Stop the competition, let’s play the grand final tomorrow — North Sydney is on top of the NSWRL Premier League ladder!
This rare sight became reality when the Bears held on to beat St George Illawarra 24-22 at WIN Stadium on Saturday evening.
Following on from their opening week success against Parramatta and the ensuing bye, Norths are now in pole position with six points from a possible six, but only after surviving an anxious end to their Wollongong assignment.
The Bears had a sluggish start and ran out of gas near the finish, but they did enough in between to get the verdict against last year’s runners-up.
From 10-0 down early, Gary Freeman’s men motored to a 24-10 advantage on the back of a low error rate and the judicious kicking game of halfback Aaron Heremaia, before the Dragons gave Norths a scare with two late tries.
“It was a fairly clinical and mature performance,” said Norths general manager Greg Florimo.
“It seems like the team has been playing together for a long time, rather than just a few weeks, because they’ve gelled very nicely and they don’t get flustered when things go against them.”
Florimo believes the sight of North Sydney being atop any competition table is a small re ward for the immense pain that Bears supporters have been through in recent times.
“The people who follow this club have been through a period of great despair, so it’s nice for them to have some sort of joy and encouragement that there’s some positive things happening,” he said.
“I’m also rapt for the boys themselves because it’s a reflection of all the hard work they’ve done over the summer.”
Despite commencing their campaign with wins over a couple of 2004 semi-finalists, Florimo has warned that it’s premature to trumpet the Bears as being play off bound when we’re still in March.
“It’s definitely too early to be talking about semi-finals,” he said.
“There’s a long way to go, but this is certainly an encouraging start.
“The main thing we have to do is maintain our focus and keep meeting the little goals we set our selves, like completing our first three sets of six in each game and having completion rates above 80 per cent.
“If we take care of those little mechanical things, then the big picture will look after itself”
The Bears will be hell-bent on making it three from three when they confront their despised neighbours Manly at Brookvale Oval on Sunday.