THIS weekend marks six years since Bathurst Panthers last hosted a reunion  and it is fair to say the men in black are in a vastly different situation now than they were when they faced Cowra at Carrington Park in July, 2010.

That day they sat on the bottom of the Group 10 premier league ladder, were winless after six rounds and made it seven losses on the trot when the Magpies beat them 38-26.

They finished the season with the wooden spoon.

On Saturday Panthers will again commemorate the past as the club stages a reunion for the 1994 and 1997 Bathurst Penguins title-winning sides.

They will mark the event by facing Blayney – who didn’t even have a team in the competition in 2010 – in a much better predicament. Panthers sit third on the ladder and only marginally behind frontrunners Oberon and St Pat’s.

One of only three players who took on Cowra that day six years ago who will be in action on Saturday is Trent Hotham, who will continue to start at halfback.

Props Brent Seager and Greg Behan were also part of the team in 2010.

Hotham was in reserve grade during the early portion of the 2016 season, but worked his way into the starting halves pairing with Claude Gordon. He has taken the number seven jersey in Gordon’s absence due to a broken arm.

His form has been impressive and means that when Gordon returns, captain-coach Todd Barrow will have a variety of options at his disposal.

“From memory it was a pretty good day against Cowra even though we lost, it was close most of the way through it before they got a late try to seal it,” Hotham said.

“A lot has changed since then, we have had a few seasons where we picked young players and stuck with them and it is starting to pay off.

“Players like Blake Lawson and Jake Betts have started to stamp a bit of authority on the competition. Seags was there at that stage and has just been fantastic all the way through, and now having players like Jeremy Gordon back in the team – he’s a freak – have made us a pretty good side.

“For me personally in the last couple of seasons, I hadn’t been able to have a proper pre-season but I wanted to make sure I did this year, and given that we don’t have a great deal of halves, I thought I was a chance to get back into first grade.

“I got the chance to play with Claude before he got injured which was awesome, and I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside Jeremy since then and I’ve loved it.”

In his first couple of seasons of premier league, Hotham didn’t have the sort of class outside him that he has now. As a consequence there is less pressure on him to throw a miracle pass or create something out of nothing.

It is a position he enjoys being in.

“I just have to steer the forwards around and then get it to the likes of Jeremy or Blake Lawson and let them do their thing, it is a much easier job than what it used to be,” he said.

“We have a good pack that we play behind, though I think all the way along we’ve had a pretty good group of forwards. But right across the paddock now we are a much stronger unit.

“I’m not too sure how many of the old boys will be coming back for this weekend, but I know that last time we had a great time after the game and I’d like to think we can do them proud when we get on the field this weekend.”

Panthers manager Danny Dwyer said this match is among the most important yet for his team, who lost 26-20 to Blayney in round two despite scoring five tries to four.

Though Blayney do have a game in hand against Lithgow, Dwyer feels this is a chance to put some real distance between Panthers and the sixth-placed Bears.

“It’s very crucial in terms of getting a bit of a break on those teams in fifth and sixth, Mudgee and Blayney,” Dwyer said.

“If we can beat them, for the time being at least we go five points clear and with six rounds to play, that’s a healthy sort of gap.”

Saturday’s match kicks off at 6.15pm, with the action to get underway with the women’s league tag at 2.15pm.

BATHURST PANTHERS: 1 Bradyn Cassidy, 2 Chris Shephard, 3 Blake Lawson, 4 Jye Barrow, 5 Callum Young, 6 Jeremy Gordon, 7 Trent Hotham, 8 Brent Seager, 9 Nick Loader, 10 Greg Behan, 11 Kyle Byrnes, 12 Todd Barrow, 13 Jake Betts, 14 Ben Gunn, 15 Jed Betts, 16 Leigh Monaghan, 17 Jay McClintock.