HE'S certainly got the x-factor and if you ask St Pat's coach Zac Merritt, his new five-eighth Willie Wright is also "the best knockout player there is around". It is something he hopes that Wright proves this Saturday when he plays his first games in a Saints jumper at the Bathurst Panthers Knockout. The Saints are hoping to win the annual pre-season competition at Carrington Park for just the third time. Wright shapes as a key in that mission. "We've got the best knockout player there is around in Willie," Merritt said. "He's won a couple with Bathurst Panthers and he's won like four or five Aboriginal knockouts and they're hard to win. So we'll be leaning on him on Saturday for game management as well. "He knows what is coming and how to win. It will be good to watch him going around. Will is fit too, he's looking amazing at the moment so he's definitely going to be turning heads on Saturday. "We need that x-factor sort of stuff. We've got a really good forward pack, pretty much the same as last year, but what we lost with Ransey [Matt Ranse] leaving we'll pick up with Willie now and that x-factor style of footy." Wright forms part of a new-look halves combination for the Saints, but one that has been tested in season past at Bathurst Panthers. He'll line up alongside another former Panther in Noah Griffiths. "They've trained the house down. Noah is looking fit as well and hasn't missed any sessions at all," the coach said. "This will be out first little hit out. It will be good to have a look at a couple of the new recruits, see where we are at fitness wise and get the legs back under us a little bit with the footy in hand." READ MORE: Familiar faces and new signings have the Cowboys optimistic about 2023 READ MORE: 'It's always a bit of a rivalry': CSU excited for first-round opposition READ MORE: Bathurst Panthers Knockout to proceed with only five first grade teams Games at the knockout will be played in a shorter format with 20 minute halves. Each of the five first grade sides competing - St Pat's, Bathurst Panthers, Orange CYMS, Mudgee and Lithgow - will play two games each with the two best performed to advance to the 4.30pm decider. The Saints have been drawn to play Lithgow and Mudgee. "Workies are always physical and Mudgee are always tough," Merritt said. "You want good, tough games, especially because we've got the bye round one leading straight in to Dubbo CYMS. You want good solid, trial games to set you up for that, to see what we need to fix and work on throughout the remainder of the pre-season. "There's no time to settle into it, you've got to get those first points on the board." Though it's no great secret that Merritt's ambition for 2023 is to see his Saints win the Peter McDonald Premiership, he is eager for his men to make a statement at the knockout as well. They have been working hard on their fitness at pre-season training and Merritt is keen to see how that reflects in a match situation. "I said it when I first took over that we want to win everything and that doesn't change. At the end of the day it is a trial, but we'll be taking a pretty strong squad," he said. "We'll be looking at a couple of things and if it goes our way, it goes our way, if it doesn't well it's only a trial. "Rob Toubia, our trainer, he's been making us get up and down off the ground and then getting a lot of ball in hand. So fingers crossed on Saturday all that hard work pays off for us a little bit." Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
