THEY share a passion for rugby league, a love for the Saint George Illawarra Dragons and membership of Bathurst Panthers and now, for the first time in more than a decade, brothers Josh and Tim Babbage are sharing the same field.
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On Saturday at Molong in the second round of the under 18s Tom Nelson Premiership season, the Babbages both formed part of the Panthers side which took on Parkes.
It was the first time since they played together in an under 6s side as Oberon Tigers that Josh and Tim had been rugby league team-mates.
While Tim is currently in his second season of under 18s, Josh only graduated to the Western-wide premiership this season.
"I've always been the year above, but because I get two years in under 18s we get to play together this year," 18-year-old Tim said.
"It was good knowing I could play with him this year, I was excited.
"Running out there on Saturday with Josh and playing along with him, that was pretty good. I started and then Josh came on in the first five minutes and played the rest of the game."
While the brothers operated together on the same edge of Panthers' attack, Tim as a centre and Josh as an interchange forward, their shared love of league began long ago.
It was sparked by their late grandfather John Babbage, someone who played his league with the Blackheath Blackcats.
"My Pop he always watched the footy and loved footy, he go us into it, we watched the footy with him and have enjoyed it since then," Tim said.
Like their Pop, both Tim and Josh follow the Dragons in the NRL.
They've also followed a similar path since they lined up together all those years ago as under 6s.
After a handful of seasons with Oberon, the brothers switched to play the remainder of their Group 10 Junior Rugby League football as Bathurst Panthers.
Both enjoyed their first premiership success as Panthers, Josh in under 13s and Tim at under 16s level.
It has taken until season 2023 for the pair to be eligible to play in the same age division once more.
"I came to Panthers in under 9s and have been there ever since," Josh said.
"It's good experience now I get to play with him [Tim] again for a year, I was looking forward to getting to play with him.
"I get us up the field and he does the rest. I just took it and ran, he did his own thing.
"It is a bit more nerve-racking going up against the older boys, but I'm pretty comfortable with it now, it's good to be playing with the older boys.
"I thought it was going to be hard, but I proved to myself that I can do it. Hopefully I can score a couple of tries this season and gel with the older guys and get better."
It has been a tough start to the season for Panthers.
In round one they fell 36-10 to hosts Dubbo CYMS, then in round two as Panthers took their home games to Molong, they suffered a 38-0 loss at the hands of Parkes.
Playing against Group 11 based teams for the first time was an eye-opener for Josh.
"They're different, they're solid and run hard," he said.
"They do play a different style of footy, it's faster. It's definitely a step up playing against them."
This Friday night it will be more of a familiar foe for the pair with Panthers taking on St Pat's at Jack Arrow Oval as part of the annual Anzac round between the Bathurst rivals.
"It's going to be good playing them in a night game," Tim said.
"We played Pat's in one game at night last year, but I haven't played a lot of night footy," Josh added.
"It should be a big crowd, it always is when we're playing Pat's."
The under 18s clash at Jack Arrow is set to kick off at 5.30pm. The league tag (6.45pm) and reserve grade (7.45pm) clashes will follow while the first grade Peter McDonald Premiership game is to be played on Saturday as a curtain raiser to the NRL match between Penrith and Wests Tigers at Carrington Park.
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