We rank the NRL games played in Bathurst from worst to best

Next year will mark the 10^th time Bathurst has hosted an NRL fixture, having had one game at Carrington Park every year since 2014, except 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the years, there's been some thrilling encounters but also some pretty average games for the fans.

Well now we've put together the ultimate list of all the NRL games in Bathurst, ranking them from the worst to best.

If you're a fan of the Panthers, than this game back in 2015 would've been a great one to watch.

The Panthers put 40 past the Gold Coast Titans without reply, in a one-sided match that might've forgotten.

But for the neutral, it was far from entertaining, as Gold Coast endured the worst ever defeat for an NRL team at Bathurst.

Fun fact, Jamal Idris scored a hat-trick for the Panthers.

He would go on to play only nine more games in NRL, which included a brief spell at the Wests Tigers in 2017.

Orange boy Daniel Mortimer was also playing for the Titans.

It was one-way traffic when NRL legend Cameron Smith led the Melbourne Storm to a 32-2 shellacking of Penrith in 2019.

It was a Panthers team that featured several current stars that have gone on to win three-straight premierships including Dylan Edwards, Nathan Cleary, Moses Leota, James Fisher-Harris and Liam Martin.

But they were far from their best, in a game that was played in truly awful conditions at Carrington Park, with in a drizzle of rain with nearly freezing conditions.

The Storm were still at the height of their power in 2019 and they showed that, as Craig Bellamy's team put on a clinic.

The Panthers returned to Bathurst in 2021 after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and put in a strong performance to beat Manly.

Penrith had played Manly only a month before this match and flogged the Sea Eagles 46-6 at Brookvale Oval.

Keen to not avoid a repeat, Manly put in a brave performance but ultimately fell 28-18, in the Panthers' eight consecutive win to start the season.

This match was probably best remembered for an absolute brain explosion from Newcastle second rower Mitch Barnett, who lifted his elbow in the chin of Penrith's Chris Smith.

Sent off around the 30 minute mark, Newcastle actually looked the better of the two teams, but once they had the numerical advantage, Penrith never looked in doubt.

The Panthers took a 12-6 lead at the break, before racing away to claim a comfortable 38-20 win, with the Knights showing a bit of fight along the way.

Taylan May, who missed the entire 2023 season due to an anterior crucial ligament (ACL) injury, bagged a hat-trick, the first person to do so at Carrington Park for a NRL match.

This match was played in front of 11,253 fans, a record attendance for a rugby league match at Carrington Park which stands to this day.

A slashing opening 40 minutes from North Queensland set up a 26-20 triumph at Carrington Park, the visitors completing a smash-and-grab job at Bathurst, one that rekindled the 2018 campaign of last year's runners-up.

Arriving in the region on Thursday before departing Friday night, halves Michael Morgan and Johnathan Thurston orchestrated the Cowboys victory on the back of a branstorming effort from Jason Taumalolo.

The Tongan wrecking ball had 144 metres and six tackle breaks by half-time while backrower Coen Hess and veteran Gavin Cooper terrorised Penrith on the edges.

Taumalolo ended the game with 233 metres, securing the Cowboys a third win for the season and breathing life into a campaign on life support prior to Friday night's clash.

The first ever NRL game in Bathurst was one to remember if you were a Cronulla Sharks fan.

Played in the middle of July, on a choppy surface, the Sharks ground out a resilient 18-16 upset against Penrith.

Led by a barnstorming Andrew Fifita, the Sharks ran in four tries to three in a contest where the quality belied the muddy and slippery conditions from start to finish.

The result remained up in the air until literally the final second, with Panthers mounting one final attacking raid to try and pinch victory and maintain touch with the top of the NRL ladder.

The Sharks were resolute though and eventually snuffed out Penrith's last-ditch effort, adding another impressive win to their then two recent fightback victories against the Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters.

It was a miserable two-year run for Ricky Stuart and the Canberra Raiders, as they fell in Bathurst to the Penrith Panthers.

It was 2016, the first of a two-year run that put the Chocolate Soldiers up against the Green Machine, and a Peter Wallace field goal inside the final two minutes saw the Penrith Panthers win 19-18 against a fast-finishing Canberra Raiders.

But the Raiders had clawed their way back from an 18-6 deficit, mostly on the back of Penrith errors, and even had the chance to take the lead with an Aidan Sezer field goal attempt.

That failed, but the Panthers also blew their first attempt taken by Jamie Soward.

However, Wallace proved more accurate and his kick ensured Panthers picked up their fourth win of the season.

If any Penrith Panthers fans decided to leave the game early, they were punished for their lack of commitment when Wellington Cowboys product Tyrone Peachey scored a late, match-winning try.

Canberra Raiders led by eight points going into the final three minutes, but they some how ended up losing 24-20.

Corey Harawira-Naera raced in for what seemed like a consolation try, with just over a minute left on the clock.

However with only six tackles left in the game, Panthers worked their way up the field and on the fourth tackle Matt Moylan found Peachey.

This year didn't bring many smiles to the face of Wests Tigers' fans, but on a wet April night in Bathurst, they had plenty of reasons to be happy.

In one of the all-time upsets in recent years, the Wests Tigers brought an end to its then 273-day drought by downing the then two-time reigning premiers Panthers.

While he'd been heavily criticised in the lead-up to the match, it was halfback Luke Brooks (who has since signed for Manly) that inspired the Tigers to snap a losing streak which dated back to round 20 last year when they beat the Brisbane 32-18.

A pair of 40-20 kicks which led to tries, a try assist, four tackle breaks and 69 metres from 10 runs from Brooks all helped the Tigers to claim the Royce Simmons Cup in wet conditions before a capacity Bathurst crowd.

The result didn't inspire a major Tigers improvement, however, as they won just three more games and took out a second consecutive wooden spoon.

But the defeat inspired the Panthers, as they went on to win 17 of their next 19 matches to take out a third consecutive premiership.

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