Vince Habermann | 30th September 2011| NewsMail

BUNDABERG Radiology Bears' quest to go one better next year in the QBL women's division has received a major boost with the re-signing of one of their best, Hayley Munro.

Munro joined the Bears this season and she was a driving force behind their charge to an historic grand final appearance, but Bundaberg fell at the last hurdle, going down to the star-studded Gladstone Port City Power.

The 23-year-old US college graduate, who is originally from Melbourne, said it "was a bit of a tough decision" to re-sign with the Bears after also receiving a few offers from clubs in the South East Australian League.

"It is kind of an a par with the QBL and it was close to home, but I had such a great time with the Bears and the community was so great, I decided to come back," Munro said.

"I had been looking to head to Europe in the off-season but a couple of issues arose from a family side of things, and I'll now most likely head overseas in January for the end of their season - it could be Germany, Spain, Denmark or anywhere, but I'll be back a month before the season starts here.

"Vonny (Turner) is back too, along with Alice (Honnery) and they are still looking for a few new additions, but it will be pretty much the same team - and that's part of the reason why I'm back.

"I've got a bit of an inkling we can win the championship with the same group of girls - obviously Gladstone will be the one to beat again, but if we can get a better pre-season and some practice, we'll see what we can do."

Dean Page, who did an outstanding job in his first season as Bears' coach and will continue in the role in 2012, is delighted.

"Hayley was our main priority after Vonny and the fact she has knocked back far more lucrative offers to join us validates what we are doing," Page said.

"Our main reason for wanting Hayley is she's a winner and that's what we want to filter down to the juniors, and basically she gives us a huge step in completing the puzzle for 2012.

"I'm always evaluating the squad but we'll start work on the locals this week to see who can step up, but the fact of the matter is we lost a championship game which we could have won and that's our sole focus now."