THE determination to stay in the dog fight - that's how Bathurst Panthers went from conceding 94 points in two weeks to regaining the ANZAC Day Rugby League Memorial Trophy.
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On Saturday afternoon in the rain at Carrington Park, Panthers beat St Pat's 28-20 to open their account in the 2023 Peter McDonald Premiership.
In a match that featured four lead changes in the opening half, Panthers managed to do something they'd failed at in the opening fortnight.
This time when things got tough Panthers didn't drop their heads. Instead they rallied and dished it back to the Saints.
"For us it was just stay in the dog fight. We spoke about it during the week, we'd been in games for 20 minutes, but we just dropped our heads when things didn't go our way," Panthers captain-coach Jake Betts said.
"I thought being a local derby, they tend to be dog fights and that suits us. I thought if we could get into a dog fight we'd be right in it to the finish.
"I'm proud of the boys, the last couple of weeks have been very tough and it wasn't through lack of effort, in those games the boys have been busting their backside."
While it was cheers of triumph at full-time for Betts and his Panthers, for St Pat's captain-coach Zac Merritt there was a feeling of deja vu.
The Saints did play well in patches and were within four of the lead at the break, but they simply couldn't maintain intensity for long enough.
"We continue to keep trying to play for the 80. It's same-same, we played in patches again," Merritt said.
"I think we're just waiting for someone to give us a bit of spark instead of taking it upon ourselves to get that spark.
"At the moment I just think we're not all on the same page.
"They played well, they played good footy, they controlled the footy and we just sort of lost our way a little bit there."
The Saints went into the clash with a one and one record for the new PMP season and as the holders of the ANZAC Day Rugby League Memorial Trophy.
The Saints started well too, punishing a Panthers knock-on in the seventh minute with a Luke Single try.
Five minutes later the lead pushed out to 8-0 thanks to a Matt Beattie penalty and there were Panthers fans wondering if their side was headed to another hefty defeat.
But Panthers turned momentum. The short kicking game of halfback Nick Tilburg helped the men in black earn three consecutive sets and on the third new centre Dillion Adrole was over.
On the next set a Betts line break - slicing straight through the middle of the ruck - put Panthers into attack again.
Once more the try came on the left edge, this time winger Jesse Limon going over untouched. Josh Rivett converted to make it 10-8.
From there the match yo-yoed.
St Pat's regained the lead as a brilliant off-load from Single found Merritt, who laid on some neat footwork to score between the sticks.
Betts then literally snatched back momentum as he pulled off a one-on-one strip. A penalty followed then Tilburg changed his angle with a nice step and went straight through Saints' line.
Rivett's conversion had Panthers 18-14 up at the break.
That margin extended seven minutes into the second half when Mick Latu crossed in the right corner.
When former Saint Jackson Vallis, who was outstanding in defence at right centre, palmed his way over with 14 left, Panthers held a 28-14 buffer.
Though a fortunate bounce saw Haze Reweti pull one back for Pat's with nine minutes left on the clock, Panthers held on to win 28-20.
Betts was delighted, but knows the improvements must keep coming.
"We're a new team and it will take a bit of time to click. We clicked today, but they're an understrength Pat's team, they've got some good players out," he said.
"So it's good to get that off the back and get a win, but we know Pat's have a lot to come back and we've got a lot of improvement left in us."
In opening their PMP account, Panthers also took their record in the ANZAC clash between the two clubs to six wins from eight editions.
"It's always special playing in the ANZAC match, but at the end of the day it's just a game of footy. What those ANZACs did, it's a lot worse than going to war in 80 minutes of footy," Betts said.
- BATHURST PANTHERS 28 (Dillion Adrole, Jesse Limon, Nick Tilburg, Mick Latu, Jackson Vallis tries; Josh Rivett 4 goasl) defeated ST PAT'S 20 (Luke Single, Zac Merritt, Haze Reweti tries; Matt Beattie 3 goals)
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