Bathurst homecoming: Why Kennedy wants more NRL fixtures in the bush

Cronulla Sharks fullback Will Kennedy will return to his hometown of Bathurst when the Penrith Panthers host them on Saturday night.

He will run out into Carrington Park as a hometown hero, where his father, former Balmain Tiger, William 'Bubba' Kennedy, will be in attendance along with other members of his family and his childhood mates. 

When speaking with Zero Tackle, Kennedy emphasised the importance of the upcoming fixture. 

It will be a memorable moment for Kennedy and his family, as excitement has built up in the family household for quite some time.

"Yeah, it's gonna be a great moment," Kennedy told Zero Tackle.

"My family have had it circled in the calendar for a while now. I think I've got like 20 of them coming. Yeah, it'd be good to see all my family there and a couple of mates that I used to play footy with."

The Penrith Panthers have sacrificed one of their home games in Sydney to take a fixture out to the west in a bid to keep strong ties with country rugby league development.

Kennedy will be the recipient of that when he gets the chance to showcase his talent in his own backyard.

He said with confidence that the NRL needs to keep taking fixtures out to the bush as a way to honour the strong talent that has come through the pathways in country areas across Australia.

Players like Andrew Johns (Cessnock), Arthur Beetson (Roma), Laurie Daley (Junee), Greg Inglis (Bowraville), Latrell Mitchell (Taree) and Liam Martin (Temora) have all inscribed their names in rugby league folklore. 

"Yeah, I think it's very important to take games back to the bush. We've got a fair few players, past players and then players that play now, and like I was saying, Billy Burns is from Parkes as well," he said.

"It's good to see all those bush footy players come through and all those kids that dream of playing NRL.

"I was one of them. So it's good to always go back, and especially this one, going back to Bathurst and playing."

The Sharks started their 2026 campaign in red-hot fashion, thumping the Gold Coast Titans 50-10 in front of a boisterous Ocean Protect Stadium.

Kennedy will line up this weekend alongside his cousin Braydon Trindall, who starred in a career-best outing in Round 1 with four try assists, two line break assists and two tries.

Kennedy put down Trindall's form to the crafty five-eighth's ability to understand the contest at a high level.

"Yeah, he's unreal. I think he's just got a different footy IQ and he understands the game well, and I think he played a big part in our win on the weekend," Kennedy said of Trindall.

"I think the shaved head helped with it all," he jokingly added.

As a member of Kennedy's family and a long-term teammate throughout time at the Sharks and Newtown Jets, Trindall is also eager about the prospect of travelling to Bathurst and said it is a big moment for Kennedy to play in front of his family.

"It's huge. I'm sure he's got a lot of tickets to hand out and a lot of family there," Trindall said.

"Even his old man's a legend out there, so it'll be awesome to see all his family in the crowd."

This Saturday's fixture will hold great significance with 'Bubba' Kennedy in the stands, where he burst onto the scene in the 80s for Balmain as a damaging centre, scoring 26 tries in 61 appearances in the black and orange.

The father-son duo played in the Koori Knockout alongside each other for the Goodooga Magpies, with Kennedy telling the Sydney Morning Herald his old man still has a whisker of pace to him.

"We played together in the Koori Knockout. He was a centre and I was on the wing. It was an unbelievable feeling," he said.

"To play with your dad, not many blokes get to do that but it was an unreal feeling. He put me down the sideline a few times," Kennedy told the publication in 2019 after his NRL debut."

The Sharks' side comes into the Panthers contest with great confidence, but Kennedy indicated he and his teammates must remain focused on their game plan if they are to topple the impressive Panthers outfit.

"Playing together as a team is a big one that we need to do, and like what I said before, just everyone knowing their role, doing their job, and once we do that, we're all connected and doing that together," he said.