Panthers meet and greet

Horsham Panthers will host a meet-and-greet barbecue at the Woolworths car park in Horsham at 9am on Saturday as they enjoy their first bye of the NRL SA Limestone Coast season.

Horsham players and officials will attend the sausage sizzle and coach Rob Gascoyne urged anyone who was curious about playing or supporting rugby league to come along.

“The boys will all be there,” he said.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to meet the community, and for anyone who is interested in playing or becoming a member, we’d love to have them come see us.”

The Panthers are coming off a 32-16 defeat to the Gunditjmara Bulls on Sunday in their first home game of the season at Horsham Racing Centre.

Horsham never recovered from a slow start, but Gascoyne said there were positives to take from the match.

“We weren’t switched on in the first half and I gave the boys a bit of a rev in the half-time huddle,” he said.

“We scored three tries to one in the second half, so a positive was that we didn’t lose our faith. That’s the culture we want to have at the club – if we’re down, we keep bringing it.”

Gascoyne said the Panthers would lose Anthony Buttigieg for the remainder of the season after a serious knee injury, but would regain captain Jayden Gascoyne after the bye.

He said anyone interested in joining the team could attend training sessions at Horsham Racing Centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5.30pm.