The Dragons held a 10-6 lead after 15 minutes but the flood gates opened for the away side when Doug Hewitt crossed the line, scoring the first of eight unanswered tries for the men in black.

“We knew we had to stand up as a team for Trenty,” said Panthers captain-coach Doug Hewitt.

“He led us out today and that made the game that little bit more special.”

Not only is Hotham a consistent contributor on the paddock, but Hewitt says his off-the-field input is invaluable.

“He’s always been one of those blokes who’s about the club, his whole family is,” he said.

“It meant a whole lot to the club in general today.”

While the entire Panthers outfit was clinical, Hewitt’s men were bolstered by a staunch performance from back-rower Jack Siejka who found himself in prop towards the end of the game.

“His defence in and around the ruck tightened us up and in attack his off-loads made our attack really dangerous,” Hewitt said.

“We’re a side that like to play on the front foot so he got us going today.”

Blake Lawson, who bagged a hat-trick, scored the game’s first try after just three minutes as he put his boot to a Dragons’ knock-on and chased the ball to the in-goal area.

However, after dropping the ensuing kick-off, the home side struck back through a Chanse Burgess crash-over try from close range.

The Dragons went back-to-back as premier division debutant Tom Lawson put in a grubber that paved the way for a Luke Moody try, giving the Red V a 10-6 advantage.

The Panthers spent the next 40-odd minutes turning 6 points into 48 which not only gave them their first win of the season, but will provide them with momentum ahead of a Bathurst-based blockbuster with St Pat’s next round.

“Next weekend will be tough for us but we were just focused on getting this road trip out of the way, today,” Hewitt said.

“We had a few blokes play in the Group 10 match yesterday so to go over to Mudgee and get a win was a big effort from all the boys.”

BATHURST PANTHERS 48 (Blake Lawson 3, Doug Hewitt, Jack Siejka, Nick Loader, Blake Seager, Kade Barrow, Dane Thoroughgood tries; Ben Golden 6, Jye Barrow 1 goals) def MUDGEE DRAGONS 16 (Chanse Burgess, Luke Moody, Korin Smith tries; Jack Beasley 1, Lachie Hill 1 goals).