WHEN the Bathurst Bulldogs take to Cale Oval tomorrow to face Narromine in the fourth round of the 2016 Central West Rugby Union season, it will be as a team with no competition points to their credit.

That is something they are determined to rectify.

Bulldogs have endured one of the hardest starts to the competition, going down to defending premiers Orange Emus in the season opener then missing out against the Dubbo Kangaroos in Dubbo.

They sat last Saturday out with the bye, meaning they and the Dubbo Rhinos are the only teams yet to earn competition points this season. 

However, the Gorillas have not had an easy time either. They have a single win to their name – defeating the Cowra Eagles – while they too were on the wrong of the scoresheet against the Emus and Kangaroos.

Numbers were a concern for the Gorillas in the pre-season, but Bulldogs co-coach Phil Newton expects a good test in Narromine tomorrow.

“The guys have done a bit of extra work and continued to train well over the week off,” he said.

“Every trip to Narromine is never easy. In their game against Dubbo they were probably in the game for most of it and they will be very hard to beat at home.

“They’ve normally got a very strong forward pack, very direct around the park, and I don’t expect that to be much different this year. I know there’s been talk of their number problems, but if they’re able to be competitive against Dubbo then you know it can’t be easy.”

Newton would like to see his team produce a stronger second half this week than what they have managed in their first two matches.

“Fitness is the focus, and playing better when fatigued. In our last two games that’s been where we’ve made most of our mistakes. We were in that game with Dubbo for about 65 minutes of it, but all our errors were in that other 15,” he said.

“We probably couldn’t have asked for a harder start with Emus, Dubbo away and the trip to Narromine. You’ve got to play everyone eventually though, so it’s good to get these games out of the way early.”

The biggest change for the Bulldogs this week will be Sam Roberson moving from the centres into the flyhalf role.

Adam Miles, who has worn the number 10 jersey, makes a shift to scrumhalf while Bart Bogart returns to the squad and will line up at outside centre.

Ollie Barclay also gets promoted to the starting side in place of the absence of Jono Healey.

“Sam moving there will hopefully give us a bit more leadership in the halves,” Newton said.

“I’m hoping we travel well for this. I’m quietly confident, but we know we have to be on our game. It’s in the back of our mind that we need to get that first win and this game is a good opportunity to do it.”

BATHURST BULLDOGS: 1 Chris Plunkett, 2 Mark Donnelly, 3 Sean Fogarty, 4 Izaak Breen, 5 Ollie Barclay, 6 Adam Dwyer, 7 Brendan Nelson, 8 Peter Fitzsimmons, 9 Adam Miles, 10 Sam Roberson, 11 Tyler Cook, 12 Josh Lees, 13 Bart Bogart, 14 Kurt Weekes, 15 Jack Roberson.