Complacent and inept Jets savaged
at Bear Park

While this game might have been Newtown's first visit to historic North Sydney Oval in twenty years, all of Sunday's celebrations belonged to the Bears. The Sydney Airport Jets turned in a collective shocker in this Premier League competition match, with North Sydney winning their first game of the season by 28-18. The Bears thoroughly deserved their victory by out-enthusing Newtown, making fewer errors and by punching holes through some rather brittle Newtown backline defence. The Jets fought back to trail 24-18 late in the second half, but missed opportunities and individual lack of discipline brought them undone. Best players for the very out of sorts Jets were Billy Najarrin, Tabua Cakacaka (who was placed on report, and is likely to miss next Saturday's game against his former club Canberra), Nathan Marles and Russell Richardson (whose two tries kept Newtown in the game). The Jim Beam Cup match away to Woy Woy was cancelled due to the waterlogged ground, and will probably be played in late August. The Sydney Airport Jets are drawn away this coming Saturday (May 24) to the Canberra Raiders at Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan, while Newtown's Jim Beam Cup team travel to Erina.