the end of 1999. Unfortunately, this Sunday’s assignment at Aussie Stadium pits them against the most formidable unit in the code’s three competitions. The Sydney Roosters are the only unbeaten team in any grade, meaning that Norths will need to record a massive boil over to stay alive.

The Bear cubs head into the play-offs after being licked 46-18 by Cronulla, however it may not be a reliable form guide. Several key players were rested because the result had no bearing on the ladder.

Now that his 15-year involvement with the Bears is officially over, Larson will simply be an interested spectator on Sunday, hoping not so much for a miracle against the Roosters, but that simply qualifying for a final heralds the start of a Norths revival.

The man who has played the second most number of games for the Bears (with 234, behind his brother-in-law and club general manager Greg Florimo on 285) is now looking forward to spending more time with his family, how ever he’s keen to stay in touch.

“I’ll still be involved in some way,” Larson said. “When a hand is needed, I’ll be there. It’ll be very hard to pull myself away from it completely.

“The main thing is that there will always be a North Sydney Bears, no matter what comp they play in, because there’s a lot of passionate people involved.”
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