Townsville recruit could prove to be Panthers' ace up their sleeves

While he's adapting to the cooler climate Bathurst Panthers recruit Kalen Reweti is also ready to show he can handle the heat of the Peter McDonald Premiership.

The Townsville born-and-raised player made the big call to move to Bathurst this year to further his chances of an NRL career, and he's determined to become a big part of the Panthers' premiership bid in 2024.

Reweti's link up with the Panthers came about through his family.

Cousins Haze Reweti and Tyson Medlyn - both with St Pat's - encouraged him to make the move south to better his chances of entering the NRL pathway.

"I moved down here at the start of the year to play some footy and hopefully get into the NRL system," Reweti said.

"I wasn't getting much luck up at Townsville. I had some family down here and they told me to come down here to play, and I heard there were some good opportunities to get into Sydney through here.

"They set me up with a house and a job when I got here. It's been really sweet so far. My cousin Tyson is good mates with Ben Gunn and he was the one was got me a spot with Panthers."

Reweti gave himself a nice 21^st birthday present with the Panthers' victory over the Lithgow Workies in their NRL curtain raiser at Carrington Park.

The Panthers recruit came off the bench in the 44-22 win and enjoyed his first taste of the PMP competition.

"We got off to a great start," Reweti said.

"I was just trying to get my match fitness back, which I think I can do over the next few games."

Reweti is looking for a much improved year after a 2023 season that was full of challenges.

Not only did he have his Hastings Deering Colts season cut short with injury but the competition was folded at the end of the year.

"Last year I had heaps of injuries and that was supposed to be my breakout year. I only ended up playing five games," he said.

"I was trying to make colts up there, which is under 21s, but they ended up getting rid of the comp."

Panthers have made a couple of changes for the derby clash with the Saints this Sunday.

Braydon Burgess comes into the starting hooker role to replace Joey Bugg while Tom Lemmich gets promoted into the number 12 spot for Brady Cheshire.

Tiaho Hamahona-Taiaroa and Tieryn Toomey-White are set for their first starts of 2024 off the bench.

Kick-off at Carrington Park is 2pm.

BATHURST PANTHERS: 1 Dylan Miles, 2 Haydn Edwards, 3 Josh Rivett, 4 Jackson Vallis, 5 Evan Cafe, 6 Nicholas Tilburg, 7 Josh Merritt, 8 David Sellers, 9 Braydon Burgess, 10 Jed Betts, 11 Riley Cheshire, 12 Brady Cheshire, 13 Jake Betts (c), 14 Tiaho Hamahona-Taiaroa, 15 McCoy White, 16 Kalen Reweti, 17 Tieryn Toomey-White