The two teams locked horns in the Group 10 premier league elimination final in August, 2018, with Panthers knocking-off Oberon 22-16 at Carrington Park.

Nick Loader bagged a hat-trick on that night, while Ben McAlpine and Luke Branighan played their last games for Oberon before departing for Orange CYMS and St Pat's respectively.

On Friday night, Panthers will face an in form Oberon outfit that have won its past three games against Blayney, Cowra and St Pat's.

And they're no easy beats by any means, with Oberon going down by less than a converted try in all of its three losses in 2018.

Panthers president Dennis Comerford is expecting a hard game.

"I think that is the case with any of the Group 10 teams at the moment," he said.

"Even the teams at the bottom of the ladder can give you a hard time. It's this time of year those teams at the bottom, they can really upset your season with a shock win.

"Oberon are sitting fourth on the ladder and we're a share of first spot. There's really nothing between those top four sides, so we expect a fairly hard game against them."

Comerford said the reason the game was moved from Sunday to Friday night was to give the team a full weekend break.

"Oberon is close to Bathurst, so they agreed to play the game on Friday, even though an early start has people knocking off earlier from work," he explained.

"Players can do something with the long weekend now."

From a president perspective, Comerford said he's really enjoying how the defending premiers are currently playing.

"It's pretty good to have the team playing how they are. We're just going out and playing our style of football," he said.

"What happened last year happened last year. We're concentrating on 2019. It would be nice to finish in the grand final again, but that's still a few months down the track. We just need to make sure we put ourselves in a position to get there and that's what we're concentrating on at the moment.

"From a club perspective, when you're first grade team is performing well, it pushes the other grades up. The reserves are performing fairly well and the under 18s are topping the ladder, surprising a few people. It's a great effort not just from John Fearnley the coach, but from the young boys in that team."

Willie Wright is back from suspension and will take up his spot in five-eight, while 2019 Penrith Panthers SG player Brad Fearnley has been named at lock.

Youngster Mackenzie Atkins has been given a start at centre, while second-rower Jack Siejka will be looking to continue his good try-scoring run, having crossed the line three times in the past two matches.

Kick-off is from 8.45pm at Carrington Park.