Doug Hewitt joins Penrith Panthers
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 05:22
By Sam Debenham
- Bathurst's presence at the Penrith Panthers will expand to three next year after gun playmaker Doug Hewitt was added to their National Youth Competition roster. Hewitt will join current Bathurst Panthers team-mate Brodie Cheshire in the under 20s squad while Harry Siejka made his first grade debut earlier this season.Following on from a season in which he won a title with the Bathurst Panthers under 18s in Group 10, played most of the season of first grade, gained selection in an AIS squad to tour Europe and represented Group 10, Western and NSW Country, it was a logical next step.
"Dave Elvy [former Bathurst Panthers captain-coach and current Penrith recruiter] told me that Penrith had been looking at me for a while, my manager got in touch with me about it and we decided to sign with them," Hewitt explained.
"I got offered a contract with the Bulldogs last year but I got injured and decided not to take it. It is something that I've always wanted to do, for sure.
"In the last few years whenever I've played rep footy, you see the scouts there at the games so it is in the back of your mind that they are watching you."
Hewitt was thrust into the first grade halfback role at Bathurst Panthers at the start of the season under then coach Aidan Bateup and was one of the leading lights for them in a campaign that saw them finish fourth.
He played for Group 10 in under 18s, but was inexplicably overlooked for the Western Rams before injuries saw him called in as a replacement.
"I think it was one of my better seasons, I was a bit wary at the start when I found out I'd be playing first grade, it is a really good standard of footy and I learned a lot playing with and against the older guys," he said.
"I've got an AIS camp at the moment and go to France and England with them in November. I return in mid-December and from there I go to Penrith and start with them."
Renowned as one of the premier rugby league breeding grounds, Penrith has under-achieved in the youth competition, having finished fourth in the inaugural premiership in 2008 and missed the finals each year since.
That doesn't dim Hewitt's enthusiasm for what awaits him though.
"They have a pretty good set-up down there at the moment, the squad is fairly strong and they also have their feeder club at Windsor in the NSW Cup," Hewitt said.
"The thing about playing down there in such a big junior area is that it only takes one bad game and there is someone there they can bring in to take your place."
Having Cheshire alongside him will make Hewitt's transition to Penrith an easier one, a fact not lost on the 18-year-old.
"I've always played off the back of Brodie, we've been in the same team for a long time and having someone down there that I know will be a big help on the field and off it," he concluded
