Needing a win at Carrington Park to jump back ahead of Orange Hawks into fourth spot on the Group 10 ladder, Panthers were a cut above the visitors as they ran in nine tries in their last game of the regular season.

Panthers' Aiden Ryan made the most of his move to the starting centre role, snaring a hat trick, while teammates Josh Rivett and Dave Sellers each bagged a brace.

Rivett marked his return from injury with an excellent day with the boot, striking eight of his nine conversion attempts and his only miss being a contact with the post.

The result means Panthers will travel to face the Dubbo Macquarie Raiders in their elimination semi-final game next weekend.

Panthers player-coach Jake Betts said it was great to see the team bringing the right energy to the game and earning their rewards for it.

"To the boys' credit, we haven't been going crash hot but the effort has been there every single week," he said.

"Things haven't been going our way but today they did and that showed what the boys are capable of.

"We definitely didn't play our best brand of footy but I think we've definitely put the right foot forward heading in to next week. We were probably a little loose around the ruck but that comes with these sorts of games.

"There's things to work on but this result is a great confidence boost for the boys. They deserve it after the work that they've put in."

Workies player-coach Greg Alderson said a couple of great moments for his side weren't enough to overcome their inconsistency - a running theme of their 2022 campaign, which is now at an end.

"That's been the year for us. We can't put 80 minutes of football together," he said.

"We've proven that we can hold our own against some of the competition leaders for a good 30 to 40 minutes but a couple of silly errors and not controlling the speed of the game means we can't build any momentum.

"They're a quality side. They're unwell and they've done well to hold it together."

Panthers marked their intentions early into the game when an excellent piece of team play in the third minute paved the way for Sellers to score his first try of the day.

Ryan hit the line with speed to muscle through the Lithgow defensive line and score his first try in the seventh minute, with Rivett's extra points making it 12-0.

Workies cut that margin back to 12-4 when a dummy from Isaac Thompson gave him the space he needed to dive for the try line.

The visitors couldn't capitalise after forcing the Panthers into a line drop out and the hosts instead wrestled back momentum when Desi Doolan added to his large haul of tries this season on the left wing.

A mad scramble to get on the end of a Workies grubber kick left several players tripping over themselves to get to the ball first, and in the end Thompson was there to score his second try and make it 18-10 in the 26^th minute.

Just as Workies were threatening to apply the heat on Panthers the home side were able to bring the ball quickly up the other end and give themselves a 24-10 advantage at the break thanks to a converted Joey Bugg try.

It took Panthers just three minutes into the second half to put the game truly out of the Workies' reach when Rivett bagged himself a pair of back-to-back tries.

The first of those came when Jed Betts pierced the Lithgow defence near the half way line and found his fullback in support, then Rivett got on the end of a well directed kick towards the centre of the park from Doolan.

His conversion would make it 36-10.

Lleyton Lothian attempted to inject some energy back into the Workies squad when he got on the end of a kick to score, but Sellers would nullify that when he responded straight away with a try next to the posts.

A classic high-speed run near the try line from Alderson earned his side their fourth try of the day in the 58^th minute but it would be their last taste of points for the year.

It was then Ryan's time to shine again as his aerial ability helped him complete his hat trick.

Ryan got on the end of a chip kick to complete one of the Panthers' strongest sets of the game and on his team's next set downfield he timed his leap to perfection to catch a bomb and run out the remaining 20 metres to the Lithgow try line.

The party for Ryan suffered a setback when he was sin binned for a high shot with five minutes remaining. The tackle was placed on report.

Workies had a couple of chances to score with the one man advantage but couldn't convert.

Betts said several players stood tall when they were called upon.

"Mad dog [Ryan] just brings so much energy wherever he plays. It gives Noah [Griffiths] and Buggy confidence that when they're putting those bombs up that someone's going to be very competitive in the air," he said.

"Joshy got through the game good today and he kicked unreal. You need that sort of form going into finals footy. Two points is a massive advantage when you're converting your tries.

"I thought all the boys across the park played well today. Joey Bugg controlled the game a lot, and him and Noah gelled really well.

"Dave Sellers keeps turning up week in, week out. Him and Hudson [White, hooker] are built from the same house, I reckon. They're workhorses and the boys get around them."