Western Clydesdales fall short in BMD clash with Burleigh Bears

Revealed: The key phases of play that hurt Western Clydesdales winning hopes in BMD Premiership opener plus how coach Richard Dugdale plans to get team on track for round 2 win.

Reagan McMillan scores for the Western Clydesdales against Burleigh Bears in round 1 of the 2025 BMD Premiership season.

A Burleigh Bears broadside dented Western Clydesdales hopes of a BMD Premiership round 1 win at the weekend.

Stunned after conceding a try inside the first 90 seconds of the game, the Clydesdales were then bullied by an impressive hard-running Bears who established a 12-0 led by the 14th minute of the game.

After finding their composure Clydesdales went into the halftime break trailing 16-6 before going on to lose 32-18.

“We knew we had to be at the top of our game heading into this one. Bears are one of the benchmarks in this comp,” Clydesdales coach Richard Dugdale said.

“Unfortunately we were slow out of the blocks and Bears in contrast started really hard.

“That (slow start) and a period in the second half where they scored three (tries) pretty quickly really cost us.

“I thought we were very competitive for most of the game, the score did blow out a bit which is a bit disappointing, but for the most part I think we competed well and matched it with them in passages.”

Western Clydesdales players (from left) Kayla Jackson, Zoe Cook and Reeghyn Beardmore kick-off their 2025 BMD Premiership campaign. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Back-to-back tries between the 45th and 49th minutes in the second all but ended the Clydesdales hopes of a win.

Taking stock after the away game Dugdale said he cannot fault his team’s commitment or passion in the season opener.

Heading into a round 2 home clash with BMD Premiership rookies Northern Pride, the Clydesdales mentor believes a few minor tweaks will get his team on the right path.

“I thought we fought hard up the middle after the slow start and came away with points when we did that,” he said.

“At training there will be a few things we can work – technical things.

“We need to be more clinical around the ruck for start – we can’t afford to give away penalties and restarts because you can’t score if you’re defending too often.

“We can tighten up our defensive pattern and stick to our patterns more in attack.

“The effort and willingness to compete is there we just need to fix and focus on some technical stuff.”