Moving from the youth men's competition to the senior men's was always going to be a difficult challenge for the Goulburn Bears and they are learning it the hard way.
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The Bears have now lost three of their opening four Waratah League matches, with the latest defeat coming at the hands of the Hornsby Ku Ring Gai Spiders at the Goulburn Basketball Stadium on Sunday, April 14.
Coming off their only victory so far against the Wagga Wagga Heat, the Bears were brought back down to earth, going down 93-61 and coach Eddie Teague said it was disappointing to see a drop in level compared to Heat match.
"At home, we're usually a lot better than that," Teague said.
"We didn't step up and that was probably our worst game as a team.
"We should defend our home court with a bit of enthusiasm, but we only got that from the bench which came on and did a pretty good job."
Teague also put the loss down to their sluggish starts to all four quarters.
"They're a tough team, so we did well to hold them in the first half, but they got a jump on us in the second half," Teague said.
"For some reason, starting each quarter didn't go well."
Last season, the Bears played in the youth men competition, but with only a couple of new players this season, Goulburn has found it hard to adapt to the senior competition.
"We're not used to the new level of play required," Teague said.
"This competition contains a lot of older, stronger and more physical players.
"Players in Sydney teams have played together for years and they're strong and play tough defence.
"We played like a junior team today."
Besides the level of play, Teague said his side was struggling as they weren't well balanced at the moment.
"Guys don't know what their roles are, but we'll just keep working hard and see how they go," he said.
The Bears next play the Camden Valley Wildfire at Thomas Hassall Anglican College from 11am on Sunday, April 21.