THERE hasn’t been a lot to get overjoyed about from a Bathurst Panthers’ perspective in this season’s Group 10 premier league competition to date, but amid their frustrating campaign there have been a couple of positives.
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One major plus so far has been the successful, though interrupted, full-time return of Luke Carpenter at dummy-half, and if they are to cause an upset against high-flying Mudgee tomorrow, he will need to play a key role.
The talented hooker was a stalwart of a Panthers’ junior side which barely lost a match from under 12s through to under 18s, and slipped easily into senior football.
At the start of 2013, though, an assault saw him ruled out for the season with a fractured eye socket and would have severely rattled his confidence.
He was good enough to get straight back into it this year, and was rewarded with selection for Group 10 before more injury woes with a broken hand that kept him out for a month.
“The start of the year was good, felt like I was playing well and to get selected for Group 10 was nice, but breaking my hand set me back a bit,” he said.
“I came back a couple of weeks ago against Oberon and it seems to be fine, it feels like it has mended well.
“It takes a while to get back up to speed fitness-wise, but I played my first 80 minutes back against Cowra last Saturday and got through it OK. The body handled it well.”
His stint on the sideline this season coincided with a rough patch of form for Panthers that saw them lose a couple of games they shouldn’t have, and for Carpenter it brought back memories of last year.
“It is always tough sitting out when your team is struggling. You just want to be able to get out there and do something about it but you can’t,” he said.
Carpenter’s intelligent running and ball use from dummy-half make him a valuable asset in attack.
But it is his defence which is set to be sorely tested tomorrow against Mudgee’s big pack.
Led by coach Jack Afamasaga and featuring a handful of other giants who usually attract three and four tacklers and can still off-load, they will prove to be a handful for Carpenter and the rest of the Panthers’ forwards.
“Afamasaga has a Country game, doesn’t he?” a hopeful Carpenter said – sadly for Panthers, that match comes in a week’s time.
“Whoever is out there, I think if we get our best team on the paddock we can match it with them. We’ve shown that a lot, without getting the wins to back it up.
“I’m really not sure why we haven’t won more games. I think we have a great team on paper and it is hard to put a finger on why it hasn’t worked. We have no choice but to start putting it together now.”
Tomorrow’s match will kick off at 2.30pm.
BATHURST PANTHERS: 1 Cody Robbins, 2 Josh Small, 3 Mitch Davis, 4 William Kennedy, 5 Chris Shephard, 6 Matt Rose, 7 Matt Woolmington, 8 Brent Seager (c), 9 Luke Carpenter, 10 Osea Sadrau, 11 Trent Rose, 12 Blake Lawson, 13 Jake Betts
