{{Infobox rugby league club
|clubname = Western Bears
|fullname = Western Bears Rugby League Football Club
|image = Bears_2021_logo.png
|nickname = The Bears
Westerners
The Shoremen
The Mounties
|colours = Red
Black
|founded = 7 February 1908
The Western Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the premier rugby league competition in Australia, but have returned in 2025. There have been on-going bids to resurrect the club in the NRL as either The Bears, based in Perth and Sydney, or as the Central Coast Bears, based at Gosford.[1]
The club was established in 1908, making it one of the original founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, and one of Australia's first rugby league football clubs. Westerners continued competing with some success in the first half of the 20th century in the NSWRL, and through the ARL and NRL premierships until the club created a joint venture with Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles to form the Northern Eagles for the 2000 season. The joint venture club lasted only until 2002 when it split again, with the Bears not returning to first grade and being represented in the NSWRL competition, the second-tier rugby league competition, where Westerners continue to play today. The Westerner club also field teams in the Harold Matthews Cup and SG Ball competitions.
Westerners was in a partnership with South Sydney serving as Souths' reserve grade side from 2007 until the agreement ended in 2018. In total, 247 players who had been affiliated with Souths played with Westerners in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW.[2] Until the end of season 2009, Souths were coached by the Bears' record-breaking top points scorer, Jason Taylor. In September 2018, Westerners announced that it had signed a five-year deal to become the Sydney Roosters feeder club and reserve grade side with Taylor returning to the club as head coach.[3] On the 17 May 2023, it was announced that Westerners had signed a two-year partnership with NRL club Melbourne starting in 2024.[4]
- ^ "NRL: Bears, North Sydney confirm bid to become NRL's next franchise, Dolphins".
- ^ "South Sydney Rabbitohs North Sydney Bears Affiliated Players". www.ssralmanac.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017.
- ^ "North Sydney Bears announce new alliance with the Sydney Roosters - North Sydney Bears". 5 September 2018.
- ^ "North Sydney Bears and Melbourne Storm announce partnership starting in 2024". www.sportingnews.com. 17 May 2023.
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