Mitch Andrews admits he was a bit worse for wear following the Bathurst Knockout final but says he's glad he defied his coach's wishes to play.
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The Bathurst St Pat's star recruit pulled on the blue and white jersey for the first time as his side made it to the final, losing 32-12 to Mudgee Dragons.
With Forbes Magpies missing the finals in 2023, Andrews has had a long wait on the sidelines and was keen to pull the boots on again although coach Chris Osborne wasn't as enthusiastic with the regular season still more than a month away.
"It's my first official hit out," he said.
"I'm not too sure that the coach wanted me to have a run around because I think last year we had four or five go down with bad injuries and he was a bit gun shy.
"But I said 'no, give me a hit out the lungs need it.' So it was good to get the first one out of the road."
'Which one do I take?'
Saints went down to a new and improved Orange CYMS side first up before piling on the points against Orange Hawks to make the final.
Andrews said the likes of coach Clay Priest made Mudgee the gold standard for other clubs to aspire to.
"Clay is just that enforcer in the middle," he said.
"He just takes the whole forward pack on and if you're not there to step up to him, he'll just sort of run riot all day.
"I thought our boys did a fair job on him today, but they had some skilful players at the back and never let the ball die.
"They always popped up when they made a line break.
"There were always four of them coming at me and I'm going 'jeez which one do I take?'"
The off-season move was a big one for Andrews, leaving the club her played juniors for and won two first grade premierships with.
Settling in at Saints
The NSW Country representative said he had felt embraced by the Pat's community the moment he arrived.
"They got around me as soon as I was in contact with them," he said.
"They were always in touch and they always made me feel like I was more than welcome and no matter what was going on, calling once a week and doing other little things.
"I know Forbes are really good with that and Pat's, they match them. They were unbelievable.
"They made me feel like I was at Forbes, it made me feel like I was at home made me want to play."
