Affiliate wrap: Bears roar home to down Tweed in trials

Burleigh have clinched pre-season bragging rights on the Gold Coast after downing Tweed in both Hostplus Cup trial matches at the weekend.

Whilst the final scorelines are typically irrelevant in the early unofficial fixtures, new Bears coach Luke Burt will take plenty of confidence away from the outings, which saw his first trial side win 20-16, before backing it up in the second clash to win 18-10.

In front of a healthy crowd who were eager to get their footy fix, last year's minor premiers boasted fellow Titans Jacob Alick, Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui, Tony Francis, Keano Kini and Josiah Pahulu in the afternoon affair, all performing extraordinarily well after a tough and gruelling pre-season at Parkwood.

For Tweed, despite falling short in both contest, they had plenty of positives to come from the hit-out - including a chance for young gun Tom Weaver to get some more time in the halves after a stellar NRL trials with the Titans over the last fortnight.

Joe Vuna also got more minutes in the legs, as did Treymain Spry who are both coming off big summers after injury ruled them out for a majority of 2022.

The local Hostplus Cup rivals will square off again - this time for points - on Saturday, April 1 at Piggabeen Sports Complex, before another showdown in Round 15 at the end of June.

Both sides will enjoy this coming weekend off in readiness for their seasons to begin on March 11 with the duo on the road - Burleigh travelling to Bishop Park to face the Devils whilst Tweed will fly up to Rockhampton and face the Capras.

In other Queensland Rugby League competitions; after two rounds of the Auswide Bank Mal Meninga Cup, the Bears are sitting mid-table after a strong 36-10 win over Souths Logan thanks to a classy two-try haul to Future Titans outside back Sam Stephenson.

Tweed also comfortably notched up their first win of the season with a 36-10 triumph over the Tigers, and next face the Dolphins this coming weekend.