It depends of course.

Lose a few trials or pre-season tournaments and it’s not the end of the world, win them all and the winter looks as promising as Wests Tigers rookie Luke Brooks did on debut.

Right now, though, particularly if you’re a Bathurst Panthers fan, it means absolutely everything.

The men in black took out this year’s Bathurst Knockout – the second year in a row the hosts have claimed their own pre-season tournament – winning in Sunday’s final over 10-4 over Oberon at Carrington Park.

After winning the Terry Brown Medal as man of the match in the Indigenous side’s win over Group 10 in the All Stars game last weekend, Panthers gun Jeremy Gordon again produced his best, scoring the match-winning try in the second half.

Panthers captain Todd Barrow was pleased with his side’s six-point victory over the Tigers.

“It was a little bit patchy at the start, but on the back of our D we came home with it,” he said.

“We backed our D all weekend and it has been spot on.

“Our attack was good today, but as I said, our defence really set it up for us today. Giving boys like Jeremy [Gordon] and Doug Hewitt the room, they benefit from the big boys.”

Both Oberon and Panthers progressed through to the decider after knocking out Orange sides, the Tigers taking care of Hawks 20-6 in the opening semi-final while the hosts dispatched of CYMS 18-6 in the second semi.

For the two blues, that loss capped what has been a promising pre-season to date, with Hawks taking care of Blayney 16-4 in the knockout’s opening round, on Friday night.

Hawks play the Bears next weekend in official Group 10 competition next Sunday at King George Oval – the two clubs agreeing to bring their scheduled round two clash forward to a week before round one.

While for CYMS, the green and golds began its knockout campaign well, knocking off Lithgow on Sunday afternoon.

Tries to Tim Mortimer, Ben McAlpine, Chris Bamford and hooker Ryan Griffin helped secure CYMS a 22-4 victory and a spot in the final four.