PRELIMINARY FINAL : North Beach Sea Eagles 6 – Willagee Bears 12
By PETER ROWE
The Bears brand may have made a welcome return to the NRL in 2025, but rugby league in WA is this weekend talking about another group of Grizzlies – the Willagee Bears.
The team forgotten for so many years, languishing in the lower competitions, are back and after a nailbiting end to their NRLWA Fuel to Go and Play Preliminary final at Blueforce Park on Saturday evening, will square off against minor premiers South Perth in Saturday’s grand final at Dorrien Gardens.
The collective noun in the dictionary for a group of bears is a sloth or sleuth, but after this 12-6 victory over reigning premiers North Beach, perhaps a new word – team – can be added to describe how this group of players fought until the very end to secure their first grand final since 1984.
“It was a superb team effort.” coach Nelson Davis said. “They put their bodies on the line so many times. Try-saving tackles and a real arm wrestle in that second half.”
For Captain Kainoa Gudgeon it was another triumph at Charles Riley Reserve. Five years ago, almost to the day, he led the Joondalup Giants to a grand final win over the Rockingham Sharks on the same field.
“Getting to the big dance is always a good feeling,” he said minutes after the siren.
“We’ve worked very, very hard – and we made it hard for ourselves at times – but winning is such a great feeling.
“Of course we’re happy with the results this season, but we’re not satisfied until we hold that trophy at the end of the year.”
Gudgeon opened the scoring after 12 minutes. Slicing through the North Beach defence from five metres out before winger Kitione Nairube won a one-on-one battle out wide to reduce the margin to just two points.
With errors coming from both sides as each probed for another score it was always going to be a thriller.
Centre John Leota thought he had scored 11 minutes into the second half but referee Scott Spittles called it back for an infringement at the scrum before a late hit on a North Beach player 35 metres from the try line and in front of the posts, saw Jaylen Grey level the scores with a superb penalty kick.
Beach went again in search of a try but the Bears defence held firm and when prop Michael Fotu barged over minutes later Willagee were again in the ascendancy.
Tamaho Tierney’s kick gave them a six point lead with 20 minutes to play. And in rugby league 20 minutes is a lifetime.
“We knew they would pressure us in that second period,” Davis said.
“We were too lateral in the first half so had to adjust on the fly. The balance wasn’t quite right.
“Our defence stood up and stopped them several times and that’s what won us the game.
“We’ve played Beach a few times this season, so we both know each other very well. They gave us a game – it came down in the end to who wanted it the most.”
Tierney and Kelvin Coleman, then young backrower Rangi Thompson all made try-saving tackles as North Beach knocked and knocked again – but the door never opened.
Bowman Stein knocked the ball on going over and then Nairubi couldn’t hang on to a pass when clear and 10 metres form the try line as the Willagee players left nothing in the tank.
“It was a massive team effort, “ David said. “If I had to pick a 3-2-1, then it would go to my forward pack. They put their bodies on the line.
“Young Rangi Thompson was superb and Michael (Fortu) was another standout, as was Derek Chizuni, who moved into hooker as we adjusted. I’m so proud of all of them. But the job isn’t done. We have one more game to go. So no celebrating. Lets get ready for South Perth next week.”
For North Beach coach Phil Douché it was the end of a long run. The Sea Eagles have played in four consecutive grand finals, so it was a major disappointment – despite the effort his team had put in.
“I can’t fault the effort, it was awesome,” Douché said.
“The desire was there form both teams – But someone had to lose.
“I was happy at halftime – our line speed and kick chase and effort was all good. They tried to expose us down our edges early – I guess they’d watched our game against South Perth the week before. But at half-time we were in a good spot.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t execute when we had to late in the game and it cost us.”
