The round three Blowes Clothing Cup match at Ashwood Park will mark the first time the Bulldogs have faced Forbes since losing to them in last season’s preliminary final.

That 20-18 defeat to Forbes – who went on to win the grand final – was the second time in as many seasons Bulldogs had their campaign ended by the Platypi.

However, skipper Peter Fitzsimmons said there is no real value in reflecting on the past given the changes which have been made at the club this season.

“No, we haven't really spoken about it. We've got a lot of new players in the team this year and new style of football, so we didn't really speak about last year,” Fitzsimmons said.

“I guess we look at it as every team we are going to play will be strong this year rather than worrying about last year.”

But while Bulldogs have not reflected on that two-point defeat in the build up to Saturday, it was certainly a result which left Fitzsimmons and his team-mates bitterly disappointed.

The talented number 8 feels it was match that his side should have won.

“It was really tough. We probably thought we were the better team, we had a lot of opportunities that we let slip by us that in effect we should have taken,” he said.

“There were a few penalty goals we missed over the whole game, not just at the end, which could have made a difference.

“We were actually sort of glad that they went on to win the grand final though, at least then we knew we got knocked off by the best side.”

Though this season is only two rounds old, Forbes has again been one of the best performed sides with a pair of bonus-point wins to their credit.

They began their title defence with a 31-7 away win over Dubbo Kangaroos then beat Orange City 31-12 last Saturday.

Fitzsimmons knows it will take a mighty effort to inflict their first loss of the season, yet he has faith in his fellow Bulldogs.

“I think they will be really tough, they’ve not changed much from last year and they seem to have a bit of a roll on,” he said.

“They have definitely got some big boys in their forward pack, and if they get on a roll they are hard to stop.

“They’ve got some good backs too – their halfback Mahe [Fangupo] and their five-eighth Jack [Hammond] are both pretty dangerous when they get working together.

“But I think if we click, then good things can happen … it would be really good, really good, to beat them here and get on a bit of a roll.”

After falling 33-12 to Orange Emus last Saturday, Bulldogs have worked hard at training to improve ahead of the Forbes match.

“We’ve worked on our set piece, our scrums and our line-outs, we’ve put a fair bit of work into them,” Fitzsimmons said. “I think we’ve got everything right now.”

The match at Ashwood Park will commence at 3.15pm.