The progress made by Werribee Bears in the NRL Victoria this season has alleviated some of the bitterness of losing the grand final.
The Bears entered the finals as warm favourites but did not come to the party when it mattered.
The minor premiers went down 30-22 to Casey Warriors in a close-fought grand final at Casey Fields on Saturday.
The Warriors’ greatness cannot be denied as they beat the Bears twice in this finals series.
“Pretty disappointing but everyone still has high spirits,” Bears player-coach Phil Pese told Star Weekly. “We’ve worked so hard and achieved so much, so the boys feel like they’re winners at the end of the day.
“Although the score didn’t go our way today, we all feel proud of our journey.
“I think they all want to stay together and come back next year and try to be better and make it back to the grand final and, hopefully, get the result that we want.”
Werribee represents the changing face of rugby league in Victoria.
One of the recent expansion clubs, the Bears figured in the finals for the first time only last season. But they made even greater inroads this year and even surpassed competition powerhouses such as Sunbury Tigers, North West Wolves and local rivals Altona Roosters.
But the Warriors got hot at the right time and foiled the Bears’ bid for a first premiership.
“Casey is a great team,” Pese said after the match. “Both teams were good but it came down to the one percenters and who was willing to defend their tryline.”
The game was tight late with the Warriors leading 24-22 before the Bears paid the price for not completing a set.
“It came down to a particular play that we didn’t execute late in the game,” Pese said.
“We turned the ball over and Casey took it back to the other side and capitalised.”
The Bears were so good at taking care of the ball and defending with vigour over the course of the season. Unfortunately, under the spotlight of the finals, they started to fumble and concede an inordinate amount of points for what had been the competition’s best defensive unit.
“We did a lot of things good today,” Pese said. “But it was just a matter of which team would lapse and it was us, and Casey capitalised on it.”
Repaio Jones scored two of the Bears’ four tries, captain Chase Hoare crossed in his 50th game and Sebastian Lagaaia grabbed the other.
Pese would not single anyone out for praise but knew the scoreline would not have been so close without the hard runs of the forwards.
“I take my hat off to my forward pack,” he said.
“They really dug deep.”
