AFTER an unscheduled week off during the last round of the Central West AFL first grade competition, Bathurst Bushrangers co-coach Brett Archer has urged Cowra to bring everything they have for their clash tomorrow.

The two sides have only met once this season, a 69-point win to Bathurst in round four, with their second encounter forfeited by the Blues due to player numbers.

Since then Cowra’s fortunes have improved and last week they put Dubbo to the sword in a 186-point thrashing.

The Bushrangers didn’t even get on the park as Young were forced to forfeit, leaving Archer and his players short of a gallop a month out from the finals.

“What can you do?” he said of the Young situation.

“There isn’t a lot we can do about it, I felt for Young and hope that doesn’t happen to them again. We can only forget about it now and look to this week’s match.”

Having fallen from the top rungs of the ladder last season, 2014 hasn’t been a pretty year for Cowra.

They have found themselves on the end of some hidings from Orange and their forfeit was a definite low-point.

Their performance against Dubbo though in which leader Frank Bright kicked 10 goals and Corey Kennedy bagged seven, showed that at full strength they might have the power to challenge.

Archer is licking his lips at the thought.

“I hope they come over here and hit the field with all guns blazing,” he said.

“We need to be tested again, and a good, physical game is what we want. The Orange game two weeks ago was very physical, we were beaten that day. We’d like another tough battle.

“For Cowra, that result and performance might be a turning point for them. If they can perform like that, it might start to get a few more players out of the woodwork towards the big games.”

Despite their last-start loss to Orange a couple of weeks ago, Archer was impressed with his back and half-back lines. With Bright in his best form, the Bushrangers could have their hands full once more at George Park.

Not a key forward in the traditional sense, Bright doesn’t crash packs and take towering contested marks. As such he can be hard to match up on.

Archer said there is no worry from his side of things that his defenders won’t be able to handle it.

“Our back six or seven won’t have any issues, I’m confident of that,” he said.

“Ideally the best way to curb someone like Frank would be to win the middle and just make sure he’s not getting any ball down there though. But if and when he does, I’m confident we’ll deal with it.

“At this stage now we’re starting to prioritise how we want the team to look for the finals. We have Harry Bowden back now after a long injury lay-off and Nathan Belbin is also a candidate to come back.

“There will be a lot of competition for spots in the next month. Everyone will be desperate to have a big game this weekend.”

First bounce at George Park tomorrow will be from 2.30pm.