The Norths Bears return to The Bear Cave this weekend, with all four senior representative teams taking on northern rivals Newcastle in important Waratah Championship and Youth League clashes.

The Championship Men’s game will pit the Bears against a Hunters teams that is on the rise and will re-ignite some fierce rivalry between these two teams developed over the last few years.

Under the guidance of astute coach Trevor Gallagher, Newcastle has a young, developing team and on their night, the Hunters have the athleticism and offensive weapons to challenge the best teams in the competition.

Norths are coming off one of their finest wins of the year at City of Sydney and Coach Ben Knight will be keen to build on that as his charges head into the second half of the season. The Comets win was consolidated at the defensive end of the floor, with hard working guard Nic Blair harassing the potent Sydney back court and Brad Ryan restricting the always dangerous Tom Dawson.

With a cloud over star guard and reigning MVP Jarrad Weeks, the likes of Blair, Jimmy MacCann and Erik Dorbek will have to step up at both ends of the floor to ensure there is no chance of an upset at home.

In a big weekend for the Bears, they will travel to Sutherland on Sunday to take on a rejuvenated Sharks outfit, who continue to be the big improvers in the league under the guidance of former Sydney Kings sharp-shooter BJ Carter.

For the Bears Women, Saturday’s clash with the young Hunters in a danger-game, with star guard tandem of Renae Camino and Nicole How both unavailable. The pair have been the driving force behind the 8-0 start to the season by Nat Stafford’s team and there will be pressure on experienced campaigners Sarah Shafaghi and Annice Lagourcette to lead their young team-mates.

Lagourcette has been one of the team’s most consistent performers in recent weeks and her ability to continually get to the glass from the small forward position has seen the Bears dominate the rebound count in recent outings.

Teenagers Sara Anastasieska and Danijela Milisic will make the Waratah Championship debuts in this game, joining under 18 team-mate Lizzy Tonks in what will be a youthful Norths line-up.

The Youth League Men will have a battle on their hands against a Hunters outfit that has plenty of size and athletic ability. The Hunters have some of the best young players in country basketball at present and will provide Dennis Emery’s charges with plenty of headaches on the glass.

The Bears have been a model of consistency in recent times and continue to build towards as third consecutive finals appearance. The front-line of Dan Young, Lachie Woodhill and Daniel Jones has been key in recent victories, with Chris Johnstone and Darcy Emery forging a terrific combination in the back court.

In the Youth league Women’s game, both Norths and Newcastle will field quite young line-ups and this one is expected to go right down to the wire with both groups working to stay in touch with the competition frontrunners.

The Bears have got plenty of value out of the back court rotation of Alice Ballhausen, Rachel Zallou and Donalee Delahunty and that trio will again be key as the Bears look to steal an important home court victory.

Game times for Saturday night are:

6pm Youth League Men

6pm Waratah Championship Women

8pm Youth League Women

8pm Waratah Championship Men