Last time Bathurst Panthers played Oberon Tigers things didn’t quite go to plan.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Not at all in fact.
That was in the qualifying semi-final but this time around, in Sunday’s preliminary final at Oberon, the men in black are looking to flip the script on the Luke Branighan-led Tigers.
A grand final meeting with Orange CYMS at Wade Park awaits the winner of Sunday’s contest.
Panthers coach Todd Barrow said the Tigers gave his team some “important lessons” in the qualifying final loss at Carrington Park a fortnight ago.
“They were just too good for us last time and we’re going to have to be a lot better,” Barrow said.
“We’ve been working on a few things to help us improve. We played well last week against Mudgee because we fixed those things up.
“Luke Branighan’s kicking game was amazing, and that put us under so much pressure coming out of our own end.
“The boys know what’s in for them playing in Oberon. It’s going to be loud, but the boys are excited for it and it should be a good challenge.
“As a club we’ve got three teams going down so we should have plenty of support.”
There’s likely to be some changes made to the Panthers line-up from last week’s minor semi-final win over the Dragons.
The only change that looks certain at this stage is Claude Gordon sitting out due to a torn meniscus in his knee.
As for what the remainder of the Panthers’ changes will be, Barrow is keeping his cards close to his chest.
“We’ve changed things up and we’ll have a few boys possibly playing in different positions,” he said.
“The great thing about the club is that we’ve got a lot of depth. The boys have shown a lot of versatility in where they can play.
“The good thing about finishing in the top three is that if you drop one the games you get that second crack, and we’ve got the confidence in ourselves that we can learn from that loss.”
The 38-12 success for the Panthers over Dragons is certain to give the team a confidence boost. The Bathurst club looked assured from the opening minute in the win.
Kick-off in the preliminary final is at 2.15pm.
