By DAVID ROWLANDS
NORTH SHORE TIMES - 10/9/2004
The Bears will be looking to put their hands up to be counted against the powerful Sydney Roosters in tomorrow's final.
On the strength of
just about
every statistic you can point to, it seems that the
Consider this: the Tricolours have won all 24 of their matches, scoring nearly a thousand points in the process. The average scoreline in their games is 40-14. Many good judges are hailing them as the best under 20s team of all time. They are brimming with junior representative stars and just a month ago, they massacred Penrith, the team that was running second, by 80-12.
It’s just as well that the Bears aren’t worried about facts and figures. As they prepare for the biggest match of their lives, they remain undaunted by the task and are relishing the chance to make a name for themselves by clocking an almighty upset.
The Roosters can rest assured that they’ll find someone running out to greet them on Sunday.
“We’ll be turning up,” Norths halfback Brett Law confirmed. “We wouldn’t do so if we didn’t think we could win.
“It’s a tough assignment, for sure, but we’re quietly confident.”
The uncomplicated nature of young footballers is something that works in the Bears’ favour. Having stripped back all the fuss about meeting the first outfit to go through a regular season unbeaten in living memory, they have done their best to simplify the challenge.
“We don’t think about things like that,” Law said of the notion that Norths are wasting their time. “I like proving people wrong. No team is unbeatable.
“At the end of the day, it’s just 13 against 13, mate.”
The critical areas for Norths are enthusiasm, intensity and “being consistent for 70 minutes, instead of playing well in patches”.
One fact that heartens
the Bears
faithful is that no side has come closer to conquering the Chooks than
they
have. That was back in late May when they went down fighting 27-20 at
North
Sydney Oval. Fired up by being threatened like that,
However Law doesn’t believe that either of those two encounters has much relevance to Sunday.
“I’m only thinking about what’s ahead,” he said. “If any side’s going to beat them, it’ll be us. Otherwise, I think they’ll go all the way without losing.”
Even though Norths finished in eighth spot and find themselves in the sudden-death position, their form over the last quarter of the season suggests they are more formidable than that, having knocked off four teams that were — and still are — above them on the table.
Now, the biggest scalp
of all
awaits.
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