COWRA and Bathurst Panthers were two teams that had high hopes at the start of the 2015 Group 10 premier league season.

The Magpies were coming off a successful season in which they hosted, though ultimately lost, the grand final. Even with a fair amount of player turnover, Cowra would have been banking on not falling too far from the top of the ladder.

Panthers had a new player-coach, a returning former star in Jeremy Gordon and a number of other new faces that gave their squad a fresh and talented look.

Tomorrow they will meet at Carrington Park in a match that will see the loser become perhaps only a mathematical chance of making the semi-finals.

Cowra got the better of Panthers in their first meeting back in round two, taking the points 18-6.

They have only won one match since, while Panthers have been close in most games they have played between then and now but still only have two wins to show for it.

If their performance against Blayney last Sunday is anything to go by, Panthers will be relying heavily on talented young half Joey Bugg to have another big impact. He produced one of his best efforts in the top grade against the Bears.

“I reckon it was up there, definitely one of the best few and I think if I can do the same again when we play Cowra, it will go a long way towards getting the win,” Bugg said.

“The defensive side of things cost us against Blayney, but we were able to put some points on them. If we tidy up those lapses in defence, we should be good enough.

“Taking the ball forward hasn’t been a problem, our middle has been very strong and I think we have the players there to tighten it up without the ball and make sure we aren’t leaking too many points.”

Bugg has cemented his spot in the seven jersey this season after debuting in 2013, vying with a few other players for a starting spot in that time including Blake Dean and Trent Hotham.

Last year he had some injury worries, but would have learned plenty from playing alongside then-pivot Matt Rose. Over the last six matches, he has benefitted from a fit and firing Jeremy Gordon alongside him in the halves.

It seems Gordon’s willingness to run the ball has rubbed off on the young playmaker.

“I think one of the things I have tried to work on is taking the ball to the line a lot more and backing myself to run with it and take the game on,” he said.

“Jeremy has taken a lot of the pressure off me and he is a player who likes to run the ball himself as well, so I have learned a lot just from watching him.

“I’ve missed some games over the last couple of years with injury, but I’m fully fit at the moment and getting consistent games in has helped me improve.”

Bugg pointed to Cowra’s outside backs as being their most dangerous weapon for tomorrow’s game, but is backing his forwards to be back to their best after they were well held last round by the Bears.

“They have a couple of very quick guys in their back line, if we can get our defence up and in their face and not give them a lot of room, I think we can shut them down,” he said. “We could have, and probably should, have won the first game against them. You could probably say that about most of our year so far. We really need this one.”

Panthers and Cowra do battle from 2.30pm.

BATHURST PANTHERS: 1 Sandon Gibbs-O’Neill, 2 Chris Shephard, 3 Jay McClintock, 4 Todd Barrow, 5 Bradyn Cassidy, 6 Jeremy Gordon, 7 Joey Bugg, 8 Brent Seager, 9 Trent Hotham, 10 Greg Behan, 11 Max Wolfson, 12 Ben Gunn, 13 Jake Betts, 14 Jed Betts.