After missing out on having a game in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NRL returns to Carrington Park for the seventh occasion on Saturday when the Penrith Panthers take on the Manly Sea Eagles.

With Penrith undefeated after the first seven rounds this season and with Manly back in form, enjoying a three game winning streak, this Saturday's match is set to be an entertaining one.

READ MORE:

The Panthers, who have brought one home game to Bathurst every year since 2014 (except last year because of the pandemic), are expected to arrive in the city on Thursday, with a number of events in town planned.

Check out the Western Advocate guide to what's on over the course of the next couple of days as the NRL comes to town.

The Penrith Panthers will arrive in Bathurst on Thursday and will attend the Peachey-Richardson Gala Day at Jack Arrow Sporting Complex, home of the St Pat's rugby league club.

Bathurst schools will participate in the gala day, which is named after former NRL players David Peachey and Russell Richardson and is for schools across the Central West region.

It'll be the perfect opportunity for children to get up close and personnel with some of the best players in the NRL.

Like in recent times when the Penrith Panthers have travelled to town, the club will host a skills clinic on Thursday afternoon at the Bathurst Sportsground.

If it's to run like recent times, the clinic is expected to see Penrith players run children through a number of drill and training sessions, rotating every so often.

At the end of the sessions, children will be able to get autographs from their favourite Penrith Panthers player.

Big numbers are expected for this clinic, so make sure you don't miss this opportunity to train and meet some of the biggest names in the NRL.

The Play like a Panther Super Clinic will run at the Bathurst Sportsground from 4pm-5.30pm.

You'll be hell bent trying to find tickets to Saturday's match, with the remaining tickets all but snapped up last Friday afternoon.

You best chance is to see if any tickets are floating around on any buy, swap and sell pages on Facebook or maybe try your luck at the gate on the day to see if anyone has a spare ticket on them.

The demand for tickets is so high because this year's game will be capped at 5800 due to coronavirus restrictions.

Stadiums in NSW are allowed to be 100 per cent capacity, however, that's only for fully seated venues, explaining why Carrington Park's usually capacity of 11,000 has been reduced so greatly.

Carrington Park's attendance record is likely to stand at 10,973, which was achieved in 2019 when the Melbourne Storm downed the Panthers 32-2.

While the NRL match between Penrith Panthers and Manly Sea Eagles will be the main game on Saturday, it'll be the last of three games.

At 10.55am, the action will get underway at Carrington Park when the two-time defending Group 10 premiers Bathurst Panthers take on Orange CYMS.

Panthers are fresh off a win against local rivals St Pat's at Jack Arrow Sporting Complex last Saturday, while CYMS sat the first week off with a bye.

At 12.40pm, Panthers' reserve side will tackle Manly's reserve team Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles in the round eight NSW Cup clash.

Like the senior team, Panthers are undefeated with six wins from as many matches, while Blacktown is down the other end of the ladder, in 10^th out of 11 after just one win from five matches.

The main match in the NRL is set to get underway at 3pm, with Manly to make its Bathurst debut, while Penrith will play its seventh game in the Central West city.

The two teams have already clashed this season, with Panthers dismantling Sea Eagles with a 46-6 massive win at Brookvale Oval on April 1.

Since that defeat, Sea Eagles have steadily improved, claiming a 13-12 win over New Zealand Warriors at Gosford a week later, before trouncing Gold Coast Titans 36-0 at Mudgee on April 17 and crushing the Wests Tigers 40-6 last weekend.

Manly's return to form could be put down to the return of Tom Trbojevic, who missed the opening five weeks of the competition due to injury.

For Penrith, last year's grand finalists have been rarely challenged this year, having won all seven matches it has played in 2021.

Panthers cruised to a simple 24-0 win over North Queensland Cowboys in the opening round of the competition, before holding out Canterbury Bulldogs the following weekend 24-0.

Round three presented Panthers toughest challenge of the season, which has also proven to be one of the best games of the season so far, has they scored a thrilling 12-10 win against premiers Melbourne Storm in a grand final rematch.

Round four saw Penrith's 46-6 win over Manly, before a convincing win at home over Canberra Raiders 30-10.

Panthers were given a challenge against Brisbane Broncos in round six, before a late two-point field goal and try from star halfback Nathan Cleary sealing the victory.

Penrith are currently coming off a relatively straight forward win at Panthers Stadium over Newcastle Knights 24-6 last Thursday.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: