NORTH Tamworth Bears might have copped a scare at the right time.
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The Bears beat Gunnedah Bulldogs 26-24 at Gunnedah’s Kitchener Park on Sunday, finishing the game with 11 men to the Bulldogs’ 12 as emotions boiled over following a late try to Gunnedah fullback Aaron Donnelly.
Tackled by Scott Blanch over the line, the incident boiled over with Blanch and then teammate Brock Wadwell involved in a little fracas which finished with the Bear pair, and Donnelly, spending the final few minutes in the sin bin.
The Bears held on to win but it was far from what captain-coach Zac Russ was hoping for leading into this weekend’s top of the table showdown with unbeaten West Lions after leading 22-nil.
“We switched off,” Russ said.
“We dropped a lot of ball too, early in the tackle count and also gave away some silly penalties.
“We didn’t respond to those decisions very well either.”
He was also a bit bemused by the fact Gunnedah forward Danny Read received the three points in The Leader Group 4 Player of the Year Award when he thought Bears backrower James Cooper was outstanding.
“He scored three tries and had a chance to set up two more but they were called back for forward passes,” Read said.
“He was a constant menace on the left edge.”
Cooper, who works as an athletes sport program manager with Northern Inland Academy of Sport and is busy helping organise and run the first National Primary Games in two weeks’ time, was delighted to score his first Player of the Year points of the season.
“First and probably last,” he joked yesterday.
“We did start really well. We led 22-nil after 20 minutes and felt in control.
“However I think we became a bit complacent and lost our focus a little bit.”
Some on-field banter sidetracked the Bears and, when the Bulldogs got back to trail 22-14, “a little bit of panic set in”.
“But Scotty Blanch settled everyone down. He got us behind the line and told us all to pull our heads in and get back to playing footy.”
The Bears did that and Cooper scored his third try, but the game swung again when Donnelly scored, igniting the late skirmishes and ending with the 11-man Bears having to fend off the late charge from the 12-man Bulldogs.
It does set up for a huge game between the Bears and unbeaten Lions this weekend.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for us,” Cooper said.
As will be the fast approaching National Primary Games.
“It’s been a massive learning curve for me the last six months,” Cooper said.
“We’ve got 1500 kids in 12 sports playing,” he said of the July 11/12 Games.
“There’s 250 coaches and a heap of parents coming.
“We’ve estimated there will be 2000 people in the Sports Dome for the Saturday night function.
“The Tamworth Regional Council told us it might bring $1.1million to town.”