ST PAT’S will look to send off one of their most reliable forwards of the past two seasons in style today as Luke Newsome lines up for his last Group 10 premier league match against the Mudgee Dragons at Carrington Park.

The Englishman has accepted a job offer back in his native country, so it will make today’s anticipated meeting between two in-form sides his last competition game.

Newsome has made an impact in his time with the Saints.

Last year he played an important role in helping the Bathurst team to a premiership, while he also picked up Group 10 representation honours.

He is keen to add one more win in the blue and white to his tally this afternoon.

Newsome and his fellow Saints will look to bounce back from the 50-6 hammering the Dragons dished out against them in Mudgee earlier this season. 

That result came at time when the defending premiers were struggling to cover for a large number of injured players. Today the Saints’ squad is much stronger.

“We’ll look to send him off well. The last couple of years he has been outstanding for us,” St Pat’s coach Kurt Hancock said of Newsome.

“He got offered the job a month ago and had to make a decision. He’s only a young man and he got given an opportunity to go home and secure a good job.”

The last time that Pat’s played Mudgee at Carrington Park, it provided one of the more memorable matches of the 2014 season.

It came in last year’s preliminary final as Pat’s produced a late comeback to win. A post-siren Garry Reilly conversion booked their grand final spot and ended Mudgee’s season.

The Dragons head into today’s contest as favourites given they sit in second place on the ladder while the hosts rank fifth.

However, with just four points separating Pat’s from the Dragons, the Saints are still able to earn a major semi-final spot. 

To do that, they must win today against a side which Hancock rates highly.

“I think they’re the side to beat. We’re all really looking forward to it and everyone worked really well at training on Tuesday,” Hancock said.

“That last match against them was the one where all the injuries hit us, plus we had a man sent off. To think about that and where we’ve managed to get to since that day, it’s been a massive effort.

“We’re really enjoying our footy at the moment. We’re playing our style, and no-one else is playing that. We need to use that as our edge.”

The Saints are currently in a purple patch of form with four straight wins, though Hancock said what his side are able to produce against the Dragons will give them a true indication of where they sit.

“We played an undermanned Blayney side and before that it was Panthers. We also had Cowra and Oberon. They’re all teams that are equal or below us,” he said.

“This will be one of our biggest tests of the season. Mudgee have a big game up the middle early in the game and the backs they’ve got are good. If we don’t start well, then we could find ourselves down three tries early on again.”

An unchanged Saints line up takes to the field today at 1.30pm. 

Before that, the women’s league tag game starts at 11am and under 18s at 12.15pm. Mudgee have forfeited the first division fixture.

ST PAT’S: 1 Nathan Lawrence, 2 Adam Morton, 3 Jarred Tyack, 4 Matt Tilley, 5 Curtis Boardman, 6 Garry Reilly, 7 Joey Coughlan, 8 Travis Wininara, 9 Benjamin John (c), 10 Luke Newsome, 11 Brady Cheshire, 12 Corey Averio, 13 Joe Batchelor, 14 Hudson White, 15 Mick Armstrong, 16 Nick Millar, 17 Jack Mackey.