Dragons delight as Mudgee wins 2024 Bathurst Panthers Knockout over St Pats

By Tallon Smith

The Mudgee Dragons have continued from where they left off in 2023 after taking out the Bathurst Panthers Knockout at Carrington Park on Saturday.

After breezing through their two pool games, the Dragons piled on the points in a 32-12 victory over Bathurst St Pats in the Grand Final to claim the title and the $3000 prize money which went along with it.

The win over St Pats sees Mudgee retain their status as one of the favourites in the Peter McDonald Premiership, having won the last two Group 10 Premierships (these days awarded to the league leader in the Group 10 Pool of the PMP) and finished as overall runners-up last season.

A full recap of all the day’s games is below.

Full Day Recap

In the first game of the day, the Orange CYMS got the chocolates 20-10 over Bathurst St Pats in a showing that provided hope they could improve upon their wooden spoon finish in the Group 10 pool of the Peter McDonald Premiership last year.

Next up was a clash between two PMP finalists from last season in the Mudgee Dragons and Orange Hawks, with the Dragons thoroughly outplaying their rivals on the path to a 24-6 win.

The hosts Bathurst Panthers opened their account with a 28-16 victory over the Orange CYMS, with the twelve point victory putting the locals in a good position ahead of their second match.

Bathurst St Pats then did a complete reversal on their earlier form to crush the Orange Hawks 30-10, putting themselves in the mix with only one match to come.

In the final pool match, the Mudgee Dragons scored a 28-6 victory over the Bathurst Panthers, ensuring their passage through to the Grand Final.

The 22-point win meant that the Panthers finished with a points differential of -10, which was inferior to both the Orange CYMS’ -2 and Bathurst St Pats’ +10, meaning St Pats advanced to face Mudgee in the decider.

Meanwhile, in the Under 18s category, the Orange Hawks reversed an earlier loss to Bathurst St Pats to claim a 12-6 victory in the Grand Final.

The opening game of the day saw St Pats narrowly defeat the Hawks 12-10 in a closely fought affair.

Both sides then defeated the Lithgow Workies Wolves, with the Hawks getting a 10-4 win while St Pats again came out on top 12-10.

The final which followed however saw the Hawks learn from their earlier mistakes en route to the title and $600 prize money, in a confidence-boosting outing for the side ahead of the Tom Nelson Under 18s Premiership season.

Despite still being known as a knockout, the tournament has operated with a pool format in recent years due to lower entry numbers.