Mudgee, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo and Tamworth are all NRL venues this year, but it was Bathurst Regional Council, back in 2014, that signed a deal with the Penrith Panthers to make Carrington Park an annual venue on rugby league's big stage.

It looked to be a genius decision when a crowd of almost 9000 turned up to see the Sharks defeat the Panthers 18-16 in a thriller in 2014 and less of a genius decision when a crowd of just over 6000 people saw the Gold Coast Titans demolished 40-0 in early autumn in 2015.

But these things take time.

In the years since, the crowd has waxed and waned, but the game has found its place on the local sporting calendar.

And Bathurst has, presumably more through good luck than anything else, been treated to two of the game's biggest modern names: the North Queensland Cowboys' Johnathan Thurston in 2018 and the Melbourne Storm's future Immortal Cameron Smith in 2019.

Having hosted the Panthers in years when the side was unlikely to push for a premiership, Bathurst will this year welcome a Penrith side that is unbeaten and sitting proudly atop the competition table.

It is also a side with a number of Central West faces: Isaah Yeo and Matt Burton from Dubbo and up-and-comer Charlie Staines from Forbes.

The predictability of having the same club playing at Carrington Park each year is both the advantage and the disadvantage of this deal - an advantage because the Panthers are able to form a relationship with the city and a disadvantage because our adopted club will, inevitably, go through lean years where its games are not particularly competitive.

But this is not one of those lean years. The Panthers are purring, playing football with a smile, and Bathurst fans will get the chance to see, up close, what already looks a likely 2021 grand final team.

Carrington Park deserves its place on the list of NRL fixtures and the people of the Central Tablelands deserve the chance to see some of the game's best young players ply their trade.

It's a shame about the COVID restrictions reducing the capacity for Carrington Park this year, of course, but there are some things even rugby league can't control.