Reigning Group 10 premier league champions Bathurst Panthers will be forced to battle through the opening weeks of their title defence, which kicks off on Saturday night, without halfback and captain-coach Doug Hewitt.
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Hewitt, who led his side to last year's title despite playing the preliminary and grand finals with a serious knee injury, is expected to miss the first three weeks of 2019 after the knee was re-injured in a freak accident this month.
Also a leading harness racing driver, Hewitt was kicked in the knee by a horse at the Gold Tiara heats recently, causing enough damage to rule him out of, at least, Saturday night's clash with last year's wooden spooners Blayney.
"The knee was feeling good and then just the other day I had some trouble with it. I went to get scans and I've done another tear through my medial meniscus and unfortunately I can't play on it," Hewitt explained, with Trent Hotham to replace him in the No.7 jersey.
I've done another tear through my medial meniscus and unfortunately I can't play on it.
- Panthers captain-coach Doug Hewitt
While the loss of Hewitt is a sizable blow Hotham has plenty of premier league experience under his belt which is a benefit, as is having 2018 grand final hero Willie Wright controlling the other side of the field from five-eighth.
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Another benefit is most of last year's premiership side returning for the men in black's back-to-back tilt, with Hewitt saying he's also keen to see what the club's 2019 recruits can do.
They'll have the chance to impress in front of a packed house at Carrington Park too, with the clash acting as a curtain-raiser for the Penrith Panthers' third round NRL encounter with Melbourne.
"Max (Gay), from out Boorowa way, has impressed us in the first couple of trials. He'll be playing at lock for us," Hewitt explained.
"There's a couple of blokes from out west (Louis Murphy and Kevin Murray) who have been impressive out wide and they're very exciting players - fast and fit.
"We've got a bit of depth all around the team at the moment, which is handy."
Panthers will start as unbackable favourites considering the Bears' lowly 2018 season, combined with the fact they've not added any genuinely high-profile recruits to their roster outside of veteran halfback Steve Lane.
"You can never be too sure what you're going to get," he said.
"You can't take any game lightly, especially in front of a big crowd. Last year pretty much doesn't matter now. All it does is make us a bit more of a target, but every other team's got their shot now."
Kick off is 5pm at Carrington Park.
- BATHURST PANTHERS: 1 Josh Rivett, 2 Louis Murphy, 3 Blake Lawson, 4 Kevin Murray, 5 Josh Small, 6 Willie Wright, 7 Trent Hotham, 8 Brent Seager, 9 Nick Loader, 10 James Higgins, 11 Blake Seager, 12 Jack Siejka, 13 Max Gay; Bench: 14 Elijah Sharwood, 15 Dane Thorogood, 16 Jed Betts, 17 Callum Young, 18 Fin Grabham
- BLAYNEY BEARS: 1 Chris Shepherd, 2 Ryley Oborn, 3 Ricky Scott, 4 Nelson Daplin, 5 Lhiam Burrell, 6 Carter Hirini, 7 Steve Lane, 8 Travis Warinara, 9 Michael Toohey, 10 Ethan Bereyne, 11 Leigh Monaghan, 12 Mick Godfrey, 13 Ryan Oborn; Bench: 14 Ryan Simmons, 15 Robert Lane, 16 Jordan Hobby, 17 Ben Pettit
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