POTENTIAL. It is a word that Bathurst Panthers coach Jess Hotham has stressed to her under 18 league tag players all season and now, finally, they understand why.
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On Sunday when Hotham's Panthers backed themselves in their final round match against Mudgee Dragons they were able to post an 18-16 win which also saw them snatch the last spot in the Group 10 Rugby League finals.
It was something Panthers had not thought possible at the start of the season.
Hotham's 2020 squad featured some players new to the sport, but in the main it consisted of those returning from the previous year.
Early in 2019 they had suffered some hefty defeats, but with Hotham urging her players to focus on the basics they improved along the way and became more competitive.
It was something that gave Hotham hope 2020 would bring better things, but she admits she has struggled to make her players share her faith.
After losing their penultimate round match 22-16 to St Pat's - a side that was previously winless - Hotham once again stressed her message of potential to her Panthers.
"Against Pat's, to be beaten by a team I know they could quite easily beat, I wasn't disappointed in the girls, but I wanted them to see their potential and know what they could be," she said.
"So I let them know after that game, I said 'I've told you this all year, there's only so much I can do, I can't go on the filed and do it for you. You really need to start believing in yourself because what I can see is a lot of potential being wasted on the field.'
"I might have said it a bit more sternly than that, but I think that's what they needed, they needed something more than me just being their friend."
Looking at the ladder after that loss to the Saints, Hotham was surprised to see her side was still in contention for fourth spot. If her Panthers could beat Mudgee they would finish on equal points with the Dragons, but advance to the finals given their superior for and against record.
But to beat Mudgee, a side who had bettered her Panthers 18-10 in round two, Hotham knew they needed to have faith in themselves.
"They were aware if they actually won that game, they would play semi-finals," she said.
"The thing is these girls haven't realised their potential, I've been trying to tell them all year, 'Look if you have a bit of confidence in yourself, you can go out there and play like I know you can'.
"It's been the same all year, we've shown glimpses of that potential. Like against CYMS in the last quarter we won 18-0. I said to them that CYMS and Hawks are the top teams, so if you can go out and play a full game like that, you will beat sides.
That was the best game they've played all year, they left it right to the last round.
- Jess Hotham
"I said to them before they played on the weekend 'You've got nothing to lose, so let's go out and give them hell and give it 100 percent and we'll see how we go'.
"I knew if each of them did that we would come away with a win and they did. That was the best game they've played all year, they left it right to the last round."
At half-time in the final round match at Glen Willow, it was Mudgee who held a 12-6 lead. But in the third quarter momentum swung.
Sophie Hillsdon scored to put Panthers on equal terms then from the kick-off which followed, she ran the length of the field to make it two tries in as many minutes. That made it 18-12 in favour of the visitors.
"In the last quarter Mudgee scored out wide but missed the conversion, so that gave us the two-point buffer. The girls then literally held on for dear life," Hotham said.
"I said to them after the game 'My heart can't take this'. But they were so over the moon, they were so excited.
"The proudest thing for me, especially for the girls who where there last year, is how far they've come. To make the semis was a huge thing for them and to see them come that far - it makes me so happy and so proud that they believed they could do it."
Panthers now meet the undefeated Orange Hawks in this Sunday's semi-final at Jack Arrow Oval.
"It will be the same approach this weekend, we haven't got any pressure on us, nothing. We've just got to go out and give them hell again and see how we go," Hotham said.
Kick-off is at 1.45pm.
