Reigning player of the year has field day against two blues in 13-tries-to-two shellacking

On the back of a masterclass from reigning Group 10 player of the year Jeremy Gordon, Panthers demolished Orange Hawks 72-12, running in 13 tries to two in a scintillating victory.

Not a bad effort against a side which ran over the top of Mudgee, the reigning premiers, the week before and at times has looked as good as any other in the competition.

In his man-of-the-match showing, Gordon accounted for 32 of Panthers’ points by himself, scoring a hat-trick and kicking 10 from 13 to boot. He laid on a couple of tries for teammates too.

“We’re not buying into that (premiership favourites tag),” Panthers captain-coach Todd Barrow smiled, adding how impressed he was with Gordon once again.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk about us but we’re just worrying about us. If we keep working hard at training and doing the little things for each other it’ll take care of itself. We’ll just keep plugging away.

“We put a complete performance together, which is the first time this year I think so that’s pleasing.

“But there is plenty to work on. There was a few errors, unforced ones too, but it was a win we needed I think.”

Barrow was the first to admit it was a win born from weight of possession.

Panthers attacked for the majority of the game, but importantly in Barrow’s eyes they controlled that possession and turned it into points.

The sole reason for Panthers having so much ball was Hawks’ sloppiness with it.

While Panthers made several unforced errors, Hawks produced countless, along with giving away six penalties to Panthers’ three.

In short, Hawks continually shot themselves in the foot and Panthers reaped the benefits time after time.

So much so, every one of Panthers’ first 44 points came on the back of either a penalty or a Hawks error – easily the most telling statistic of the round four clash.

“We did have all the ball. In the first two games we started the same way, we had all the footy but couldn’t convert it into points and [on Saturday] we did that and got a roll on, we were hard to handle,” Barrow said.

“But Hawks do deserve credit. They’re still rebuilding and they kept coming all day. They could’ve thrown the towel in but they didn’t. We probably could’ve scored more points, but Hawks stuck in there the whole game.”

From the first whistle Panthers took control of the game, and Hawks’ error woes began. After a strong first set from the men in black the two blues knocked on. 

Panthers hooker Nick Loader burrowed over from the resulting set and bookend Brent Seager scored three minutes later, again on the back of a Hawks knock-on. It was one of three he’d score for the afternoon.

The big prop grabbed his second in the 10^th minute, with Gordon nailing two of his first three attempts Panthers led 16-0 just one eighth of the way into the game.

Hawks lifted though, scoring next through big centre Sione Tongia.

Hawks’ ability with the ball is undeniable, the problem on Saturday was they couldn’t hold it long enough to show that off.

With the score at 16-6 and Hawks fighting their way into the grind, Gordon imposed himself. He scored from his own grubber in the 25^th minute, adding the extras, and then after Panthers held out Hawks for three repeat sets he scored again.

Panthers halfback Doug Hewitt latched onto a wayward pass and after he was brought down 60 metres further up field, Gordon crashed over on the next play.

Loader grabbed his second on the stroke of half-time, Gordon’s goal gave Panthers a 32-6 lead at the break.

Hawks spilled it in the first set after half-time, but held defensively and forced an error from a drop-out Gordon forced.

The tide didn’t turn though. The two blues spilled it again, gave away another penalty and Leigh Monaghan stretched out from the resulting set to extend Panthers’ lead to 38-6.

That was one of four penalties Hawks gave away in the second period – Panthers gave away none – and on the back of that, the men in black ran in another 34 points, conceding only six when Glen Maxwell crossed late for Hawks.

That was another pleasing aspect for Barrow, the fact Panthers didn’t take the foot off the pedal.

“We’d spoken about that at half-time,” he said.

“We didn’t want to go away from what we were doing, it was obviously working for us and we stuck to it in the second half and put together a complete 80 minutes.”

There is injury concerns to come from the game for Panthers though.

Barrow confirmed Jack Siejka is facing a long stint on the sidelines after reportedly fracturing his eye socket early in the game, while Hewitt and Jed Betts were both forced from the field as well.

Expectedly, Hawks captain-coach Willie Heta wasn’t pleased, lamenting his side’s lack of attitude in the loss.

“I’ve picked it up in both our losses now, it’s probably attitude, as soon as points have been scored against us, our heads have gone down. We’ve looked for the problem but it just hasn’t been solved,” Heta said.

“It’s hard to find out where it’s going to start for us. It doesn’t look like we’re going to be a side that will chase points when we’re behind, so we obviously need to start well and get ourselves into games early.

“I think it starts at training for us. As soon as we can start getting it together there, it’ll come together on the field. We’ve proved we can do it against the quality sides, like Mudgee.”

BATHURST PANTHERS 72 (Jeremy Gordon 3, Brent Seager 3, Nick Loader 2, Blake Seager 2 Leigh Monaghan, Bradyn Cassidy, Claude Gordon; Gordon 10 goals) def ORANGE HAWKS 12 (Sione Tongia, Glen Maxwell tries; Willie Heta 2 goals)