BMD Premiership Round 1 preview

Author: Rikki-Lee Arnold Statewide content producer
Timestamp: Fri 8 Mar 2024, 07:53 AM

The BMD Premiership reigning premiers, the Burleigh Bears, are on a mission to be even more consistent in season 2024.

After last year making history with a record-breaking seventh women’s title, the Bears are back with their eyes on the prize.

The changes to their squad have been small in number, despite leaving some big shoes to fill. The Quinlans, Ash and Felice, headed further south to Tweed alongside young gun Lily Kolc, while Taylor Fenton signed on with the inaugural Western Clydesdales squad.

However, the Bears have recruited strongly in response, welcoming back Lauren Brown who took last year off to train as a firefighter, while also adding Lavinia Kitai and Ivana Lolesio to their stocks.

Coach Scott Cooke said the squad was coming together.

“I feel like our pre-season has gone really well,” Cooke said.

“Our side didn’t change too much plus we’ve picked up some handy signings with the likes of Ivana Lolesio and Lavinia Kitai.

“They’ve come in and are training really well. We’ve had a good energy at training, the vibe has been good.

“Lauren Brown is back to join us as well, with an old combination between her and Zahara (Temara). They’re clearly quality players.

“Lauren has played in the hooking role before but is now an established halfback. The expectation is she will combine with Zee really well.

“With our younger players, I’m expecting them to push forward again. Even when we ran out for our trial against Norths, our oldest forward was Chante Temara and she’s 22.

“The rest are not much past 20. They’re young players but they’ve had a couple years in the BMD now, they’ve been on NRLW development contracts and they’re learning plenty. It’s good to see what they’ve learnt.”

Round 1 - Round 1 - Saturday 9 Mar

Full Time

Bears

Devils

Venue: UAA Park, Gold Coast

Team Stats Play by Play

Burleigh will open their season on home turf at UAA Park on Saturday, when they take on the new-look Norths Devils.

The Devils are now under the tutelage of coach Meg Ward and have had a fair bit of turnover within their squad heading into 2024.

Cooke is expecting Norths to arrive on the Gold Coast ready for a big game. In fact he expects the Bears will have a target on their back all season long.

“Some of the line ups leading into week one, it’s a pretty solid competition,” Cooke said.

“They’ll still look at Burleigh as contenders for every game. We have a solid line up ourselves, which hasn’t changed too much.

“But if you’re coming up against the Bears, you’ll be training to make sure your team is up for a game and I know we will as well.”

That’s why consistency is key for Cooke and his Bears this year.

It’s something he felt they were lacking last season, even as they managed to claim the trophy, and a factor he really wants his team to improve on in 2024.

“As a team, we struggled for consistency in some of the games last year,” he said.

“I’d like to see us be that consistent team that does the little things right.

“We want to play tough and grind out a win. I know we’ve got some flair and potential for try scoring but we want to do the small stuff right and stick into the big games.”

Round 1 - Round 1 - Saturday 2 Mar

Full Time

Magpies

WM Seagulls

Venue: Logan Metro Football Fields, Logan

Team Stats Play by Play

Round 1 is a split week to start 2024, with the Wynnum Manly Seagulls overcoming the Souths Logan Magpies 16-10 in the standalone match last weekend.

As well as Burleigh and Norths, the rest of the competition will go into battle from Saturday, with the inaugural Western Clydesdales team taking on the Central Queensland Capras from 1.25pm.

Round 1 - Round 1 - Saturday 9 Mar

Full Time