St Pat's are hit hard by injuries at Bathurst Panthers Knockout

After the day had started with so much promise for the Saints when they won their Bathurst Panthers Knockout opener by 20 points against Lithgow Workies, they were left with a long list of injuries.

They lost new halves pairing Willie Wright (Achilles tendon) and Noah Griffiths (dislocated shoulder), who added plenty of attacking spark, in the 6-4 nail-biter against Mudgee that put them into the final.

Another of the club's new recruits, second rower Harry Reicher, was unable to line up for the decider too.

That wasn't the end of it either.

In the final, in which the Saints fought hard but ultimately lost 20-6 to Bathurst Panthers, there was more trouble.

Fullback Jackson Brien limped off with 12 minutes to go, while soon after lock Luke Single had to be helped from the field after a heavy tackle left him dazed.

Then, as the game ticked inside the final minute, Jack O'Neil broke his left arm in the process of making a tackle.

It means O'Neill, who had been handy at hooker, will miss the start of the Peter McDonald Premiership season.

As for the other injured Saints, captain-coach Zac Merritt hopes they'll be ready come their first game against Dubbo CYMS in round two.

"Noah is a shoulder and I'm not too sure how long that is going to have him out, but young Jack O'Neill was a broken arm," Merritt said.

"Will was an Achilles, but I think he'll be right, we'll just monitor that.

"There were a couple of other little niggling things, but we'll be right."

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The promising thing for Merritt was that even with all those injuries, it took Panthers until the last eight minutes of the final to really fight his side off.

Haydon Bolam stepped up well in the absence of other playmakers, Nic Booth was typically strong at prop and until he left the field, Single bent back the Panthers defence on a number of occasions.

New recruit Tyrese Edwards did some good things on the right wing, including coming up with a one-on-one strip just before half-time, and the returning Ash Cosgrove was solid on the other edge.

"Obviously we don't want injuries to Willie and Noah, but how we played in the final, it shows that we are pretty well rounded," Merritt said.

"We wanted to win obviously, but overall I thought we did well. It's just back to the drawing board."

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