Because their season-opener against the Blayney Bears was moved forward and they had a round two bye, the Panthers have twiddling their thumbs come the weekend while Bathurst St Pat's have been gaining much-needed match fitness, and momentum, with two straight wins.

Granted Panthers won that game easily, 44-10, so they're unbeaten as well but you simply can't the same benefits on the training paddock you get from a game, so it's hardly the ideal preparation for what Hewitt called his side's "biggest game of the year".

"We weren't really happy with the lead up to this. We had the one game then the break in between doesn't help," he said, with his side looking for a fourth straight win in the annual encounter.

(But) if anything it just psyches the boys up a bit more. They're ready to go Last week we had an in-house session and a bit of contact with the reggies boys. We got a few things out of that and picked a couple of things up."

"We touched on our record in this game. It's not the first thing that comes to mind (because) you don't need much to get you up for this game. It's St Pat's, [an] Anzac [derby] ... it's our biggest game of the year. We love it.

"All the old boys are getting around the game now. Before the start of the season you're already looking for what round this is on.

"It's big already as local derby but then bringing Anzac Day into it, that means a lot to the boys."

St Pat's captain-coach Luke Branighan echoed Hewitt's sentiments, too.

"It's a privilege to play in this game," he said, his side fresh from a narrow 28-26 win over Lithgow.

"Panthers are a fantastic side and we're going to have to go up a few gears from our Lithgow performance. We showed some good signs (in round one's win over) against Orange CYMS.

"We were a little bit off last week. There were other factors in the match that didn't help but Lithgow were a very tough, physical side. To get the win under those circumstances was a positive.

"It's really a four point game for us because we've got the bye the following week. That could really help us skip away from some sides and give us a buffer."

Although it's been so long since he's seen his side in-game, Hewitt said there's certain thing's he'll be looking for from that win over Blayney.

"There's a couple of times where we got away from our sets. We had to work hard at the start of the game but once the points came easy we started to go away from the things that we wanted to do," Hewitt said.

"Against a team like Pat's they will make you pay for that. They've got a great record and key players across the field."

The Bathurst derby kicks-off at 2pm at Carrington Park.