St Pat's lock Aaron Mawhinney is excited to face Dubbo CYMS in Peter McDonald Premiership

On that afternoon of September 9, 2018, Mawhinney was in the black and white of Forbes Magpies. He skippered the under 18s to a 34-12 triumph and backed up to take part in first grade's 23-22 victory over Dubbo CYMS.

"In my second year of 18s, we actually played them in the 18s grand final and on the same day we played them in the first grade grand final. So playing two grand finals against CYMS in the one day was pretty crazy and we walked away with the win in both grades too," he said.

"It was a pretty special day, it's probably one of the biggest days of footy I've ever been a part of to be honest."

Mawhinney now plays at lock for St Pat's first grade side, but he's not forgotten the feeling of beating the Fishies. He's actually already done it in Saints colours, having been part of the side that beat the Dubbo heavyweight in the inaugural Western Under 21s grand final in 2021.

This Sunday he will get another chance to tackle Dubbo CYMS in round two of the new Peter McDonald Premiership.

The Saints head into the clash on the back of a round one win over Parkes, while CYMS will be hoping to make amends for a surprise loss to Orange Hawks.

"Growing up playing against Dubbo CYMS, they were always the team to beat, they were always a pretty classy outfit," Mawhinney said.

"I'd say they wouldn't be too happy coming off a loss in round one, so I'm sure they'll throw a fair bit at us. But we're keen to take on the challenge, I think we've got a great side there this year and we'll take on anyone, we definitely think we're contenders to take out the title."

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In round one it was the sides based in the Group 10 region who took the honours - they fill positions one to six on the ladder. Mawhinney said the chance for Group 10 and Group 11 based clubs to square off is a good thing for league in the Western region.

"It's pretty exciting, obviously the old comp was starting to die off a bit there, so it's pretty exciting to play some new sides," he said.

"I'm used to playing all those [Group 11] sides, like when I was coming through 18s and starting first grade, so it's good get a crack to play them again and see where the competition is really at between the two because there's always that ongoing banter about who is better, Group 11 or Group 10?

"You seem to hear that all the time and I think it's always going to be there, but I think it's a lot easier to have that sort of banter when we didn't play each other.

"Now times have changed and both Groups are playing each other, I think a few clubs might start quieting up after a few results."

In their bid to get another win this Sunday the Saints will be looking for a better start than what they mustered against Parkes - conceding 16 unanswered points.

But even if they do find themselves behind on the scoreboard, that effort against Parkes shows the Saints can come back.

"We just started a bit slow, we were a bit flat at the beginning of the game and to Parkes' credit, they came out hard, playing with a lot of emotion and really coming at us. We didn't get to see much ball in the first half," Mawhinney said.

"But we had a big pre-season and were really fit, so we had a chat about that at half-time. We just stuck to our processes.

"Zac [Merritt, captain-coach] knows we're a fit side and we can last 80 minutes."

Kick off on Sunday at Dubbo's Apex Oval is 2pm.

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