Norths Devils haven’t had so many new faces in six years but they will have a familiar rival for tomorrow’s start of the 2024 Hostplus Cup season.

The Devils travel to Burleigh to take on a Bears team celebrating the powerhouse club’s centenary.

The rivalry between the Devils and Bears has been intriguing in recent years. In 2021, the Bears inflicted one of only two losses for the Devils’ premiership year – a 36-0 belting at Bishop Park before Norths got revenge in the preliminary final.

In 2022, the Bears thumped the Devils in two regular season games including a 42-0 halftime score at Burleigh. But the Devils returned for the first week of the finals and stunned the minor premiers with a stirring fightback victory on the way to another premiership.

Today’s match promises another interesting chapter, with the Devils playing as a Dolphins NRL affiliate for the first time against the new Broncos-affiliated Bears.

But this will be a Devils’ team with a difference.

On Tuesday, Norths coach Dave Elliott named 10 players for their Devils debut under new captain Kierran Moseley.

The debutants include Devils signings Eddie Blacker, Tuki Simpkins, Gerome Burns, Jordan Lipp, Julian Christian and Jack Wright along with Dolphins NRL squad members Jeremiah Simbiken and Mason Teague.

That will make the most debutants since Round 1 of 2018 when the Devils had 11 new players including Jack Ahearn in the first game of a Norths career that would yield two premierships and five player-of-the-year titles.

Future NRL players Herbie Farnworth and Jamayne Taunoa-Brown also made their senior football debuts in that match.

Elliott has been impressed with the Devils’ commitment throughout the preseason and says the players are looking forward to starting the season.

“It will take some time to get us near the levels we want to play at but we should have confidence from our pre-season that we can play well from the start,” Elliott said.

“We’re up against a very good opposition that is always very hard to beat on their home ground. We know the challenge that Burleigh present and they’re a strong team every season.”

The Bears will this season wear a jersey that throws back to their early days, which started with their inaugural season in 1924.

The club reached the grand final last year after finishing the season as minor premiers.