THE Penrith Panthers’ long-term deal to bring NRL football to Bathurst is becoming a blueprint for other clubs and regional cities to follow.
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The Panthers will meet the Canberra Raiders at Bathurst’s Carrington Park on Saturday evening, the fourth time they have brought a match to the city.
Bathurst Regional Council is hoping for a crowd of around 8000 at the match following strong ticket sales over the past week.
Late on Friday, 4000 tickets had been sold with two-thirds of sales coming from outside the 2795 area.
In the lead-up to the match, both Panthers coach Anthony Griffin and Bathurst mayor Graeme Hanger said more NRL clubs should look at taking matches to the bush.
The Panthers have extended their deal with Bathurst until the end of 2028 and Griffin said they enjoyed coming here.
“It’s been really good. Our players are a really good group of young men and the last couple of days we've received really positive reports of how they've conducted themselves,” he said.
“It’'s an opportunity for them to give something back to grassroots of rugby league and they’ve done that really well over the past few days.
“I think wherever we can we should embrace the country regions within the rugby league fraternity.
“It’s always going to help if you bring rugby league to regions like this, not only with the rugby league people, but with the general economy of the local town.”
Cr Hanger said Bathurst had warmly welcomed Panthers players and officials to town.
Players visited 12 schools on Thursday in a massive public relations exercise.
“I think the NRL should do a regional round where every match is taken to the bush,” Cr Hanger said.
“It would be a great opportunity to really give back to the regions which are rugby league heartlands.”
Cr Hanger said the deal with Panthers brought many benefits to Bathurst.
“Exposure is a really big thing – we will have the Bathurst website flashed on the screen every time the TV cameras pan around the ground on Saturday,” he said.
“But there is also the community engagement and the benefits of bringing top-class sportspeople into the schools to speak with the kids and inspire them.
“One of the reasons the players stayed down at the Sportsground on a freezing night on Wednesday to meet the kids is because 10 years ago they were kids themselves wanting to meet their heroes.”
Gates open at Carrington Park 2pm on Saturday with the curtain raiser between Bathurst Panthers and Orange Hawks to kick off at 2.30pm. The NRL match kicks off at 5.30pm.
