RUGBY LEAGUE
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By SAM DEBENHAM
BATHURST Panthers fullback Cody Robbins might be wearing a different coloured jersey, but said the desire still burns to get one up on a few of his mates at Orange Hawks.
The classy custodian will line up with Panthers in today’s elimination semi-final against Hawks, a week after his side posted a 36-8 win over the same opposition to make a last round lunge into the top five.
Having made his name at Orange CYMS, Robbins said that nothing has changed from his point of view when he fronts up to the two blues.
“It still feels like a local derby to me, I can’t wait,” he said.
“I have a few mates in that side and even though I’m playing for a different club now, I still want to be able to knock them over and say I beat them.”
Robbins sent some ripples through his team’s staff early in last week’s win after sustaining what looked to be a break in his hand.
It happened in the first five minutes, but he played out the match.
Having gone to hospital afterwards, his hand was put in plaster. But Robbins said it was more a precautionary move and he will be fully fit to take his place at Wade Park today having cut the plaster off himself on Tuesday.
“The hand feels fine, at the hospital after the game they didn’t say it was broken, just a bit swollen, and they put it in a cast just as a precaution,” he said.
“It didn’t affect me during the game at all and I don’t think I’ll have a problem with it this week.”
Robbins was part of CYMS’ premiership side last year and the team which lost to Lithgow in the 2012 grand final, so he’s no stranger to top grade success.
He made the shift to Panthers because he wanted an opportunity in his preferred position at fullback, something he was unable to do at CYMS despite being a Group 10 representative.
With another representative star in Tim Bassmann in front of him, Robbins was stuck in the centres and looking for an opportunity elsewhere.
Though he’s had injury issues that have kept him from having the impact he would like in his first season with Panthers, Robbins has been in sublime form during their end-of-season charge to the semi-finals.
“I missed a lot of games there at one point, but in the last five or six weeks I think as a team we’ve all played good football,” he said.
“Having played a lot of finals footy with CYMS over the last two years it is great to get that opportunity again, it would have been disappointing to sit it out during the big games.
“Fullback has always been my position, so I feel like I’ve slotted in pretty well here at Panthers being in a more natural role, and having played representative matches with a lot of my team-mates, it has been easy to make the transition [to a new club].”
Eyebrows were raised last week after the decision from Hawks to rest a couple of key players from the round 18 match, a game which carried far more importance for Panthers than it did for Hawks.
Robbins isn’t sure what to read into it, but said that a focus on defence from his own team will be a major factor in the result this time.
“I don’t really know why they rested those guys, I thought they would have played a full-strength team,” he said.
“But to be fair, we pulled some of our best players later in the game too like Matt Rose to make sure we didn’t take any risks, and given that Hawks didn’t have much to play for, I guess it is understandable.
“From our side of things, I think our attack is there no matter what, we always have the ability to score points. It will be a question of whether we can lift our defence to where it needs to be.”
Meanwhile, Panthers coach John Fearnley and his side have another reason to aim up in today’s elimination semi-final with Hawks after an encouraging training session on Tuesday night.
There had been fears that fullback Robbins could miss the game with a hand injury but he confirmed that he would be available. There was further good news on the injury front.
Star dummy-half Luke Carpenter had indicated that he may not be far away from a surprise return from a dislocated knee and trained with the side.
“Carpo got through the session, he didn’t do any contact work and was still a little bit ginger, but he was okay,” Fearnley said.
“Basically if we can get through this week and make it to the next game, he will more than likely play which would be huge for us.”
Kick-off today at Wade Park will be at 2.30pm.
BATHURST PANTHERS: 1 Cody Robbins, 2 Chris Shephard, 3 William Kennedy, 4 Blake Lawson, 5 Mitch Davis, 6 Matt Rose, 7 Blake Dean, 8 Brent Seager, 9 Matt Woolmington, 10 Osea Sadrau, 11 Trent Rose, 12 Blake Seager, 13 Jake Betts, 14 Joey Bugg, 15 James Higgins, 16 Koen Willis, 17 Jed Betts.