First it was Brady Cheshire and now it's his brother.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Bathurst Panthers have secured the signing of Riley Cheshire for the remainder of the 2023 Peter McDonald Premiership (PMP) season.
Cheshire initially played juniors for Panthers, before enjoying a stint with St Pat's later in his junior career.
He last played for Mount Pritchard in 2022 and the signing of the back rower is a welcome inclusion for the Panthers' run to the finals.
Panthers coach Jake Betts said Cheshire reached out after his brother Brady first signed with the club earlier this month.
"We've just been talking for a while," he said.
"After Brady signed, he sort of reached out and was interested in coming across. It just took a bit of time to get it over the line but it's all sorted now."
Betts said Cheshire will add to the Panthers depth for the rest of 2023.
"He'll be handy and add to our depth," he said.
"He's another big body and you know, hopefully he'll help us with a run in the back end of the year."
Panthers could see Cheshire in action as early as Sunday, when the Bathurst club heads away to face reigning PMP premiers Forbes Magpies.
It'll be a tough assignment against Forbes and while the Group 11 might be bottom of its conference, Betts said he's not reading into that at all.
"Group 11 is really strong and they've had some really close games against the top teams," he said.
"Last time we played Group 11 teams, we sort of got our backside handed to us.
"We're just going to concentrate on ourselves and get ourselves right and the rest will take care of itself."
Those Group 11 matches Betts alludes to was a 60-0 flogging at the hands of Dubbo CYMS in the opening round of the season, before a 34-6 humbling at the hands of Parkes in Molong.
Panthers' form has gradually improved since their forgettable form to start the season, having won three of the five games since, with all defeats (to Orange Hawks and Mudgee) coming within four points or less.
Betts knows how important a result against Forbes would be for the run home to finals, but said it's not the "be all and end all".
"It'll definitely help to build a bit of momentum," he said.
"I'm just looking for us to build on that performance we put in against Mudgee. We want to go over there to win of course but as long as we're building."
Sunday's match between Panthers and Forbes will kick-off at Spooner Oval from 2pm.
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
