A new initiative this year, the magic round will see all six Group 10 premier league clubs play at the one venue, with this Saturday to be held at Mudgee's Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium.

While Hewitt acknowledged the concept might be slightly odd, he's keen to see how the round plays out.

"It's a bit odd but given how the comp is going to be run this year with reserves and 18s getting a couple more rounds, I suppose having a standalone weekend for the first grade comp isn't too bad," he said.

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"To have them all at the one place is probably a good opportunity to get a look at the other teams in the competition as well.

"I think it's a good concept. I don't it's probably what you want as a comp, you probably just want to be playing all grades at the one place, but the way things are at the moment, it's pretty good."

Panthers opponent for Saturday, Orange Hawks, is the team that pipped the Bathurst club to the minor premiership back in 2019, however, Willie Heta's men failed to qualify for the grand final after suffering consecutive defeats in the play-offs.

Hewitt has got a slight understanding of the Hawks team from watching them play at the Bathurst Nines and Bathurst Knockout in the pre-season and expects the Orange club's forward pack to play a key role.

"We saw them in the nines, but we've been looking forward to this game. It's always a strong competition between us and Hawks," he said.

"Given their signings this year, I think they're going to be a big, mobile team. They're going to come ready to play.

"We've had a few good games to start the season off and we're hoping to continue that form into this weekend."

Hewitt said the opening 20 minutes of the game will be crucial to whether Panthers claim victory on Saturday.

"I've said it a 1000 times but we've just got to stick to that grind in the first 20 minutes," he said.

"You've just got to have faith in what our attack can do later in games.

"It's going to be no different this week. Hawks is a big team and they're going to come out firing, so it'll be about whether we can withstand their forwards in the first bit."

Bathurst Panthers is currently the leading club in Group 10 premier league, having won two games from as many matches, claimed against local rivals St Pat's and CYMS.

Orange Hawks is sitting in fourth with just one win and one loss to its name, winning against St Pat's but losing to city rivals CYMS.

Saturday's clash between Bathurst Panthers and Orange Hawks - which is the second of three matches - gets underway at Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium from 2.20pm.

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