In recent times the Bathurst Panthers first grade team have been accustomed to playing the last game of their regular season with a finals place already secured.
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This year that's not the case.
It's all there to play for this Sunday as Panthers host Lithgow Workies at Carrington Park in a must-win Peter McDonald Premiership contest.
A 42-16 loss last week to Orange CYMS has left Panthers needing a victory over the struggling Workies to guarantee the all-important fourth spot on the Group 10 ladder.
And they'll have to do it without one of their best players in Claude Gordon after the five-eighth/second-rower was whacked with a three game suspension. Gordon took the guilty plea for throwing a punch at CYMS captain Daniel Mortimer at the end of last round's match.
The scenario that will save the Panthers season, should Workies snare the upset, would be Cowra Magpies finding an upset win of their own against the Orange Hawks - who sit just one point behind the Bathurst side.
But with so much riding on this Sunday's game Panthers coach Jake Betts said his team are keeping calm and collected.
"It is a bit of a different feeling for us this year at this point of the season, but the boys are still confident in their own ability and the team's ability," he said.
"If we hopefully get through this week then it all resets again. It's like the competition starts again if we make it in that top four.
"The effort is definitely there at the moment. That first half against CYMS was really good but a few things didn't go our way and I think we dropped our heads a little bit, and CYMS are a great side and they ran away with it.
"We're going into this 100 per cent committed. They've got nothing to lose and we've got everything to lose. The boys have been putting in at training and we'll turning up expecting a tough, physical game, which Lithgow always gives you."
The revolving door of Panthers ins and outs continues to spin for yet another week.
Panthers will be bolstered by the expected return of fullback Josh Rivett, which in turn would allow Noah Griffiths to return to his preferred role in the halves.
Joey Bugg returns to the starting lineup to take Gordon's place while Panthers field a young starting second row combination of Kevin Large and Jia Siakisoni.
Aiden Ryan also gets the starting gig in what's been an ever-changing centres pairing for the Panthers over the past month.
Even in the face of so many changes Panthers will remain big favourites for the game against a Lithgow side that's been unable to get near the finals-bound teams this year.
Workies' back-to-back wins last month against Cowra Magpies and Wellington Cowboys let everyone know that there's still plenty of fight left in the team, and Betts knows that the Lithgow men would love to try and spoil the party for Panthers.
"These injuries have been the story of our last eight weeks. We're waiting to see what happens for a couple of blokes fitness-wise but we should have Josh Rivett back this week and he'll be a big boost for us," he said.
"He was probably only at 70 per cent last week and we thought, looking ahead to this, he was better off having the week off. It's still touch and go for a couple of others but the 17 that we've got is still looking like a strong side."
Kick-off will be 3pm at Carrington Park.