Tallon Smith
Bathurst Panthers’ ambitions to climb up the Peter McDonald Premiership table in 2026 have received a boost after the club confirmed the signing of former NRL player Richie Kennar.
A veteran of 50 top flight appearances across a ten season career at Melbourne, Souths and Brisbane, Kennar joins the Panthers as the big name amongst a number of off-season signings.
Panthers first grade captain-coach Jake Betts said that the announcement of Kennar’s signature is a major step towards a return to finals football this year.
“It all happened pretty quickly,” he said.
“Richie has 50 games of NRL experience at three clubs, and we’re excited to have him at the Panthers.
“Any time an NRL player joins a bush club it is a pretty big thing.”
Kennar’s signing was the first of two major player announcements within 24 hours, with former Queensland Cup and PNG Digicel Cup star Julius Yakopa also putting pen to paper with the Panthers for the 2026 campaign.
Betts told Battlers that Yakopa has been on the club’s recruitment radar for quite some time, with the Panthers thrilled to finally have him confirmed for the upcoming season.
“We tried to get Julius to the club last year, but we had a few visa issues,” he said.
“He’s got 50 games of Queensland Cup experience with the PNG Hunters, so we’re excited to have him on board.”
Kennar and Yakopa’s signatures complement a number of other signings for the Bathurst club, which is looking to improve on an 11th-placed finish in 2025.
Paora Kemp (Fremantle), Militoni Vereaqali (Avondale Wombats), Samuel Kiap (Muswellbrook), Hamish Scott and Hudson White will all join the Panthers as additions to last season’s squad.
Betts said that he is excited to welcome all the new recruits to Bathurst, with each bringing something different that the club was looking for over the off-season.
“Paora Kemp, he played a lot of his junior footy here for St Pats 10 years ago when he was a young fella, he’s a crafty player,” he said.
“He played [under] 20s for the Dragons and a bit of Queensland Cup up at Wynnum-Manly, and then has been over in Western Australia for a few years.
“Militoni, he’s a sort of unknown, he played for Avondale down in the Wollongong comp, in second grade down there, he’s turned up in good shape, he’s got a good attitude and I’m looking forward to seeing him play.
“Hudson White’s [also] back, he played for us a couple of years ago when I started coaching, then had a year off.”
Another bright spot for the club last season was the continued rise of its under 18s team, which made the Tom Nelson Premiership Grand Final.
With the majority of that squad remarkably being 17-year-old players, Betts said the continued development of that team and the potential of several players seeing first grade action this season is a big positive moving forward.
“Our 18s boys fell short last year in the Grand Final, but they were all bottom age, so they’ve all come back a little bit bigger and a little bit keener,” he said.
“I gave a few of those young fellas a crack last year, it was probably a year too early, but we sort of needed to do that, and I think they’ll benefit from it this year.
“They’re very enthusiastic and it’s good to have them around the older boys.”
As for the goals for the upcoming season, Betts said that he is simply focused on continued improvement throughout the year in what has been described by some bush footy pundits as the toughest competition in inland NSW.
“We just want to be competitive,” he said.
“It’s a tough competition and it’s only getting harder, and those top sides are quality sides, and not many of them have probably lost many from their squads last year, they’ve probably gained a few.
“We’ll have a couple of trials leading into the competition and turn up round one raring to go and hopefully get a few wins on the board early and build a bit of confidence.
“You want to be playing finals footy, it was very disappointing last year to not be involved in that, so our goal is to be consistent each week and improve throughout the season.
“It’s early days but we’re in a better spot than what we were this time last year.”
The 2026 PMP draw is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Battlers For Bush Footy 